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mukina2:
Holland 2 - 0 Denmark
45' Simon POULSEN (og)
85' Dirk KUYT


Man Of The Match : Wesley SNEIJDER
https://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/102063014.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921A343B2C87A49D8F5D71D7028EA3EEAECFA737615DAD7F08C411E9D89B25191E4

Muks,
kindly correct the info above.
the OG has been awarded to Agger.
I disagree with the choice of MOM.
i have never understood the hype around Sneijder.
Yesterday was another example.
All i saw him do was misplace his passes, hit the first defender when taking corners, hit the wall from promising free kick positions and shoot aimlessly into row Z.
Yet some people call him the MOM.i don't get it.
in my view, Nigel De Jong was the MOM.

marvix:
Mbulela I apologise for the bad wishes to you.
It is just not fair to think you know someone better than those who stayed with him, most especially when a man dies serving his nation in truth we should be able to acknowledge them, can we in any honesty compare Yaradua to Obj or any of our past leaders.
The man was building strong foundations in almost all sectors of national lives foundations that were non existent and because of this foundations Jonathan is making progress.

Jesus Wept!!!!!!!!

Spain: World Cup 2010 team guide

[size=14pt]The team History lesson[/size]

Long perceived to be the perennial bridesmaids of world football after flattering to deceive at the past nine tournaments. Semi-finalists in 1950 they should have matched that in 1994 against Italy before Mauro Tassotti's vicious elbow poleaxed Luis Enrique and left him with a nose resembling Charlie Magri's. Brilliant in the group matches in Germany four years ago, they were undone by an ageing France in the last 16, a result which finally allowed them to draw a line under the Raúl era. Without their supposed talisman they won Euro 2008 with a brand of exuberant purist football that has made them many people's favourites (again).

[size=14pt]Tactics board[/size]

Vicente Del Bosque has used 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 with Xavi and Andrés Iniesta pivotal in midfield in front of Sergio Busquets, David Silva teeing up chances from the wing and David Villa and Fernando Torres (when fit) combining with brilliant effect up front. Doubts persist about the defence, where Carles Puyol lacks pace and height and Sergio Ramos has yet to grasp positional discipline.

[size=14pt]Grudge match[/size]

Portugal will be gunning for them in a neighbourly feud and they owe Italy a gubbing after 1994's bloodbath.

[size=14pt]Also known as [/size]

La Furia Roja – The Red Fury – named after the singer Billy Fury because they used to leave their fans halfway to paradise.

[size=14pt]The players [/size]

Take your pick from midfielders with exquisite touch, scintillating widemen in Jesús Navas and David Silva or either of two sadistically destructive strikers. Even among this array of talent, however, Villa stands out. Magnificent at Euro 2008 he is even better now after scoring 58 goals for Valencia and 18 for Spain in the two seasons since. Combines lethal finishing with feet and head (despite being stumpy) with superb ball skills and positioning.

There's always Bolton

In their dreams. They will have to wait till one of them is past it in La Liga, as they did with Fernando Hierro, to have a sniff.

Laager lout

Sergio Ramos likes to taunt opposition players then hides behind his hair and the referee when someone stands up to him.

[size=14pt]The coach[/size]

With that sparsely-furnished pate and "I'm still virile" luxuriant tache, he could twin with the BBC's senior political correspondent John Pienaar.

Big game hunter

Vicente Del Bosque won five titles with Real Madrid as a player, two as a coach as well as a pair of European Cups. The only man to make the gálacticos policy work successfully, he took the Spain job after the Euro 2008 triumph and promptly won every qualifier.

Loved or loathed

Admired for his humility and light-touch style but expectation is onerously high.
[size=14pt]
The countryCommentators' kit[/size]
Manuel Cáceres, better known as Manuel el del Bombo, the team's self-styled No12, has been following Spain and banging "that bleeping drum™" since the 1982 World Cup. The rotund Valencia bar owner returned from supporting the side in 1987 to find his family had walked out on him, a bittersweet timpani if ever there was one.

