₦airaland Forum

Oladele Sunmonu Giwa(16 March 1947 - 19 October 1986)

Let us believe that one-day, the Question: “Who Killed Dele Giwa?” would be answered to the satisfaction of the whole world.

Question 1: For the first time in the history of Ondo state, a governor has been reelected for a second term. Which of these Bola Tinubu allied Political Action Committees (PAC) lost in the election that has Gov. Mimiko as the winner?
(a) Asiwaju Corporation of Nigeria (ACN).
(b) National Association of Godfathers of Governors.
(c) International Association of Marijuana Marketers.
(d) Association of Party Leaders who betray their presidential candidates for $100 million dollars.
(e) AMORC & Ogboni Emeritus Inc
(f) None of the above
(g) All of the above.

Question 1: For the first time in the history of Ondo state, a governor has been reelected for a second term. Which of these Bola Tinubu allied Political Action Committees (PAC) lost in the election that has Gov. Mimiko as the winner?
(a) Asiwaju Corporation of Nigeria (ACN).
(b) National Association of Godfathers of Governors.
(c) International Association of Marijuana Marketers.
(d) Association of Party Leaders who betray their presidential candidates for $100 million dollars.
(e) AMORC & Ogboni Emeritus Inc
(f) None of the above
(g) All of the above.

Question 2: What was Boko Haram commander doing at a top politician’s home in Maiduguri when he was arrested?
(a) He was looking at unclad pictures of Cossy Orjiakor.
(b) He was reading the book, 50 Shades of Gray.
(c) He was watching Dr. Damages Show.
(d) He was frozen in horror after listening to Tonto Dikeh’s song on itune.
(e) He was watching the video of Patience Jonathan’s return from Germany, waiting for the president to kiss Patience.
(f) He was mimicking the dance step of Adeola in Keeping it Real.
(g) He was watching the latest Nollywood hit, Osuofia Steals a Widow’s Mite.

Question 3: London’s Daily Mail accused Bishop David Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel Church of exploiting its British worshippers. What triggered the newspaper’s suspicion?
(a) One hour joy ride on David Oyedepo’s private jet cost church members $500 instead of the standard $150 paid by Oyedepo’s angels.
(b) Cardinal Anthony Okogie told the newspaper that Oyedepo claims he can dig up an iroko tree with a broom.
(c) An undercover Mail-on-Sunday reporter saw Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Jr., stuffing money from offerings into the underwear of a ‘stripper for Jesus.’
(d) A church member used Queen Elizabeth’s credit card to pay his tithe.
(e) The newspaper became suspicious when David Oyedepo defined pastorpreneurs as “Church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that Christianity commands to feather their nests.”
(f) Church members renting Oyedepo’s Rolls-Royce Phantom at $250/hr are required to wash it before returning it to the church- something no other rental company in the world requires.
(g) An FBI artistic impression of the man who slapped a 10-year old ‘witch for Jesus’ girl at a night vigil is a carbon copy of David Oyedepo.

Question 4: To celebrate Sallah, Kano State government will spend N1.7 billion naira for ram bonuses for its civil servants. What better use could they have put the money to?
(a) To arrange mass marriages for 100,000 widows.
(b) To buy Mercedes Benz 200 MLC for the girlfriends of all the Emirs in the state.
(c) To convert Gen. Sani Abacha’s home into a Museum for Sustainable Democracy and Advance Governance.
(d) To rebuild churches in Kano bombed by Boko Haram Islamic group.
(e) To provide an alternative career to the prostitutes of Gida.
(f) To finish a nuclear power station planned for the North-eastern part of Kano.
(g) To commission paintings of groundnut pyramids at parks and other public spaces for school children to see what it looks like.

Question 5: Why was Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala named Forbes magazine’s top 100 most powerful women in the world?
(a) Because she wrote a Biography of Chinua Achebe in which she predicted that Achebe would write a personal history of Biafra.
(b) Because the video of her dancing on youtube went viral after Olusegun Obasanjo watched it 2 million times.
(c) Because Mrs. Patience Jonathan could not be reached for consideration- she was on an extended 60-day vacation in Germany.
(d) Because she published the name of the crook who got paid N60 billion fee for negotiating with the Paris Club to pay off Nigeria’s debt.
(e) Because a nurse who works under her husband in the hospital (and is indebted to her) knew the editor of Time magazine whose job it was to add up the points each candidate got.
(f) Because she cooked snails soaked in asparagus for starving Biafran soldiers.
(g) Because she published the names of the people in President Jonathan’s government who squandered $35 billion dollars of Nigeria’s foreign reserve from May 2007 to December 2011.

Question 6: Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, reveals in his memoir, Intervention, that before he died M.K.O. Abiola told him that he was ready to renounce his June 12 mandate. What other things were revealed in the memoir?
(a) That President Bill Clinton called Gen. Sani Abacha, Sir.
(b) That the money Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar cleaned out of Nigeria’s treasury on his way out is now reappearing - used to buy up Nigeria’s power stations.
(c) That Gowon confessed to him that he gave Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun in lieu of a dowry for his fifth wife.
(d) That the last cup of tea MKO Abiola sipped in the presence of the U.S. Under- Secretary of state was delivered by Osama bin Laden’s driver.
(e) That Gen. Ibrahim Babangida buried live cow in Aso Rock which allows Gloria Okon to be invisible while she moves around the corridors of power in Abuja.
(f) The book revealed the exact amount of contract dollars and cents that Kofi Annan illegally directed to his son as the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
(g) All of the above.

