₦airaland Forum

Let's settle this once and for all. The rightness of your Religion is probabilistic and a very slim one at that. There are over 4,000 religions in the world and all of them cannot be right at the same time but all of them can be wrong.
Something is shocking though. I had an encounter with a Nigerian graduate and asked him how many religions we have in the world. He said three(3)-- Islam, Christianity and Traditional religion. You can be shocked but It didn't shock me.
Let's assume one out of the 4,000 will be right. The probability is 0.00025. This is very close to Zero. in statistics-test of hypothesis, we can regard it as statistical Insignificance and we reject the NULL hypothesis of rightness...and set up a new hypothesis or accept the alternative hypothesis( that all religions were made up)
Let's assume Christianity is Right, there are over 40,000 denominations each telling the others how wrong they are and how they are going to hell( pastor Okotie once said that all catholics are going to hell). the understated probability figure I can give to the rightness of your own brand of Christianity is 0.00000000625. This is the probability chance you want me to submit my time, mind, sanity, resources and hope to. This does not make sense to me and I don't think It should make sense to you too.
So, the next time you come bragging and threatening me about how wrong I am and how i am going to rot in hell, remember you are the one that is basing your sanity on close to ZERO(0) probability estimate.
The same case can be made for other religions likewise.

A medical Love Letter
-----------------------------

Hi Sweet heart,

How are your Anatomy and Physiology?

My Biochemistry is within normal limit.

I miss you like an ischemic heart misses it's blood supply.

I love you as much as the TB loves the apex of lung.

I care for you like the way I.V. Taxim & Metrogyl care for a post-operative patient.

I have implanted you in my S.A. Node.

Please don't be the etiology of my heart failure.

Miss you like ventilation.

Take care of your vitals.

The recourse to hunters and other crude modes of collective defense to counter Boko Haram is not only a further indication of the incremental collapse of the military as the security backbone of our nation, it is a solution that cannot endure. So what we should all advocate is that the state should be more alive to what is actually its core responsibility: securing the lives and livelihood of the citizens.

Interestingly, the notion of deploying unconventional troops to fight on behalf of a state is not new but the result has never been worthwhile. While Niccolo Machiavelli is usually remembered for his political discourses such as “The Prince” and “The Art of War”, he was also an official of the “Florence Republic” that lasted only 14 years between 1498 and 1512. Appointed secretary of war in 1507, Machiavelli established a citizen-militia that would be in a state of combat-readiness against foreign enemies but the idea which is no different from that of deploying hunters to fight insurgency ultimately failed.

The pertinent question is: How can such a force that is not trained in discipline and would have no serious command and control structure be able to fight a deadly insurgency whose men are not only prepared to kill but also to die? As as much as I agree that mobilizing hunters to deal with the immediate challenge is a pragmatic approach in the current circumstance, the only enduring solution lies in reforming/repositioning our armed forces and the security agencies in such a manner that they would have the capacity for dealing with the challenges of the 21st century. That of course will require leadership, at some critical levels. Unfortunately, we have not seen any demonstration of that in recent times.

May you live longer like corruption in Nigeria

May your blessing increase like fuel price in Nigeria

May your enemies fall like Naira value

May your happiness rise like unemployment in Nigeria

May you move freely like terrorists,armed robbers,kidnappers and fraudsters in Nigeria

May you not fall like power holding company(PHCN) in Nigeria

May all your prayers be accepted like election rigging in Nigeria

May you not be disregarded and disrespected like rule of law in Nigeria.

Initially, I refused to watch this video. I was convinced it would be a horrifying thing to see. But after so much persuasion, I did.

Ok, it was worse than I initially thought.

Like everyone else, I was worried about the child. Is the child ok? Despite the horror, something tells me the child will be ok. Children are resilient.

But beyond that, I spared a moment to think about the nanny. I read what people were writing… stone her to death, hang her, kill her…

Nobody bothered to ask what kind of society produces such a person. She may be evil but she did not emerge from a vacuum.

I tried to imagine this nanny as a child. I tried to imagine her upbringing. And I think you should.

Did she act like someone who had a happy childhood? Did she exhume the aura of someone who feels loved and cared for?

Stoning her, hanging her, jailing her… will not stop the society that produced her from producing more of her. Finding out what turned yesterday’s child into a monster nanny of today will help us to avoid the emergence of others like her.

Beyond the nanny, I spared a thought on the rest of us. Many who are expressing outrage on social media, especially Nigerians and other Africans, treat their nannies worse than this.

Maybe you were once a nanny… how were you treated?

If you were not a nanny, maybe your parents had a nanny. How were your nannies treated? Did you care?

This is no justification of evil. Psychologists say some people are born evil. But more people are transformed into evil by the society they were born in. Is this case that of the latter, I don’t know. If it is, it must be a literal manifestation of Peter Obi’s saying that, “The society that we abuse today will take its revenge on our children.”

All I know is that while we denounce this evil we all have to be aware of the evil we help create by the way we treat others in our society.

SLIDEwaxie:
Some people are stupidly desperate sha..

“Desperation can make a person do surprising things.”

Tithe in Nigerian churches… .just like Tax.... increases inequality gap. It doesn't bridge the hell-like hole of inequitable distribution of income and wealth.

The differences between Tithe and Tax in Nigeria are:

1. One is paid forcefully, and sometimes with great avoidance and occasional tantrums while the other is paid willing and with low rate of default, with no resistance .