[size=14pt]They gave the world[/size]

Tapas, potatoes in omelettes, most of the new world even though it was already there, the Armada, the language spoken by Dora the Explorer among others and the fiendish torture ordeals of the Inquisition, not including the comfy chair.

[size=14pt]National monument[/size]

Old Spanish women rocked the goth look long before the snakebite-supping hordes of West Yorkshire adopted widow's weeds.

[size=14pt]Qualifying[/size] -
Played 10, won 10 and had to break sweat only when Turkey and Bosnia held them to tight 1-0 victories on the peninsular. David Villa scored seven and Gerard Piqué became a defensive linchpin.



[size=14pt]StatisticsWorld Cup[/size]: record 12 finals

P49 W22 D12 L15 F80 A57

Highest finish: Fourth place in 1950

6: In February 2009's match against England, David Villa became the first Spain player to score in six consecutive games

FixturesSwitzerland, 16 June, Moses Mabhida Stadium, 3pm

Honduras, 21 June, Ellis Park 7.30pm

Chile, 25 June, Free State Stadium, 7.30pm

Switzerland: World Cup 2010 team guide

[size=14pt]The team - History lesson[/size]

Three quarter-finals in eight appearances suggests the Swiss are not to be sniffed at, although those achievements did take place in 1934, 1938 and, as hosts, in 1954. Their run in modern times has been less Toblerone and more stale digestive, getting no further than the second-round, including last time out in Germany.

[size=14pt]Tactics board[/size]

Deploy a refreshingly classic 4-4-2 which encourages the wingers, including West Ham United's Valon Behrami, to get forward and support the strikers, one of which will be the all time top-scorer Alexander Frei. There are goals in this side – they bagged 18 in qualifying.

[size=14pt]Grudge match [/size]
With a reputation for neutrality, it is hardly a shock that the Swiss do not have a fierce rival. A clash with Germany in the knockout stages could, however, be interesting given their manager, Ottmar Hitzfeld, is German. The natives will be crying conspiracy from the top of the Alps should their men succumb to the 2006 hosts without a fight.

[size=14pt]Also known as[/size]

Die Eidgenossen, which in Swiss-German means The Oath Comrades and refers to the three cantons which formed Switzerland in 1291. The Swiss are proud people but given its dryness and roots in ancient history, don't expect to hear this moniker being sung in late-night bars across Durban this summer.

[size=14pt]The players[/size]

Alexander Frei may have been cleared of spitting at Steven Gerrard during Euro 2004 but the striker is a Swiss sporting deity and a gift for newspapers - "Alexander the Great", "Frei-ing tonight" .

There's always Bolton

Udinese's Gökhan Inler has been rumour-mill fodder for ages and having been linked with Arsenal and Liverpool, could finally move to England this summer.

Laager lout

Stephan Lichtsteiner, dubbed Forrest Gump for the boundless energy he shows when running from right-back for Lazio, has a growing reputation for losing his rag, seen best during an exchange of head-butts with Roma's Christian Panucci during a Rome derby last season. Bet on the 26-year-old getting sent off.

[size=14pt]The coach[/size]

Ottmar Hitzfeld, or Der General, may not be pleased to know that he resembles Gerard Kelly, the Scottish actor best known for his roles in Rab C Nesbitt and, recently, Extras, where he played Ian "Bunny" Bunton.

Big game hunter

The 61-year-old is one of only three managers to have won the European Cup with two different clubs – Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Loved or loathed

Only Roger Federer gets more longing glances around Zurich than Hitzfeld. The Swiss love him for bringing a sense of adventure to the national side.

[size=14pt]The countryCommentators' kit[/size]

The footage may have been grainy and the commentary more wooden than Pinocchio's backside but the 1954 World Cup, which Switzerland hosted, was the first ever to be televised.