Question 7: Why did Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo state punch an aide of Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state?
(a) His girlfriends insisted on flying from Abuja to London first and then London to Lagos just to avoid flying local airlines from Abuja to Lagos.
(b) It was a continuation of the war over who owns Anambra oil wells.
(c) APGA is searching for who will represent it at the 2015 World Boxing Championship.
(d) He got mad because Alex Ekwueme said, “Nigeria is not worth dying for.”
(e) Early voting for Igbo president in 2015 has started.
(f) A woman in his state gave birth to a goat instead of a horse that he had promised.
(g) Gov. Obi’s aide called him an illuminati member.

Question 8: “The Forgotten Documents Of Odia Ofeimun’s Marriages,” has been described as the best column published online this year. Who wrote it?
(a) Sonala Olumhense.
(b) Pius Adesanmi.
(c) Hanatu Musawa.
(d) Okey Ndibe.
(e) Is'haq Modibbo Kawu
(f) Reuben Abati
(g) Simon Kolawole

Question 9: Which of these news stories about 2012 made you sleep well at night?
(a) My step mother attacked me spiritually to make me a robber.
(b) Nigeria almost an anarchy – Alafin of Oyo.
(c) Grandson killed grandparents.
(d) Bible Better than wedding rings as marriage symbol- RCCG
(e) N3.3 trillion naira stolen from LG Pension funds since 1976.
(f) Nigeria is at war – Soyinka.
(g) Nigeria: Still wearing diapers at 52.

Question 10: The Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi said he would not run for President. What else could he be after his term at the CBN?
(a) Nollywood actor who plays Osama bin Laden in movies.
(b) Boko Haram’s substitute accountant.
(c) Vice Chancellor of the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan.
(d) Chief defense attorney in charge of Sharia matters for the underwear bomber, Abdulmutallab.
(e) Personal Assistant to Guru Maharaji
(f) Director-General of Sanusi Tsunami Consultants
(g) Executive Secretary, People for the Ethical Treatment of Wahhabists (PETW)

Bonus Question 11: Which of these old politicians in Nigeria is still alive?
(a) Baba Gana Kingibe
(b) Olu Onaguruwa
(c) Omo Omoruyi
(d) Jim Nwobodo
(e) Alex Akinyele
(f) Jerry Gana
(g) Arthur Nzeribe
(h) None of the above
(i) All of the above.

Answers:
1.) g
2.) c
3.) b
4.) f
5.) b
6.) g
7.) g
8.) c
9.) d
10.) g
11.) i

OFFICIAL STATEMENT RELEASED BY MR OLUWAROTIMI O AKEREDOLU, SAN; THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE OF THE ACN, ON THE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION HELD ON THE OCT. 20, 2012 IN ONDO STATE

It is no longer news that the Returning Officer of INEC has announced the return of the incumbent Governor as elected after the Ondo election. I am conscious of the expectation of our supporters and the general public on our reaction to the outcome of the election.

Let me hasten to state that our party is studying the results and will take a decision on reports of widespread irregularities from our agents and other witnesses. I have been inundated with tales of the brazen acts of violence perpetrated by thugs during the conduct of the election. I still find it difficult to believe that our security agents played the role of partisans of injustice in some areas of the state. There are, however, incontrovertible evidences of attempts at violence and actual perpetration of same against voters before, during and after the election.

I was informed of the arrest of the State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Niran Sule, and the Caretaker Chairman of Owo Local Government, one Prince Ojomo, by soldiers for being in possession of firearms and large sums of money on the morning of election. The news was widely circulated and was later confirmed by several people who witnessed the show of shame. I reliably gathered that the suspects were later released.

I also heard of the heavy monetisation of the voting process, particularly by the Labour Party. I was told of the inducement of voters and violent attacks on those who refused to cooperate with them in virtually all the polling units in the state despite the intimidating presence of the security agencies deployed to protect lives and property. Owo, my hometown, was practically under siege. My unit was, nevertheless bombarded by agents of retrogression who insisted that they must make a point with my contrived defeat in my ward. The resilience of the true sons and daughters of Owo ensured that I won. Adequate security was not provided in my polling units as in most polling unit all over the State as voters were openly suborned. My people still stood firm in anticipation of change. News of the purported defeat in my ward had been sent to the internet even before counting commenced.

There were reports of the arrest of Labour Party chieftains and their sympathisers who were caught with voting materials, especially ballot papers, some few hours to the election. There was news of violence in many towns and villages of the State before, during and immediately after the election. Idanre is being mentioned for sundry reasons. Voters were prevented from voting in some areas where results were returned. Two of our supporters were reportedly killed.

Many eligible voters could not find their names on the register provided at the polling units where they had previously voted. In some polling units the number of accredited voters was less than the results released. Somebody has to explain the difference.

In view of these glaring evidences of irregularities which characterised the exercise, the leadership of the party will be meeting to decide on the next line of action.

I must not fail to thank the good people of Ondo State who supported our aspiration to effect quality change in the system. Their unflinching support and encouragement sustained me throughout my campaign. I cannot forget the show of love and genuine affection. The patience and great expectation of change displayed by all those who came to meet us during our visits to all the nooks and crannies of the State, coupled with the mournful mien worn by many people consequent upon the announcement of the result by INEC, will propel us to defend their interest.

I thank you journalists for the wide coverage given my campaign tours and the liberal spaces provided for my interviews. I express my profound gratitude to all those who provided security for me when the level of intolerance displayed became threatening.