2. One is collected with an assurance of tangible and logical benefits in form of free schools, good roads, stable electricity, reduced poverty etc. While the other is collected with a miraculous promise of reward and illogical benefits by people who don't construct roads, build free schools, generate public electricity and manage the economy. It's ironical that the proceeds of Tithe are more than the proceeds of Tax as some willingly pay 30%… 50% even 70% instead of the normal 10%.

Remember: no blueprint of what the money will be used for. Yet, the proceeds come in willingly.

3. No Tithe exemption but there is Tax exemption. You being a student doesn't mean you wont pay "direct tithe" ...you just have to pay it from your allowances or pocket money.... but students don't pay "direct tax" (take that for the sake of simplicity. Don't let us go deep into economics of tax). I once paid tithe in the university as a poor student.

4. Tithe collectors and beneficiaries are most times exempted from paying tax while tithe payers still pay taxes. Double taxation from some people and double "exemption" from some people.

You don't need to think too much in understanding why more than 80% of wealth in Nigeria is greatly enjoyed by less than 20% of Nigerians. The tithe you pay is jealously enjoyed by some few persons and their cronies while the taxes you pay are also being embezzled by some microscopic few and their goons.

Both ways, you are. bleeped. You don't like your financial and economic state. You don't like the tax eaters. Yet the tithe eaters pacify you to keep your cool. Not to sin in protestation. They know you might resist them too if you protest against the tax eaters. Both criminals are working against you. They will always numb your intellect in seeing the bigger picture.

No matter the solace and assurance of good life and wealth you get from your tithe eaters, your welfare and wellbeing still heavily depend on your tax eaters. You are doomed.

You or your children don't go to the schools, hospitals, transport bought by your tithe eaters, you depend on the tax eaters. You don't protest marginalization, irresponsibility, unaccountability and careless abandonment by your tithe eaters, where most of your income perish, why should you protest your tax eaters ? too bad, you evade tax but never default in paying tithes. Direct your confusion to appropriate quarters.

I have explained two theories before in respect of tithe.

1. Stakeholder theory
2. Shareholders theory

Number one says that the company is responsible for some social responsibilities in form of charity and scholarships etc and the managers of the company should use part of the companies' profits for that before distributing the remainder to the shareholders as dividends.

This is based on the assumption that the shareholders -individually- will not spend their dividends on social responsibilities.

Your pastors and government are your managers who are not using your moneys the way you will use them. They are conflicting your interest.

Shareholders theory says that all the business profit should be distributed to shareholders as dividend and allow them to use the money for charity or wherever if they want. The business of the business is to make profit.

If you can do what your pastors and government can do for you by yourself, I think you should do it.

You know it in your mind that you get more benefits from the government than from your church. Yet, you evade taxes and willingly pay tithes. You know you can protest bad government regime but you cannot protest your evil pastors.

Make a wise choice. I have said my own.

The journey of law breaking started from childhood not from the National Assembly

LAMENTATIONS OF A FRIEND OF MINE:

As a banker, I sincerely never look forward to resuming next day after close of business everyday. The environment is tense,vindictive, scapegoat-ish, etc.That's how condescending the banking environments are now.We hardly sleep. Am afraid, a huge implosion is on its way if the industry is not strictly regulated as regards treatment of the workforce.Bulk of bank workers nowadays are zombies,you dare not use your initiative and things go bad, and you dare not limit your focus on processes and procedures and customer complain...you will either way pay! In fact, this work is already testing my sanity. I have to leave it before my head explode.

BEFORE WE BARRAGE OUR BANKS TO DEATH

These days, I am always saddened when I go into any banking hall in Nigeria. The environment is often depressing. Maybe it’s that desperate look on the faces of the staff, that tells you they’ve been barraged and insulted this morning, threatened that their jobs could disappear at any moment. The culture has always been that the board asks the MD to perform the impossible, all they are interested in is the huge profits. The MD equally unleashes terror on his EDs and GMs. It’s like nuclear energy. You know, the atomic bomb. It starts small, but by the time it rolls down the rank and file, it picks up velocity, meanness and wickedness. This culture is what drives many a ‘bank worker’ to hate the system so much, they too start thinking of defrauding the banks. By the time the hateful energy reaches the guy on the shop floor, he just can’t take it anymore. It also drives them to make mistakes in their duties, apart from taking their dignity away.

The marketing guys bear the brunt. These days, many banks have employed marketers based strictly on commission. Some earn just N30,000 (less than $200) a month, if they don’t manage to open new accounts. Marketing cars? Where you see am? I see them sometimes trekking long distances after leaving my office. It’s depressing. Banking is far from what it used to be. In my first exposure to being a relationship officer, in 1997, I was allocated about 14 accounts, and told to grow the business on them. I was given a bit of pressure to open new good relationships. But today, the management of banks no longer care about relationships. They give instructions to their staff to go open 10,000 accounts each. Let me give them a feedback right here right now; it is damaging to your business, to the psychology of your staff, to how we the customers view you, and to the banking profession at large. It just does not make sense. How on earth is anyone going to manage 10,000 accounts? Not even 1,000. Not even 100.