[size=14pt]They gave the world[/size]

Few things compare with the satisfaction of eating a just-unwrapped Jaffa Cake and for that we must thank Jacques E Brandenberger, the Swiss chemist who invented Cellophane.

[size=14pt]National monument[/size]

Given their motto is Y'en a point comme nous - there are none like us - it is fair to say the Swiss are rather smug about their standard of living. With the lowest unemployment rate of all industrialised countries and tax breaks, it's clear why Phil Collins refuses to go home to the UK.

[size=14pt]Qualifying[/size] - Topped their group but only after suffering the eye-watering shame of losing 2-1 to Luxembourg at home. Five straight wins followed but they only secured qualification with a goalless draw against Israel.


[size=14pt]StatisticsWorld Cup record[/size]: 8 finals

P26 W8 D5 L13 F37 A51

Highest finish: Quarter-finals in 1934, 1938, 1954

40: Goals scored in 73 appearances by Alexander Frei, the Swiss captain and record poacher who bagged three in Germany 06

Fixtures Spain, 16 June, Moses Mabhida Stadium, 3pm

Chile, 21 June, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, 3pm

Honduras, 25 June, Free State Stadium, 7.30pm

Chile: World Cup 2010 team guide

[size=14pt]The team History lesson[/size]
Won two games at the first World Cup in 1930 and registered a best-ever third place on home soil in 1962. This, though, is their first finals appearance since 1998 when a bright start to their second-round match against Brazil swiftly turned into a 4-1 defeat. Only qualified for the 1974 World Cup after the Soviet Union refused to play off in the national stadium in Santiago which had been used by General Pinochet to torture and murder opponents following the 1973 coup.

[size=14pt]Tactics board[/size]

Under coach Marcelo Bielsa Chile favour a 3-3-1-3 formation borrowed from the Dutch maestro Louis van Gaal. Possession as high up the pitch as possible is the watchword. Argentina-born Matías Fernández pulls the strings from behind the front three and regularly gets on the scoresheet, hence his nickname, Matigol.

[size=14pt]Grudge match[/size]

Chile's first international in 1910 was against Argentina but it took them until October 2008 and the recent qualifying series to win their first competitive match against them – shutting out the likes of Messi and Agüero. A repeat performance against their rivals from across the Andes in South Africa would be sweet – especially for their Argentinian coach.

[size=14pt]Also known as [/size]

La Roja, for the banal reason that they play in red. The name sticks even if the away kit gets an outing.

[size=14pt]The players[/size]
Bullet-headed Humberto Suazo was South America's top scorer in qualification with 10. Currently on loan at Real Zaragoza after helping Monterrey win the title in Mexico.

There's always Bolton

Former Anfield touchline-hugging misfit Mark González would welcome release from his gilded cage at CSKA Moscow. The winger's well-placed to shine in South Africa – he was born there, after all.

Laager lout

No-nonsense defender Pablo Contreras was banned for 20 games for an alcohol-fuelled incident at the team hotel in 2007. He was allowed back after 10 having signed a letter of apology. He holds a Spanish passport, replacing the fake Italian passport he received a two-year ban for in 2000 while with Monaco.

[size=14pt]The coach[/size]
Known as El Loco – the Nutter – Marcelo Bielsa is an obsessive with a collection of football videos that borders on the pervy. In short, Prof Yaffle.

Big game hunter

After success with Newell's Old Boys, Bielsa took his native Argentina unbeaten to the 2002 finals but they crashed and burned in Japan and Korea. An attack-minded coach who likes to give his players responsibility, he has found a squad receptive to his ideas.

Loved or loathed

National hero. MPs have called for him to be granted honorary Chilean citizenship for restoring pride to the national team.

[size=14pt]The country Commentators' kit [/size]

From the Atacama desert in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south, Chile is 2,880 miles long but a monument marking the country's mid-point is sited a few miles from Cape Horn. That's because Chile craftily claims a large slice of Antarctica.