Let me also seize this opportunity to alert Nigerians that agents of the Labour Party have continued to attack my supporters. A party which has truly won an election need not resort to violence soon after victory. Let me sound this note of warning to the hoodlums who terrorise innocent people that they will not be allowed to escape justice. The power of incumbency will not be strong enough to protect banditry.

I call on the government of Ondo State to rein in the excesses of its agents to avert crisis. Our supporters must be allowed to go about their legitimate businesses. There is a limit to what human frailty can withstand.

My undying belief in the country is sufficient to sustain me. I am equally an unrepentant democrat.
We thank our party leaders for their commitment to the project of socio-economic transformation of the region. We fervently believe that their dream will be realised in a short while. An especial mention must be made of the Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, We cannot thank them enough.

Our other leaders such as the Governors and Deputy Governors in ACN controlled states, Senators, members of House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly, party leaders at units, wards, local and state levels were of tremendous assistance. We praise them for their support.

As a legal practitioner of many years, impelled by the consuming passion to chart the murky waters of Nigerian politics, let me assure my friends and supporters that I am learning very fast. My undying belief in the country is sufficient to sustain me. I am equally an unrepentant democrat. I hold onto the ideals of democracy and the rule of law tenaciously. I will continue to join others who truly believe in these precepts to fight for good governance.

OLUWAROTIMI O. AKEREDOLU, ESQ. SAN.

http://campaign.aketi.org/press-statement-by-chief-akande-on-ondo-election-result/

1. Dread Mondays or going to work on any day.
2. Can’t wait for Friday.
3. Are often bored at work.
4. Feel tired or chronically fatigued.
5. Avoid your boss and dread meetings.
6. Have no enthusiasm or sense of self-worth.
7. Feel like you are getting nowhere in your job.
8. Frequently take work stress home.
9. Question your choice of industry or occupation.
10. Can’t think of a way out.

Any of the above 10 sure signs of job dissatisfaction indicate a need for change. The biggest career mistake is to ignore those indicators. A head-in-the-sand mentality can lead to a downward career spiral that ends with disappointment and “what if” regrets.

Here are three great ways to facilitate positive change.

Determine the real problem

Is the problem your boss or employer—or is it that you have chosen the wrong occupation? Before you take any action, make sure you know what needs to change.

Do not make the mistake of throwing away a good career when the problem is really the person you work for. On the flip side, if you are a CPA who does not like doing audit and tax work, then moving from one traditional accounting firm to another is not going to address the fundamental problem.

Update your résumé

Updating your résumé can give you a great confidence boost. You will feel better immediately if you know you are ready whenever opportunity knocks, and it can give you a lift to see all of your accomplishments gathered together in your résumé.

Be careful, however, that your résumé does not resemble a house with too many additions, each resembling a different style. If you have simply added to the same old résumé job after job, it might be time to “tear down that old shack” and rebuild your résumé from the ground up.

How can you tell if your résumé needs a makeover? There are several red flags to watch for, including the following:

* The older material on the résumé has more detail than the newer material.

* Older résumé entries emphasize information not relevant to your current job-search objective.

* The formatting style is not consistent throughout the resume. Font choice, bullet style, and the layout of employer names and dates should be consistent.

You should never present your career with anything less than professional polish.

Brush up on your interview skills.

If you have been on the job for a couple of years, your interview skills are probably rusty. Do not make the mistake of blowing off the first few interviews as practice. They might be the perfect jobs for you.

You will feel much more confident and comfortable if your interview skills are honed before you step into the first interview. To determine your current level of interview expertise, answer the following questions:

* Do you know the toughest interview questions—and how to answer them?

* Can you answer the salary question without compromising the level of starting salary at offer time?

* Can you recognize the most common interview styles—and respond without showing stress?

If you are not sure of the answers, you need to track them down.
Job dissatisfaction is an indication of needed change. Take the steps toward change by investing in the appropriate job-search skills and tools, and you will be in a position to change your
job—and your life—for the better.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2012/CPA/OCT/SignsJobDissatisfaction.jsp

I am really concerned not about the pro-GEJ propaganda of Buhari and his threat of making Nigeria ungovernable for Dr. Jonathan, but of the fact that Nigerians swallowed that hogwash hook, line and sinker and indeed excuse the pitiable state of governance by it. How do we explain the fact that Buhari is the perceived enemy of state yet everytime a Boko Haram leader is caught, there is a connection to a PDP Senator? Why do SSS not capture BH in homes of CPC and ANPP chieftains? We need to start tasking our brains to reason a bit more. According to PISA, the world is getting to that stage when the instrument of trade will be more of intellectual than fiscal. I seriously wonder how we will fare then.

Once upon a time, a man named Tai Solarin and his wife Sheila founded the Mayflower School in Ikenne,Ogun State. The Late Tai Solarin and his wife were unrepentant 'atheists'. Yet, christians, muslims, traditional worshippers sent their kids to the school because of the quality of education. The school flourished and produced some of the best brains in Nigeria of today. In spite of the quality, the school fees wasn't out reach of the average Nigerian family. Tai Solarin and his wife though atheists, their legacy forever lives on. Now the question is, how many 'Christian' families can afford to send their kids to the current 'Christian' private school founded by popular pentecostal movements? Moral of the story, you need not to wear a white collar or grow long beard to impact on humanity. Service to humanity is not a religious matter.