What happened to banking? Most of the problem came from the executives, past and present. Nigerian banks are commercial banks. But they want to roll like the investment banks of Canary Wharf or Wall Street. Only better. They want to earn – at the top levels – better than those guys. They can even do personal deals that the Wall Street bankers would get jailed for. They live large, become high rollers. Some get courted by the government, given awards and appointed into all sorts of committees. This creates antagonism between the banks and the customers. The regulator steps in, determines the excesses of the banks, and rolls out the sanctions.

Unfortunately, it is the rank and file who suffers. The first to get wasted are those junior people. They are the first whose careers are stalled. In the days when the current executives were climbing the ladder, they knew they had a career. But today, careers are finished. What you get when you walk into a banking hall, apart from empty cubicles where they had planned to have human beings dispensing cash until e-Banking came along, are those sad eyes that I hate to look into. It’s not as if it’s easy for those of us outside, but it depresses one to see those faces, and oftentimes, to be told by them in hushed tones just how desperate things are, as they slip their CVs into your palms or obtain your email for the same purpose.

And then we all form the mob and rain down on the banks. Every customer is sure that they are overcharging his/her account even if there is no evidence. No one wants N1.00 to be taken as charges for anything. Some banks used to pay you for withdrawing money from your account. When I see the fees they take for sundry services, I wonder how they survive. For me, the issue is not generator and diesel. As standard businesses, with loads of staff to pay, you have to generate some good income. Nigerians say the banks should face their core business of lending. But we forget that even we Nigerians are very bad debtors. See what we had to move to AMCON, bailouts for many of our big men, many of whom hold national awards! The nation as a whole had to pay. For normal customers, 70% - 80% of the loans go bad. You give a loan and the man thinks it is just cash flow by any means. He decides to re-bury his grandmother who died 25 years ago! He pays tithes of 10% to his church because his pastor told him “you have to pay on every cash flow so that ‘Gaaad’ blesses the rest!!”

But I urge that we have a rethink about the way we have been raining down on our banks. They are shrinking. Their businesses are shrinking. Even their staff are shrinking in size. No, it’s not the gym. It’s the stress and bad cash flow. It’s the sanctions they receive from their bosses who are mostly at their wit’s end. It’s the psychological trauma of being cursed at every meeting for not meeting ‘targets’. It’s the trauma of being employed as an internal control officer, an internal auditor, only to be asked to go and meet your family and raise N200million in new accounts. It’s the apparent failure of the current banking business model. The problem is; can we imagine how the ideal situation will look like? Certainly, the executives have to reduce their expectations. They probably have to earn less because the cash flows will not sustain the expectations of the past. But those at the lower echelon need protection from the regulators and the rest of us. They need a proper return to the days when they could be happy that they have careers. The exuberance of the Soludo days – when branches were opened everywhere at huge costs – are since over. The illusions have disappeared. The industry has shaken out. Many have been laid off. But we should not stand aside as the industry shrinks to death. Indeed we should not bring out our own machetes and inflict more blows as part of the lynchmob.

I hope the banks find their mojos back. A lot of them are just marking time. The days of innocence are gone. Even we the people will not be happy with the picture when it all comes tumbling down. It’s also about the disappearance of the middle class. The only ‘safe’ industry in Nigeria is oil and gas. Telecoms has shaken out too; is still shaking out. Let’s have some mercy for our banks and bankers please. Believe it or not, they need it.

BY:TOPE FASUA

"THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY"

So goes the title of a very simple prose (NOVEL)

JIHAD IS TO ISLAM
as
CRUSADE IS TO CHRISTIANITY

Both are violently oriented
Both preach hatred
Both are pretentious
Both are rooted in Abraham or Ibrahim
Both are rooted in the Middle East
Both claim superiority over and above the other
Both are effective tools in the hands of the Imperialists
Both are invented by Mankind
Their Holy books were written by men
The difference in their Timeline is about five hundred years apart.
It has been two thousand years since the advent of these religions
Two thousand years of unabated bloodshed
Two thousand of man against man
Two thousand years of silence
Two thousand years of horrendous killings
Two thousand years....
Yes, two thousand years and still counting...

Yet God is watching.....

The failing of the Nigerian government over the Boko Haram issue is principally that of Jonathan and the PDP. To try to push it to others is not only irresponsible, but dumb as well. It is also pertinent to remind the PDP that the constant reference to certain individuals who said they would make Nigerian “ungovernable” for Jonathan is worn. There is not a single shred of evidence that Nigeria would have been better governed under Jonathan if that statement had not been made. Besides, if anyone, by words alone, can commandeer the magnitude of destruction as Boko Haram has done, then Jonathan should quietly hand over the Presidency to such people. If they can confound the state even without executive power, then we can channel their competence to more productive uses.

For hundreds of years, x has been the go-to symbol for the unknown quantity in mathematical equations. So who started this practice?

Algebra was born in the Middle East, during the Golden Age of medieval Islamic civilization (750 to 1258 AD), and its early form can be seen in the work of Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi and his 9th century book, Kitab al-jabr wal-muqabala (al-jabr later morphing into algebra in English). During this heyday, Muslim rule and culture had expanded onto the Iberian Peninsula, where the Moors encouraged scholarship in the sciences and math.

So what does this have to do with the letter "x" in math? In a recent TED talk, the director of The Radius Foundation, Terry Moore, posited that the the use of "x" in this way began with the inability of Spanish scholars to translate certain Arabic sounds, including the letter sheen (or shin). According to Moore, the word for "unknown thing" in Arabic is al-shalan, and it appeared many times in early mathematical works. (For example, you might see "three unknown things equals 15," with the "unknown thing" then being 5.)