[size=14pt]They gave the world[/size]

Those Easter Island statues. OK, the giant moai were carved centuries before Chile existed but these days they stare out from beneath the Chilean flag.

[size=14pt]National monument[/size]

Chile has a national cocktail, the pisco sour, made of (grape-based liquor) pisco, egg white, lemon juice, simple syrup and bitters. Unfortunately Peruvians insist the drink is theirs and point to the fact that it is named after one of their major cities, Pisco. Decades of conflict have ensued.

QualifyingFinished second in the South American group, just one point behind Brazil, beating Argentina 1-0 and winning in Paraguay for the first time in 30 years. Rounded off with a splendid 4-2 win in Colombia.

The Triesman tapes ,  what he didn't say"Bird crap hoarders, no-good pan-pipe parpers and new age babble facilitators. The country's so skinny it could hula-hoop a Cheerio."

[size=14pt]StatisticsWorld Cup record: 7 finals[/size]

P25 W7 D6 L12 F27 A40

Highest finish: Third place in 1962

2: The friendlies against Costa Rica and North Korea cancelled in February in the wake of the earthquake that struck Concepción

Fixtures Honduras, 16 June, Mbombela Stadium, 12.30pm

Switzerland, 21 June, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, 3pm

Spain, 25 June, Loftus Versfeld, 7.30pm

the problems of Nigeria is so complicated.
We are begining to see that simple answers would not solve anything.
People heard this dude talk with his silly accent and assumed that he would be a fresh of breath air with his canmbridge and Oxford CV.
Now you can see that whether graduate of Oxford, Toronto or Ondo State polytechnic, al players in the system are crooks.
It is all about the system.
As long as this system persists, only crooks will rise to the top.Irrespective of their accents, background or educational qualification.

chamotex:
He was far from the best and was never man of the match.
It was ITV viewers that voted him Man of the Match (Arsenal fans obviously).

The official FIFA man of the match was Sneijder.

My eye dey red
I'm definitely not last
Wait until the round ends . . . . . I still have six players yet to play including my captain.

Van Persie was crap.
I would never understand the hype around Sneijder.I have given up trying to.
I still don't see anything exceptional in my view.
All i say yesterday was him losing the ball, hitting the first defender for every corner and free kick in addition to skying his shots into row Z.
In my view Nigel De Jong was the MOM.

marvix:
Mbulela I apologise for the bad wishes to you.
It is just not fair to think you know someone better than those who stayed with him, most especially when a man dies serving his nation in truth we should be able to acknowledge them, can we in any honesty compare Yaradua to Obj or any of our past leaders.
The man was building strong foundations in almost all sectors of national lives foundations that were non existent and because of this foundations Jonathan is making progress.

Dude,
keep your apologies to yourself.
They are not needed by me.
I will not descend to your level to trade cheap insults online.
If that is your intention, you need to try next door.As i have never been available for such childish, infatile tantrums.
Neither would i even bother to puncture holes in your arguments.
I wonder when i told you that i knew Yar Adua more than Olusegun Adeniyi?
I simply claim and insist thatthe views he expressed in his article are inconsistent with public view.The same argument has been expounded by the writer of the article i posted, Sonlala Olumhese.
Olusegun Adeniyi is not only a liar to the Nigerian public but has begun to believe his own lies and that is a threat to his mental health.
QED.

Muki ati Ajanlekoko,
how are we splitting the tasks here?
Which of the matches should i start a thread for?
I will post some more info on the group members in a minute.
Cheers,

marvix:
Mbulela you are just full of poo, you are a person that will never amount to anything in this life and if you ever come back to life again you will come as a deformed baby who will be dumb because thats exactly what you are.

You based your judgement of a man from all that you read of him on papers mostly written by his opponets and political adverseries and now someone who was close to him tries to put him in perspective and you try to rubbish that person as though you were to know the man more than Adeniyi did.