Election Quote of the Day: "Stupidity is when you attempt to cut an Iroko tree with a broom

He was an ebullient journalist whose forte was investigative journalism. He took that brand of journalism to an enviable height before he was murdered on Sunday October 19, 1986 through a parcel bomb at the age of 39.

Twenty-six years ago today, the media world, nay, the whole world was shaken to its foundation by a parcel bomb that exploded in Lagos in the home of the editor-in chief of Newswatch Magazine, Mr Dele Giwa.

By the time the commotion caused by the explosion was over in a matter of minutes, Dele Giwa, one of the world’s best journalists, had been reduced to shreds. Dele Giwa was dead; and the world watched in incredulity.

Shortly before his death he took a critical look on the high rate of shocks and surprises Nigerians undergo daily and wrote: “Nigerians have been shocked to the state of un- shockability.” The journalist was right. Nigerians are able to absorb all these shocks and surprises because our shock absorbers are very strong and reliable. Be that as it may, no matter how strong these shocks may be, it is going to lose its strength and reliability someday.

About two years to his death, on 30th August, 1984, as if he was sure his life would be ended in the most brutal manner, Dele Giwa wrote this: "No evil deed can go unpunished. Any evil done by man to man will be redressed, if not now, then certainly later, if not by man, then certainly by God, for the victory of evil over good can only be temporary."

As we mourn today, let us believe that one-day, the Question: “Who Killed Dele Giwa?” would be answered to the satisfaction of the whole world.

Once again, we must impress it upon compatriots who are validating the civic process by asking appropriate questions about the Presidency's handling of the first lady's health safari - and the attendant circus of her arrival - to ignore the Stockholm Syndromed paracletes of power who are all over social media trying to lay a guilt trip on conscientious Nigerians. How can you descend so low? Why ar...
en't you part of the welcome party? Why aren't you rejoicing over her recovery and return? Isn't it the human thing to do? On and on they drone with guilt tripping nonsensical questions. What they forget is the insufferable, foundational fact of a people insulted one and the repeated time by the Presidency. They forget that the Presidency had insisted - against all evidence - that the First Lady was only taking "a moment's rest" after the arduous task of organizing an African First Ladies' jamboree. So what exactly is the point when these noisemakers hound conscientious citizens for not "displaying the spirit of human kindness by wishing the first lady quick recovery"? Quick recovery from what? From a moment's rest? The owner of the head says she has no headache but AGIP social media noisemakers are accusing citizens picking the bill of the non-headache of not taking panadol on behalf of the owner of the healthy head. Speaking of recovery, where is Prof. Wole Soyinka when you need him? Soyinka once blasted Aondoakaa for speaking from "the four compass points of his mouth". Where is he when you need him to ascertain how many compass points there are in the Presidency's mouth? How can somebody arrive from Germany, deny being hospitalized in one sentence, and in the very next sentence, "thank Nigerians who prayed for her recovery"? When they make up their mind to level with the Nigerian people and tell us what really happened - and don't nobody come up with that canard that she is a private citizen and we don't deserve to know - we shall be in the position to sympathize. For now, it is an insult to ask us to sympathize with a lie.

berem: This night shall be romantic for our President! E no easy to miss madam for almost 2 months.
Singing Marvin Gaye's "Sexxuall Healing"

Mr President must fire on all cylinders tonight.

[quote author=Sisi_Kill]@OP
Is it the Business Plan the Oyedepos and Oyakhilomes of the world have perfected over the years you and the original writer are giving out freely like this?

Let them catch you, the HOLY SLAP you will receive will have you speaking in tongues in no time. [/quote]Intellectual property freely on sale on NAIRALAND

Was she really sick or she went abroad to sign some documents and seal some financial,investment and fund transfer deals?

Op,You can be likened to a derailed train.This topic is not meant for politics!

Professor Chinua Achebe got it all wrong from the title of his latest infamous book, There Was A Country, downright to the contents and this has expectedly generated a lot of controversies capable of dividing us more than unite us. If the foundation is crooked, what should we expect of the structure put on it? Papa Achebe apparently is still getting carried away by his dream of Biafra so much that he forgot that Biafra is a country that never was. There was an attempt by the Eastern Region of Nigeria to secede. That attempt did not materialise. Leaders of the rebellious region surrendered. So, there was never a country. If a celebrated scholar like Prof. Achebe believes that Biafra ever was, then, it is easy for us to deduce the quality of the remaining content of the book. It is apparent that it is going to be nothing but Biafracentric — a country that never was. Like many other writers that have weighed in on the Nigeria Civil War, we know that people will write from their own perspective and their opinion would be coloured, in most cases, by whereever their hearts lie.

Let us examine certain area from the book that has generated so much furor in the polity:

When it comes to how Ojukwu starved his own people to death, by admission of Achebe himself, this is how Rudolf Okonkwo, one of the reviewers of the book, puts it; “Achebe argues that some questions will be debated for generations. One of such questions has to do with the security reasons behind Ojukwu’s rejection of Nigeria’s Federal Government’s proposal for a road corridor for food and the Federal Government’s rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative.”

When it comes to rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Prof. Achebe was quoted as follows:

”It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations.