But since Spanish scholars had no corresponding sound for "sh," they went with the "ck" sound, which in classical Greek is written with the chi symbol, X. Moore theorizes, as many others before him have done, that when this was later translated into Latin, the chi (X) was replaced with the more common Latin x. This is similar to how Xmas, meaning Christmas, came about from the common practice of religious scholars using the Greek letter chi (X) as a shorthand for "Christ."

The principle problem with Moore's explanation is that there is no direct documented evidence to support it. More speculatively, people translating the works would not care about phonetics, but the meaning of the words. So whether they had a "sh" or not one would think would be irrelevant. Despite the lack of direct evidence and flaws in the argument, it nonetheless remains a very popular origin theory, even among many academics. (Do a quick Google search and you'll find many a PhD in mathematics parroting this theory.)

The 1909-1916 edition of Webster's Dictionary, among others, also puts forth a similar theory, although stating that the Arabic word for the singular "thing," "shei," was translated into the Greek "xei," and later shortened to x. Dr. Ali Khounsary also notes that the Greek word for unknown, xenos, also begins with x, and the convention could simply have been born of an abbreviation. But here, again, we have a lack of any direct documented evidence to support these theories.

As for a documented theory, we turn to the great philosopher and mathematician, René Descartes (1596-1650). It's entirely possible Descartes did not come up with the practice of using "x" for an unknown, perhaps borrowing it from someone else, but at least as far as documented evidence that has survived to today goes, he seems to be the creator of the practice, as noted by the OED and the phenomenal work by Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematical Notations (1929). At the least, Descartes' helped popularize the practice.

Specifically, in his landmark work, La Géométrie (1637), Descartes solidified the movement to symbolic notation by instituting the convention of using the lowercase letters at the beginning of the alphabet for known quantities (e.g., a, b and c) and using those at the end of the alphabet for unknown quantities (e.g., z, y and x).

Why? And why x more than y, and z for unknowns? Nobody knows. It has been speculated that the prominence of x being used more than y and z for unknowns in this work had to do with typesetting; one story goes that it was Descartes' printer who suggested x be the principle unknown in La Géométrie because it was the letter least used and so the one he had more letter blocks available to use. Whether this is true or not, Descartes used the x to be an unknown at least as early as 1629 in various manuscripts, well before La Géométrie. And, indeed, it would seem he had not come to any hard rules on x, y, and z indicating unknowns; in some manuscripts from this time, he actually used x, y, and z to represent known quantities, casting even further doubt on the supposed "unknown thing" translation theories listed above.

So, in the end, by all appearances, Descartes simply arbitrarily chose the letters to represent different things in his works as was convenient and it just so happened in his landmark work, La Géométrie, he decided the specific variable nomenclature, perhaps, on a whim.

Whatever the case, as with Descartes' notation for powers (x3), after the publication of La Géométrie, the use of x as a principle unknown (as well as the more general tradition of a, b, c = knowns and x, y, z = unknowns) gradually caught on. And the rest, as they say, is mathematical history.

http://gizmodo.com/why-we-use-x-as-the-unknown-in-math-1657254357

Following General Sani Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, General Abdulsalami Abubakar assumed power. A month later on July 13, 1998, apparently having seen evidence of monumental looting of the treasury by his late predecessor, then Head of State instituted the Special Investigation Panel to establish “cases of swindled public funds and recover same back to the federal government coffers”. The panel was also to identify the culprits and recover all properties or assets illegally acquired by the culprits.

Within a matter of days, the panel had secured records from the apex back which revealed that between November 1994 when he took over and June 1998 when he died, Abacha had taken from the CBN funds totaling $2,263,520,497 in cash withdrawals, travelers cheques and telegraphic transfers, in the name of “security vote”. However, the job of the panel was made easy by the fact that one of the Abacha family associates, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu (currently a senator representing Kebbi Central) was ready to cooperate by returning some of the loot.

The first yield came just a few weeks after Abacha’s death when the CBN Director of Foreign Operations, Mr. M. R. Rasheed, on 21 September 1998 acknowledged receiving from Bagudu the sum of US$604,743,187.19 and GB £60,090,984.93. There was an additional GB £ 5.25 million from Bagudu a few days later to complete what was considered full and final settlement with the Federal Government. And with that, on May 26, 1999, just three days before handing over power, General Abubakar promulgated Decree 53 of 1999 on forfeiture of assets by certain persons which listed the monies returned by the Abachas.

The import of the decree was that the family of Abacha and some of their conduits like Bagudu, Gilbert Chagoury, Mark Risser et al would not face any civil or criminal prosecution on account of the forfeitures. But a few months after President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed power on May 29, 1999, it became evident that Abacha and his cronies had actually fleeced Nigeria to the tune of about $ 4 billion in several deals that included inflation of (or unexecuted) contracts, the Ajaokuta debt-buy—back scam, shady oil transactions etc. That began another round of tricky negotiations with the family with then Attorney General and Justice Minister, Mr. Kanu Agabi, SAN, acting on behalf of the federal government.