“However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose — the Nigeria-Biafra war — his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation — eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

This is a wonderful peek into the Biafracentric frame of mind of a man that wrote that attack. So, the Federal Government actually made a proposal for a road corridor for food to the starving women and children of Biafra and Ojukwu rejected it for “security reasons?” That does not really sound like a people with genocidal intentions to me; ask Rwandans if you care to know. Was the Nigerian government not entitled to its own security by making sure that arms were not imported as food supplies? When it comes to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Gowon and their security reasons; Achebe quickly concluded that it was “genocidal” and when it comes to Ojukwu, it will only “be debated for generation.” By the way, are beggars really choosers? You started a war and you are dictating to your opponent on how he can supply you food to sustain the war against him. Did Prof. Achebe know that economic blockade is actually a legitimate weapon of war? It is even used in peace time. Note that this came from Achebe himself in the same book that he has accused Chief Awolowo of genocide; how more ridiculous could the accusation get? I have deliberately decided not to even look outside of the book to shoot down the deliberate and wicked lies of Prof. Achebe. Of course, there is a ton of information out there to put a lie to this assertion. The two sides, according to him, disagreed on how food should be supplied to the hungry children of war, but Awolowo ‘a bloody civilian,’ in the midst of the Army generals is the Grinch that stole Christmas, must be blamed for genocide. Good try professor, but teacher, don’t teach me nonsense!

I am seriously not bothered by the latest outburst of Prof. Achebe against Chief Awolowo. Antagonising the Yoruba and anything not Igbo has been his pastime. He is one of the same persons that lent their false intellectual support to the phantom carpet-crossing in the old Western Region House. He expressed dissatisfaction with Wole Soyinka’s winning the Nobel Prize and has always had contempt for anything not originating from the East side of River Niger. I know that for a man who has been writing fiction for over 50 years of his life, and has milked one fiction book for the better part of his life, it may have become difficult for him to differentiate between fiction and facts. But I am concerned with how his latest work would affect the already very fragile nation, both in content and timing. One would have thought that a man of 81 years would have grown beyond the prejudices he has carried in his heart for over 40 years. One would have thought that an 81-year-old man would work to foster unity, bridge gap, use the opportunity presented by writing his war memoirs more to heal wounds and preach forgiveness and brotherhood, rather than making a futile attempt at re-establishing the phantom Igbo dominance and superiority over others and further driving a wedge between Igbo people and other Nigerians.

I am one of the people that believe that we have not told the story of the Nigerian Civil War enough. I believe there are many questions that are still left unanswered. This is why it pained me to bone marrow that Chief Ojukwu, the number one hero of that war, failed to write his memoir. But then, people will be more interested in a dispassionate analysis of the war; the one that tells the story robustly, as it was. I really do not have to wait for the book to have a fair understanding of the content as is being advocated by some sympathisers of Prof. Achebe. I have read a few reviews of the book with some disturbing quotes and jejune conclusion from the professor, especially the review done by my friend Rudolf, a man whose writing I follow religiously and it is always a delight to read Rudolf.

The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages even when many Igbo have come and saw for themselves; how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yorubaland, the lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.

The name Awolowo represents one of the brightest spots in the history of Yoruba people. This latest attack on him is an attack on Yoruba history and its people and it has raised this pertinent question for Yoruba people ‘What do they really want from us?’

It is on record that a party later came to be known as Zik’s party, the NCNC, was actually led at inception by a Yoruba man, Sir Herbert Macaulay, and Dr. Azikiwe served as his secretary, it is on record that many Yoruba people were members and moved out en masse when Zik made an infamous statement to Ibo Union that God had sent Igbo race to liberate Nigeria and he started using his West African Pilot newspaper to drive Igbo agenda. It was Zik that turned NCNC from national party to Igbo party. Despite the insultive utterances, the party was still popular in the West, until Zik insisted on ruling the Western Region against common sense and the people gave their votes to Action Group to form the government. People like Achebe came up with tribalism theory against Awolowo. In their selective ignorance they forgot that Azikiwe went back to the East to drive away Eyo Ita who was the Prime Minister because he was from the minority tribe. Nobody talks about that. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Chief Awolowo approached Dr. Azikiwe during the 1959 elections when no clear leader emerged to give Action Group votes to him so that Azikiwe could become the Prime Minister and he Awolowo, the Finance Minister, but Zik turned him down and traded Prime Ministership for ceremonial presidency with Tafawa Balewa. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that NPC/NCNC alliance was used for maximum effect to oppress the Yoruba and other minorities of the South with Igbo people taking about 97 per cent of whatever was due to the South in a country that understood only North/South dichotomy; that the so-called Igbo dominance (at the federal level) is traceable to this evil and oppressive alliance. With federal might, they installed Igbo vice-chancellors in universities in Yorubaland, which was and is still not practicable in their own clime. We did not bulge neither did the Yoruba people complain. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Dr. Azikiwe’s alliance with Northern People Congress railroaded Chief Awolowo to the prison and he never lifted a finger to support him. It is also on record that Tafawa Balewa offered Chief Obafemi Awolowo Deputy Prime Ministership in prison, if he would support him, but great Awo turned it down. When Aguiyi-Ironsi seized power, he freed all political prisoners and despite Chief Awolowo’s passionate plea for his case to be considered, Aguiyi-Ironsi ignored him. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that the coup carried out by mostly Igbo soldiers in 1966 killed mostly the leadership of the North and West. We do not know if Awolowo would have survived, if he was not in prison. They killed almost all the most senior Yoruba military officers and even callously murdered Brigadier Ademulegun, his pregnant wife and Col. Ralph Shodeinde for no apparent reason in a coup supposedly directed at corrupt civilians. The only high-ranking member of NCNC that was killed, Chief Okotie-Eboh, was not Igbo and had problem with Mbadiwe on the Finance portfolio that he held. The latter wanted the ‘juicy’ portfolio, but Tafa Balewa rebuffed him. Yet, we did not start pogrom against Igbo residing in the West. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi, a Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-Ironsi; it is on record that Prof. Soyinka and Dr. Tai Solarin went to jail for the Biafran cause. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that despite everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo went to Enugu in company of Prof. Sam Aluko and Mariere to persuade Ojukwu not to start the war yet; that he should give him the opportunity to mediate; that Ojukwu gave him his words to tarry a little bit but declared a war immediately Awo stepped out of Enugu. What do they really want from us?

I am not surprised; Prof. Achebe did not disappoint in his latest work. I believe, therefore, that Prof. Achebe is entitled to his selective senility and convenient amnesia; it is only left for us, people of goodwill, to put the record straight for posterity’s sake. Igbo intellectuals of good conscience should help to re-orientate their youths that have been grossly miseducated, misinformed and disinformed by people like Achebe. It is in their interest to do so.

Ayo Turton Esq. is the National Legal Counsel to Egbe Omo Yoruba USA and Canada.

I am of the opinion that Biafran war leaders should be sent to the ICJ(Hague) for crimes against humanity.

Those leaders are supposed to be tried for deceiving their people to fight a war they were not prepared for. The Igbo leaders who deceived their people to fight the civil war without arms and ammunition should be tried for crimes against humanity. They were not prepared for the war, yet they made use of their propaganda machine to deceive the igbos to fight the war.

tslimpez: Yes! My current boyfriend doesn't hAve a job.....we've dated for a year plus now And I still love him..I know d future is bright. So money can't buy love.money cAn only buy trouble

roma[b]NCE[/b] without fi[b]NANCE[/b] is nuis[b]ANCE[/b]

Wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Rotimi Akeredolu should simply go and demand for a refund from INEC The ACN candidate based on today's debate and his inability to articulate his own policy. Akeredolu is simply not prepared for governance! He was roundly reduced to play the role of an onlooker by Segun Mimiko of Labour party and Sola Oke of PDP in tonight's debate

Even Bankole is saying that Nigeria has bad leaders just like Boko Haram is condemning Aluu killing. These are the wonders of Nigeria

MAULAG-Mama Awon University

I knew Achebe as a fiction writer, not a grudge writer. He's well versed in writing fiction but I don't know why he dabble, at old age, to writing history with a grudge. If he couldn't get the Nobel Prize with his damned good fiction, I don't see how he can get it with this tribalistic history.

Soni Akoji wrote:

INFORMATION:

A set of new words have been officially added to the English Dictionary-:
...

1) ALUU - A cursed, devilish, babaric village, hidden at a remote part of the country some kilometers away from a high institution.

2) ALUUITE - A babaric indigene of ALUU

3) ALUUEE - A person who is ALUUED

4) ALUUOLOGY - The study of babaric way of treating the human race without trial, evidendence or mercy

5) ALUUCRACY - Government of babarians, by the babaric for the barbarians.

6) ALUUISM- The political babaric ideology of barbaric practice

ALUUISH- Having the appearance of ALUU.

Pls beware of any community that starts with A and ends with U.

Aliko Dangote
Mike Adenuga
Olisa Agbakoba

The trio to be part of a committee on flooding.

floriana: @NigeriaNewsdesk: Nigeria's 1st lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is being treated for cancer of the uterus at Horst Schmidt Klinik in Wiesbaden, Germany: PM News

Its getting interesting.
1. Rest
2. Food poisoning
3. Ruptured appendicitis
4. Tummy tuck
5. Full body work
6. Fibroids removal
7. Parkinson disease
8. And now cancer of the uterus
9. ??

1-7 was reported by Sahara Reporters but PM news has broken another ground with number 8. Why won't Jonathan just open up and tell the nation what's up?

The constant metamorphosis of an ailment

WORDS ON MARBLE! Abacha died in the Villa, Obasanjo’s wife died in the Villa, Yar’Adua lost his life in the Villa.... Let us PRAY for Dame Jonathan and not Probe into her health” Dr Doyin Okupe

In the dying days of Yar'adua, most of us criticized Turai for doing all she could to mislead us. And we particularly sympathized with Jonathan being the vice. Now Okupe is saying we have no right to "probe and question"! To empathise we need to know what her situation is. What planet are these people from?!!!

Almost 30 years before Rwanda, before Darfur, more than 2 million people – mothers, children, babies, civilians – lost their lives as a result of the blatantly callous and unnecessary policies enacted by the leaders of the federal government of Nigeria.

As a writer I believe that it is fundamentally important, indeed essential to our humanity, to ask the hard questions, in order to better understand ourselves and our neighbours. Where there is justification for further investigation, justice should be served.

In the case of the Nigeria-Biafra war there is precious little relevant literature that helps answer these questions. Did the federal government of Nigeria engage in the genocide of its Igbo citizens – who set up the republic of Biafra in 1967 – through punitive policies, the most notorious being "starvation as a legitimate weapon of war"? Is the information blockade around the war a case of calculated historical suppression? Why has the war not been discussed, or taught to the young, more than 40 years after its end? Are we perpetually doomed to repeat the errors of the past because we are too stubborn to learn from them?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic or national group ...". The UN general assembly defined it in 1946 as "... a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups". Throughout the conflict the Biafrans consistently charged that the Nigerians had a design to exterminate the Igbo people from the face of the earth. This calculation, the Biafrans insisted, was predicated on a holy jihad proclaimed by mainly Islamic extremists in the Nigerian army and supported by the policies of economic blockade that prevented shipments of humanitarian aid, food and supplies to the needy in Biafra.