The yields from those negotiations were: $110 Million from Uri David; $50 million from Abdulkadir Abacha (younger brother to the late Head of State); $170 million from Doraville Properties and various sums totaling hundreds of millions of US Dollars from Switzerland. Since then, the Abacha family, even while instituting several legal actions of its own against the Federal Government, has been seeking a closure to the civil and criminal proceedings in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Spain, New Jersey (USA) etc. as well as at home. That was what the Jonathan administration recently obliged and interestingly, part of the deal is that “the Abacha family would wish to bring assets back to Nigeria so that these could be invested in the Nigerian economy.”

Last week, June 25 to be specific, the Federal Government received the sum of $227 million from the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein as part of the looted funds from the Abachas and another $380 million is expected from Luxembourg within the next two weeks. And quite typically, a committee has been set up by the Jonathan administration, this time on how to spend Abacha loot! Yet for me, since these monies are coming in because of a deal that grants reprieve to the Abacha family, the Federal Government needs to come out clearly to tell us how much has been recovered from 1999 to date, how much has been spent (and on what and when) and what remains (if any). Aside the issue of transparency, the fact also remains that Abacha loot really does not belong to the Federal Government alone but indeed the Federation which means the 36 states and the 774 Local Governments ought also to be beneficiaries.

However, the jury is still out as to whether the deal between the Federal Government and the Abacha family will stand. For instance, Decree 53 promulgated by General Abubakar was premised on the assumption that the Abacha family had “vomited” enough of the loot. Under Obasanjo, there were also three of such agreements that never worked. The first one was in 1999 but the most interesting was that of March 2002. Acting on behalf of the Obasanjo government, Agabi had signed the “Global Settlement Agreement” which also stipulated a complete resolution of all civil and criminal issues worldwide between the government and the Abacha family as well as associates. The seven-page document also did not stand. So, I am waiting to see how this one too will work out and if it does, whether another government will not in future discover reasons why the Abacha family should “cough out” more money.

I know many people have wondered how Abacha was able to take as much money from the Nigerian treasury but the manner in which he did it would make for a bestseller novel because the details are actually stranger than any fiction: His National Security Adviser, Allhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, would make a request, Abacha would endorse and the CBN would release the cash. And it all started less than two weeks after he took over power from Chief Ernest Shonekan.

In a letter dated 30th November 1994, Gwarzo requested for US $100 million to combat “an economy that was deflected and distorted through the black market”. By the arrangement, the dollar was to be sold through Bureau De Change dealers at the then prevailing exchange rate, with a view to mopping up the naira, and beefing up its value. Having apparently been briefed by Abacha, then CBN Governor, Dr. Paul Ogwuma released the cash in the following sums: US $95 million and GB £ 3.2 million. Abacha’s son, the late Ibrahim was to sell the dollars in the black market and remit the naira equivalent to the CBN through Gwarzo. The transaction was indeed carried out even though the money eventually returned to the CBN was not up to what was received.

However, the import of that first transaction was that Abacha had realized just how easy it was to directly take money out of the CBN and that became a perfect scam for him. All that was then needed was a letter from Gwarzo seeking approval for any sum of money in the guise of “security” and the CBN would release such demand in cash. So primitive was the whole arrangement that the principal job of some security officials was to be bagging and re-bagging millions of Dollars and Pound Sterling. The following are a few of the documented transactions:

On February 13and 15, 1995 Gwarzo collected US$200,000 and US$600,000 respectively (totaling $800,000) from the CBN. This was sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 15th February, 1995 in which he requested for US dollars $4 million and GB£ 2million “to take care of some developments in a number of areas…” The $800,000 was part payment for the approved sum of US $4 million while the balance was paid in Travellers’ Cheques. On 29th December 1995, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sum of US $5 million based on Abacha’s approval of his letter to deal with “situation at hand”!

The reasons given in many of the letters seeking approval to take money out of the CBN beggar belief but having “started small”, Abacha apparently became more emboldened with time. On 23rd August, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $30 million from the CBN following Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 20th August 1996, requesting for the said money to “assist our immediate neighbours and others within this sub-region”. On 18th December, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $ 66.5 million and GB £20 million following Abacha’s approval of his letter to meet “some requests from Heads of State of some Francophone countries, and to cultivate African solidarity.”

A month later on 30th September, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $ 50 million and GB £20 million from the CBN sequel to his letter dated 24th September 1996, requesting for the money to “prop some African and other Third World countries” to assist in Nigeria’s “democratization and economic recovery”. On 28th April, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $60 million GB £30 million sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 22nd April 1997, in which he requested for the said sums for “public relations to international communities and organizations”.

On 9th July, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $ 5 million from the CBN following Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 23rd May, 1997 to meet all “demands and commitments as directed”. A month later on 8th December, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $120 million and GB £50 million sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 26th November 1997. And on 19th January, 1998, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $100 million and GB£ 50 million to “counter insinuations that (Lt. General Oladipo) Diya’s coup was not real, and the government framed them to remove and replace the coupists with stooges.”

The interesting thing about this particular transaction was that while re-bagging the money, “four cartons containing a total of about US$ 8 million were set aside” in Gwarzo’s own residence, while the balance of US $57 million and GB£ 30 million were delivered to the late Head of State through Mohammed Abacha. On 25th October, 1997, Gwarzo collected US$ 80 million and GB £40 million “to sponsor military intervention in Sierra Leone, and garner support for same in the West African Sub-region.” On 30th April, 1998, a few weeks before Abacha died, Gwarzo collected US $ 80 million, GB £50 million and N250 million based on his letter dated 29th April 1998 for the conduct of an enlightenment campaign on the “virtues” of an “Abacha Presidency”.