Supporters of the federal government position maintain that a war was being waged and the premise of all wars is for one side to emerge as the victor. Overly ambitious actors may have "taken actions unbecoming of international conventions of human rights, but these things happen everywhere". This same group often cites findings, from organisations (sanctioned by the federal government) that sent observers during the crisis, that there "was no clear intent on behalf of the Nigerian troops to wipe out the Igbo people ... pointing out that over 30,000 Igbos still lived in Lagos, and half a million in the mid-west".

But if the diabolical disregard for human life seen during the war was not due to the northern military elite's jihadist or genocidal obsession, then why were there more small arms used on Biafran soil than during the entire second world war? Why were there 100,000 casualties on the much larger Nigerian side compared with more than 2 million – mainly children – Biafrans killed?

It is important to point out that most Nigerians were against the war and abhorred the senseless violence that ensued. The wartime cabinet of General Gowon, the military ruler, it should also be remembered, was full of intellectuals like Chief Obafemi Awolowo among others who came up with a boatload of infamous and regrettable policies. A statement credited to Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate: all is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don't see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder.

It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra war – his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation — eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.

The federal government's actions soon after the war could be seen not as conciliatory but as outright hostile. After the conflict ended, the same hardliners in the Nigerian government cast Igbos in the role of treasonable felons and wreckers of the nation – and got the regime to adopt a banking policy that nullified any bank account operated during the war by the Biafrans. A flat sum of 20 Nigerian pounds was approved for each Igbo depositor, regardless of the amount of deposit. If there was ever a measure put in place to stunt, or even obliterate, the economy of a people, this was it.

After that outrageous charade, Nigeria's leaders sought to devastate the resilient and emerging eastern commercial sector even further by banning the import of secondhand clothing and stockfish – two trade items that they knew the burgeoning market towns of Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi needed to re-emerge. Their fear was that these communities, fully reconstituted, would then serve as the economic engines for the reconstruction of the entire Eastern Region.

There are many international observers who believe that Gowon's actions after the war were magnanimous and laudable. There are tons of treatises that talk about how the Igbo were wonderfully integrated into Nigeria. Well, I have news for them: The Igbos were not and continue not to be reintegrated into Nigeria, one of the main reasons for the country's continued backwardness.

Borrowing from the Marshall plan for Europe after the second world war, the federal government launched an elaborate scheme highlighted by three Rs – for reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reconciliation. The only difference is that, while the Americans actually carried out all three prongs of the strategy, Nigeria's federal government did not.

What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country as surely as a war – ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery. Nations enshrine mediocrity as their modus operandi, and create the fertile ground for the rise of tyrants and other base elements of the society, by silently assenting to the dismantling of systems of excellence because they do not immediately benefit one specific ethnic, racial, political, or special-interest group. That, in my humble opinion, is precisely where Nigeria finds itself today.

http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/commentisfree/2012/oct/02/biafran-war-nigeria-mediocrity-persecution-igbo

Finally Lagbaja Reveals His Real Face,Pulls Off Mask

A Qatar Airways airbus aircraft with 248 passengers onboard crash-landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos after making distress calls to the control tower in Lagos.

Photos shows the tires of the aircraft after it landed safely in Lagos.

[img]http://yfrog.com/hsduaromj:iphone[/img]
https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/photo_images/Sep/QATAR%20AIRLINE%20087.jpg?1348936784

Pics from
Saharareporters.com

By Godwin Okpene Right-Of-Reply: Whose Bully is Dele Momodu?


Usually for me, the surest way to avoid reading a sad piece of writing or watch a poor quality film is to not start because then, I carry on reading or watching, hoping to find something at some point to justify the initial investment in time and mental resources. Most times, I am unlucky, but a few times, I chance upon pay dirt, and these rarities produce the incentives to try my luck the next time. It turns out that my latest experience belonged to the first category of totally worthless efforts, and my tormentor this time was Dele Momodu’s very depressing piece of fiction on Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on the back page of the September 22nd edition of ThisDay newspapers. But, in this case, the sense of worthlessness went even more depressingly beyond the value of my time and efforts in reading a piece, to the pain that I felt from the gratuitous insults Momodu heaped on hapless Nigerians like me, whose only sin at the time of Sanusi’s reforms was that we were honestly praising God for intervening in the banking sector to secure the assets of those who toil day and night to have enough to put something away for when we would really need the inevitable shield against the rain.


For feeling the way I did, Mr Momodu practically diagnosed people like me of suffering from a disease called dementia. But he also had more degrading characterisation: He called us “frogs”, that we are “confused” about our choices, and that Nigerians are all products of “acute psychological impairment”. Except Dele Momodu. I will surely come back to this, but I must first finish what I was saying about the quality of Momodu’s article.


It wasn’t just that it was so glaringly beneath the quality he is known for, so transparently shambolic – almost like a piece rushed to press for no other reason than to achieve a deadline imposed by the usual pressure for dialogical currency. It was more than the glaring and totally avoidable literary errors. It was entirely lacking in essence and meaningful content. The article was one half a history of presidential succession in Nigeria, and another half from Wikipedia. By the end of the article, it was a surprise that there was a nonfictional reference to current issues and the Central Bank governor. Even where he managed to extricate the topic from its multiple tangents, his account of the most recent history was way, way off the mark: That Sanusi took advantage of a purported “weakness of the Jonathan administration”? I was confused because he had also mentioned in the article that he “warned many Nigerians jumping up like frogs” about Sanusi in August 2009. Is he talking about the same president before August 2009? And, was the insult to Nigerians necessary?


Now, I do not have to speak for Sanusi, as I believe that the CBN governor can find enough reason, if he has the time, to respond to the writer. But the logical inconsistencies, such as the one I pointed out above, ran all through so much of the ‘analysis’ that it would be totally uncharitable to not let him see how much work he still needs to do. Besides, if you need to hang a man, should you rather not hang him fairly?


As it is, Dele Momodu did not seem to be able to make up his mind about the character of the man he claimed that he knew so well to have warned all of us about back in 2009. Was (is) Mr Sanusi a man who “lacked the tolerance to persuade others” and “bullied everybody into submission” or is he a “charming man” who “attracts attention effortlessly”? Which one is it, Mr Momodu? According to the columnist, Sanusi “could almost raise the dead” but then, according to Momodu again, that “was his major weakness”. He left me even more confused about the character of Mr Sanusi’s ‘enemies’. To be sure, are they the same people he referred to as “rogue bankers” and “a few rats” or are they his beloved “brilliant bankers” and “innocent people”? I am also wondering how Dele Momodu determined the ideal character profile of a profession he probably never tried to sign up to; where he borrowed the line that the banking profession “was traditionally reserved for taciturn and conservative characters”. The result of whose research? Wikipedia’s, again? So what character trait might Dele Momodu prescribe for bankers in Nigeria and everywhere else? That of reckless individuals who think nothing of the potential disaster their risky behaviour was preparing for all of us? Those who gave practical expression to Schuermann’s point about the privatisation of bankers’ profits but the socialisation of their losses? That we should all be sitting ducks, watching these people engage in practices that would inevitably bring the roof down on all of us?


I know I started out complaining about the quality of Mr Momodu’s article, but then I must stick to the issues and their underlying logic, even if the columnist would not do the same. He would have done more to explain Sanusi’s “vengeful mission” against his “enemies”. Yes, because the implication here is that these are people who had caused him grave personal injury before he became governor. If not this, then what was Mr Sanusi’s “real intentions”?


He also made reference to Sanusi’s “unbridled radicalism” side by side with “his academic brilliance”. While, again, I believe that Sanusi’s has the intellectual capacity (as admitted by Momodu himself) to constructively address such charge, and while I believe that the man has his faults (who doesn’t?) I think I would pitch for a radical with a mind to challenge the old order than a wimp who people like Momodu would not hesitate to turn into an object of eternal ridicule.


I am temped however, to excuse Dele Momodu’s ‘treatise’ as little more than a hasty piece of literature which, inevitably, cannot stand the test of literary scrutiny. For instance (and this is purely a matter between Momodu and Wikipedia), he observed that “bullies always have their terminal dates because, according to Wikipedia, a bully is” a bully. (i.e., “constant harasser of the weak”). Since I failed to see the logic in the inference, I decided to consult the source, from where the columnist lifted his assertions. I traced the definition (in parenthesis) to the only paragraph of the article, which simply established the etymology of the term. There was no such inference, “according to Wikipedia”, in the online article. So, it turns out, Mr Momodu’s inference is neither consistent with the structure of commonsensical validity nor of attributional regularity. It is obvious therefore that this was just a model in the literature desperately seeking personification in Momodu’s real world.


And, alas, such desperation shone even brighter, when Momodu attempted fruitlessly to make capital out of what I considered at the time, no more than a light-hearted reference by Sanusi to former President Obansanjo’s position on the CBN’s currency restructuring proposal. Pray, when did Dele Momodu develop any kind of respect for Baba? And when he unnecessarily brought up a certain presidential ambition of Sanusi (I hear this for the first time, but believe nevertheless that a banker has as much right to such aspirations as a columnist), I was left to wonder what was the point of this in the bully story? To entertain? To further “mesmerise” the same Nigerians he described as “hypnotised”?


Frankly, for all my frustration with having to endure the article, it would have been reasonably rewarding for me to isolate a single topical issue to reflect on, and maybe use as an object of my humble contribution – like the subject of central bank autonomy. Yes, it was mentioned, but again, the author chose to personalise the issues rather than elevate the discourse. It would have been interesting, for instance to hear what the writer thinks about the fact that, over the last two decades, more and more countries in the developed and developing world have created more autonomous central bank; I would have loved to read his perspective on research results which have shown that foreign investment has tended towards jurisdictions with institutionally guaranteed price stability; that autonomous central banks serve as a veritable insurance against the negative incentives of ‘the political business cycle’. But, no, the former presidential aspirant would rather reproduce what Wikipedia says about bullies than address economic policy.


If he reflects more seriously on it, even Mr Momodu himself would agree that he would have made his point more constructively by sticking to the issues and avoiding the insults. Describing us as “a neurotic society and vindictive population”? For me, it was demeaning, and a brazen show of ingratitude to the same Nigerians who religiously ‘file into the gallery’ every week to ‘listen’ to him abuse, harass and terrorise people who cannot afford the time, forum or are too scared to abuse him back.


If the columnist has any regard for the millions of Nigerians in his article, if he is not the bully he so self-righteously see in others, he would use his next column to apologise to everybody, including the 26,000 or so that lined up in the sun (rain) to vote for him last year.