On 5th July, 1996, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sum of US $8.1 million and GB £ 5.2 million based on his request dated 14th June 1996, to support five presidential aspirants in the Niger Republic general elections. On 21st February, 1997, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $60 million and £20 million for “pro-Nigeria propangada” abroad. On 1st April, 1998, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $65 million and GB £30 million for “Public Relations at home and abroad, to counter the European Union campaign against the transition programme.” On the 8th of May, 1996 Gwarzo collected US $3 million and US $9 million respectively from the CBN. Out of this sum, he reportedly sent US $ 7 million (on behalf of Abacha) to then President Matthew Kerekou of Benin Republic as “assistance to the country to pay outstanding workers’ salary” while US $2 million was for Kerekou himself.

On 13th November, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $5 million and GB £3 million from the CBN based on his letter dated 7th November, 1996 “to take care of foreign dignitaries who will attend the burial ceremonies of the first President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.” On 10th September, 1997, Gwarzo collected US$ 60 million and GB£ 30million from the CBN “to finance a campaign for a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations Organisation.” On 9th December, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $5 million from the CBN sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 21st November, 1996 in which he requested the said sum “to finance the purchase of ten Toyota Land Cruisers, and ten Peugeot 505 saloons for the Republic of Mali”.

I can go on and on because the list is actually very long but I believe the point is already made, even though it need to be said that more than half of the entire money was diverted to the private accounts of Abacha and his cronies, rather than for the purposes for which they were collected.

If you are appointed to head CAN, how will you tackle materialistic tendencies among men of God?

I reject that appointment in the name of Jesus.

How can it be checked?

As a man of God, we should think about how our members will get to the next level of their lives. We should think of how people who don’t have a house will get a roof over their heads; how the unemployed can earn a living. We ought to organise skill acquisition programmes and get more people empowered. That is how church leaders should think. But we have a situation where the leaders take from their followers to enrich themselves.

It does appear that there is trouble in churches?

Now, I need to talk about the recent issue affecting the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayo Oritsejafor. Ayo lacks the spiritual endowment required to lead CAN. I am worried because I am a Christian ambassador, an anointed prophet of God and I know what it takes to lead people. My advice is that the old people in the affairs of CAN should retire. We need people with ideas and spiritually endowment. Ayo is not endowed and he should face his career as a pastor. He is too busy for the CAN leadership and cannot lead Christendom. He is an entrepreneur and many things are wrong with the leadership of CAN. Christians should pray that God will send in somebody who will put things right and move CAN forward.

How do you rate Pastor Enoch Adeboye’d recent defence of the CAN President?

Pastor Adeboye can defend Ayo Oritsejafor; that is his own business. In Nigeria, we need to make spiritual enquiries about who climbs into leadership positions. I only talk about issues as spiritually directed by the Almighty God. God may have directed Pastor Adeboye to vouch for the CAN President, but God has not directed me. Christian leaders in this country have turned to political instruments.

http://newtelegraphonline.com/oritsejafor-lacks-capacity-to-lead-can-primate-ayodele/

How do you feel attaining and even surpassing the Biblical age of three scores and 10?

I feel 76, and you can see that yourself.

Looking back, is there anything that you would have done, especially at your younger age that you left undone?

There was nothing that I was supposed to do at any point in time that I didn’t do, and I have always justified my actions.

Does it mean that you don’t have any regrets for any of the actions you took in the past?

I don’t regret anything I have done because people in my position would think about things over and over again before doing them. And if there was anything that I thought about so well before doing it, I shouldn’t go about regretting it. I go along and suffer the consequences, if there is any negative one. That’s the way I see it.

What of your role as the leader of the defunct Association for a Better Nigeria (ABN), which many still blame for spearheading the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by late Chief MKO Abiola?

Those who are making reference to it are very wise men though they have forgotten that our actions were heavily supported across the country. At that time, I was deemed to be a vagabond. My colleagues and I were abused and insulted everywhere, but all of a sudden, going for election, it’s now a novelty. By the time I formed ABN, there was nothing at all of such nature; you go and burn tyres on the streets; you go and kill people and use their heads for juju, but we stood firm to say that we want this done. I believe that we got what we wanted. So, it is for you to assess our actions in your own way.

For us, I got what we wanted. We said cancel the election and eventually they cancelled the election. We said don’t count the votes, but they counted the votes. So, how do you measure success? In the middle of that, I have run elections, where I adopted five different political parties, and each time I go to any political party, we win. How do you define a good politician other than the man who contests an election and wins?

Are you saying that you are proud of the annulment even when some people believe that it stopped the process of handover of power from military to the democratic government? It also led to the consequent long stay by the military in power.

Yes, I do. I am proud that we cancelled the election. I wanted the election cancelled and it was cancelled.

If you have such an opportunity again, will you take a similar action?

Ten times over if the circumstances are the same.

You were in the Senate in the Second Republic as well as in the current dispensation between 1999 and 2007. How would rate the National Assembly then and now?

It would be unfair to start criticising my colleagues in the National Assembly. If I have anything to say about their performance, I will say it to them privately. If I have any reason to criticise them, I will go to them privately; I won’t go to the streets.

There is a general belief that Nigeria’s democracy is expensive compared to other advanced democracies across the world. There is also the belief that it is responsible for the high overhead cost which in turn leaves little or nothing for developmental projects. What do you make of this?

It depends on which aspect you are looking at. There is no way you can practise democracy anywhere in the world without spending money. Money is involved at all stages.

A lot of people had expected that you would be at the National Conference. What stopped you from being at the discourse to contribute in charting the course for a new Nigeria?

I have always been somebody who listens to the majority and plays according to the majority. As for the confab, I was not feeling too well when it was going on and I was abroad trying to get treatment. So, I cannot comment on anything that took place at the conference.

I don’t know whether you have read some of the recommendations of the confab, especially the approval for the creation of 18 new states. Do we really need more states?

Yes, we do. The South-East in particular needs an additional state so that we can be at par with other geo-political zones of the country.

But there is an argument that new states will place more financial burden on the nation.

I don’t think so. It is a national burden, and we should all share it equally. It is not good enough to say we should carry on with the current arrangement, while the injustice as a result of the imbalance in the state structure remains.

Do you see Ndigbo closing ranks on where the new state should be carved out from because there are several agitations at the moment, including that of Urashi State being championed by you?

A new state for the South-East should be the proposed Urashi State, which I am still championing.

Why do you think Urashi should be given preference ahead of others like Aba, Njaba, Adada and Etiti?

Can you skip this question, please? I am fighting for a new state and we have done the necessary presentations in Abuja. Should I sit down here and start criticising it?

Some political leaders in the North are of the view that the cry of marginalisation should not be the basis for an additional state for the South-East. Their argument is that the zone doesn’t deserve another state given its landmass and population. What is your take on that, and do you see a sixth state addressing the issue of marginalisation?

Yes, it will address the issue of marginalisation. Those who are saying that we don’t deserve an additional state are expressing their personal opinion, and I believe that they seized the opportunity of the confab to advance their argument. But go and read the confab report and see whether they are right or wrong. Somebody has to be right or wrong. I am right while they are wrong.

The 2015 elections are fast approaching. What are your thoughts on the elections?

I am afraid if we can get good democracy because too many people are being vicious. One has to be careful now that we are discussing it. So, let’s see how it goes.

Your party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term. What do you make of that?

Like I said before, I am a party man; I am an establishment man. You will never see me fighting the authorities. I have learnt to either go under or above in politics; never go through the middle. At 76, I must be sensible how I play my politics. It is either I go under or above; never in the middle.

How do you see the All Progressives Congress and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s challenge to your party?

That’s their entitlement; they are playing democracy.

Are you not worried that the APC would be banking on Buhari’s popularity in the North and the support of the South-West to unseat the PDP in the forthcoming presidential election?

That is hypothetical. Let’s wait until the time comes.

A popular Islamic cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi, recently advised both President Jonathan and Gen. Buhari against contesting the election, saying violence will erupt whichever way the result goes. What is your take on that?

Is that what he really said?

The advice was contained in two separate open letters he sent to the President and Gen. Buhari.

No comment because I haven’t read it.

You recently endorsed the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, to govern Imo State come 2015. Do you still maintain that position and what informed it?

Yes I do, because he is the best out of those who have been presented at the moment. Unless something comes up, I am still where I am, and that is on the side of Emeka (Ihedioha).

Was your decision informed by the clamour for zoning by the people of Owerri zone, where Ihedioha hails from?

For me, Ihedioha is the best for now. Something may happen tomorrow. I may decide to run.

But the people of Okigwe zone are insisting that they should be allowed to complete their tenure which was cut short in 2011 by Governor Rochas Okorocha’s victory, before the governorship position goes to another zone.

I am not a believer in consensus. If you get 10 members of a consensus club, the definition of consensus will never be the same. So, where do you want to drive me into if you cannot agree among yourselves? Are we being democratic? The answer is no. If we want to be democratic, we should be ready to compete.

Don’t you see your support for Ihedioha pitching you against the people of your zone, who are insisting that the Imo governorship contest should be thrown open?

Those who are opposed to this should go to the polling booths to fight it. What do you want us to do? Is it not to make a choice, which we are making at the moment? If you don’t believe in what I am saying, then go and do your own. That is the simple thing to do.

Do you see Ihedioha upstaging the incumbent governor?

It is easy. If you do a proper assessment of the capabilities of those in the race and who have been winning elections in the past, you will know whether Mr. A or B is suitable to be the governor of Imo State come 2015. We will win again if that is what you are asking me. The PDP will win Imo State in 2015.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has tactically endorsed President Jonathan’s re-election bid. Where do you stand on this, as some dissenting voices are saying that it was done in a hurry?

You are singing my song for me. Aga akpaya akpa (it must be discussed). When the time comes, we will talk. Right now, I can’t see how we can be more Jonathan than Jonathan himself. Before yesterday, the man had not opened his mouth to say that he wants to be president.

It was only on Friday (two weeks ago) that he made it clear that he wants to run. All the statements he made in the past were playing what I call the Abacha (late Gen. Sani Abacha) game. He (Abacha) was very lucky, sitting down there and every group came to pledge their loyalty to him and offered their votes, and he said nothing.

He would just put on his sun glasses and shake his head; after that the people would go away. The five parties then all went to Abacha; where is democracy in that? And that’s what might happen to Jonathan, everybody is going there, pledging their votes; all groups and parties. We will wait and see.

What does the return of the Abacha kind of politics portend for Nigeria’s polity?

You said it is democracy, isn’t it? So, they are all playing it the way they understand. That was why I told you earlier that the first thing to do as a leader is to get the people whom you are promoting to define what they want.

How do you define consensus?

Agreement by the majority… Fine! And the only way to do it is to talk, isn’t it? So, we are talking.

What do you make of the security situation in the country, especially the Boko Haram insurgency, which is ravaging the North-East?

It is a child’s play if you compare what is happening in a country of over 150 million to what is going on in countries with less than 10 million population. So, don’t lose sleep over it; it is nothing.

Many Nigerians will not agree with you on this, given the level of destruction in the affected areas.

Then they should keep their disagreement. You people (media) blow this thing so much as if we are coming from the fire of hell. We are not. We are 150 million people. What do you expect; that some of us will fold our hands and go to bed? No! But I believe we will overcome it like any other country.

Are you not worried that the rising insecurity could lead to the realisation of the prediction by an American study group some years back that Nigeria will cease to exist by 2015?

Show me the report! Bring the report and we will discuss. Who has seen this report and where was it published? Nobody! Meanwhile, people address press conferences and make references to what they have not seen.

Finally, Senator Arthur Nzeribe is mostly described in the media as a maverick politician. How did that come to be?

(Laughs) No answer.

http://newtelegraphonline.com/arthur-nzeribe-if-given-another-chance-ill-ensure-june-12-annulment-again/

Here are the stories making headline news this week.

1. Jonathan & Sanusi, Reconcile. The one wey concern me is that the NNPC’s book is yet to be reconciled with Nigeria’s treasury.


2. Madness in Abia State. Gov. Orji heading to the Senate. His wife to the House. His son to the state House of Assembly as speaker. Mumu Abia.

3. UK government to return £6.8 million Ibori loot to Nigeria. Can someone please create a harshtag that says Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

4. Boko Haram: CAN demands NSA Dasuki's resignation. Why? Something to do with Oritsejafor's plane and the mission to Johannesburg?

5. Did I hear that a judge is threatening to arrest Prophet T.B. Joshua? Children of nowadays don't fear anymore. Chai! Arrest a spirit?

6. "I left Deeper Life Church because a TV set was called a Devil's box" -Tunde Bakare. I can only imagine what the church calls condom.

7. Dangote reduces cement price to N1000. Clap for him. One day he will reduce the Fed. Govt. to a branch of his limited liability company.

8. It's a shame Keshi agreed to come back-Ex-international. Yes. Especially when other offers were falling all over him, almost crushing him.

9. Kano Pillars are Nigerian league champions for 3rd consecutive time. Yet, I cannot find their jersey to buy on Amazon. Nigerian football sef.

10. Oritsejafor not as close to Jonathan as many people think – Helen, wife. We see pictures. If he gets any closer Patience will scream & yell.

11. Ceasefire: Nigerians will like to know how Jonathan got swindled by impostors – APC. This APC sef! Must Jonathan explain every small mistake?

12. 2015: Jonathan warns against ‘do or die’ ambition among office seekers. But he started it this time around. He should’ve warned himself first.

13. Mubi: 300 Nigerian soldiers flee to Cameroon again. These newspapers sef! Must you call it flee? Whatever happened to tactical maneuver?

14. Jonathan Is An Embarrassment To Ph.D Holders - UNILAG Prof. Well, people who have no shoes are also mortified by his performance.

15. New Video: Shekau denies ceasefire, says Chibok girls have converted to Islam, married off. I thought the FG arrested Shekau’s technology guy.

I learned early that I am not intelligent. To make up for this flaw, I thought to learn from anything and everything. In life, I find that there are lessons from every source - if only, we are willing to learn them.

This is why I love Science.I find that with Science, nothing is absolute. Science is always seeking to improve itself and often professes that it's knowledge is still evolving.

This is the same reason I dread adamant systems like culture, religion, etc. I really dread them because I find that there are so repulsively over-confident in their claims, not minding that certain things could (and would) change.

For example, all my life, religions profess that worshiping GOD (or their idea of GOD) is bound to give you a life on earth full of 'HIS' blessings and afterwards, eternal reign with the KING (GOD). They profess that these blessings include, but not limited to, long life, great marriages, answered prayers, perfect health, wealth, et al.

Nevertheless, every year, I see GOD's Generals who die before 70 (what religion claims is the benchmark of a long life), you see those challenged with divorces, money laundering scandals, poverty, ill health, et cetera.

These show me that these religious people experience the same fate as non-religious people in different areas. Using deductive reasoning, we can scientifically assume that as humans we all are likely to live long or not, fall ill or not, pass that examination or not, get our prayers answered or not (irrespective of religious biases). For truth is, for every miraculous breakthrough a religious person has gotten, non-religious people have equally gotten same. For every cancer non-religious people have suffered, religious people have also suffered same!

Hence, this begs the question: if religious people can be so wrong about the present realm (THE SEEN); why then are we afraid to question their claims of the future realm (THE UNSEEN)?

MORE

CHILDREN

Otunba Subomi Balogun

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

Alake of Egbaland-OBA GBADEBO

Nasir El Rufai

Celebrant with wife and children.

More.........................

Children of the celebrant

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State

First Child and daughter of the celebrant

Commander Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi

More pictures

Mrs Layide Bakare

-OLUSEGUN OSUNKEYE
-TUNDE BAKARE AND WIFE
-OBY EZEKEWESILI