Yaradua was humble and believed in the rule of law and ruled this country with the fear of God. He wasnt a dictator like Buhari or Obasanjo, who will just throw people into jail because he knows that they are guilty, dont you realise that if you kill someone who despoiled your 6yr old daughter, you are a muderer and your punishment under the law is meant to be worse than the rapist! Yaradua never sat in judgement against anyone not Ibori or Tinubu or even Fashola, he always left every judgement at the feet of the judiciary, if his lieutenats and other accused find a way of reaching out to the judges and gettin judgement in their favor either by bribing or using coercive tendencies on the Judges that cannot be blamed on the president.

Yaradua never ran a oneman show, he believed in the superiority of collective reasoning and professional advice, he never took any action on law without consulting his AGF, his AGF being good or bad is besides the point, at least we have had a man who paid advisers and said he didnt have to take their advice.

Critically examining Adeniyis piece we could all see why the amnesty programme could even see the light, can you imagine a president sitting with an like Okah, who for sure would have been screaming true federalism and all what not and the president who could just decide that they should take himout and execute him have his body shredded and no mention of him should be allowed in public, now telling him that I understand your challenge and I will redress the wrongs, he must have said this convincingly.

Yaraduas strength was in his humility and calmness, he disarmed the militants without a single gunshot being fired all he showed was his sincerity, which a lot of us could see from outside.

Yaradua had nothing he was doing with power while on his sickbed in Saudi, it was those who had something to benefit that didnt want him to give it up, also Yaradua by our constitution did not need to issue any letter asking Jonathan to act for him, because the constitution was clear and didnot give room for lacuna in the system, the constitution stipulated that the VP acts whenever the president is not around, that means the VP takes charge even if its only a day the president would be away, infact if in the middle of an FEC meeting the president excused himself to take a leak the VP can as well dissolve the cabinet and ask all the ministers to go home as the AG president, but when the president returns the president can either confirm the action or overrule this action that was what the constitution put in place, but now with the introduction of the clause that the letter must be written within 7days a principal can hold on to power even on his dead bed showing up at intervals of 6days to chair a meeting for five mins and dissolve cabinet and other issues would still come up in the future because of this amendment.

In conclusion I would like to appreciate Adeniyi for his writeup it was a wonderful piece and I expect more from those who were close to him

you are a very intelligent man.
your ability to argue your points intelligently leaves me awed.
I bow to your superior logic.
May all your wishes towards me come to pass in your life.
You are a genius and long may your intellect prosper.

Muks,
What's up?
you say make i hail you.
I am here.

9jaganja:
Yeah yeah!! He dead now and ain't nothing nice during his time!! Take your propaganda elsewhere.

?

[quote author=Akanbi_edu link=topic=462471.msg6211073#msg6211073 date=1276503988]You should know that since Yar'adua is dead, Mr. Adeniyi has nothing to gain from praising him at this time. He was close to Yar'adua, you were not. Why should your opinion about Yar'adua be better than Adeniyi's. Afterall you read everything you know about Yar'adua.[/quote]I do not need to be in his kitchen cabinet to know that what we saw in the public domain was a total contradiction ot what Adeniyi saw in private.
Even hired assasins have good intentions in the confines of their private sanctuary.
This is not about opinions.
This is about deceiving the public irrespective of evidences to the contrary.
Do you need to be close to Yar Adua to realise that Adeniyi's opinion is deceptive?
You can be comfortable with deception, i am not.
Adeniyi has a right to hold any opinion he desires, but he must not try to paint black as white in the public without dissent.

oYaTo:
Meeen!

Tim Cahill just messed things up for me

Removed Odemwingie for him (lost one point in the process, thinking I'll get more points with Cahill)

Ended up losing more points cos of his red card

no be only you.
i even made him captain.

tkb417:
Krasic messed up jare
King also

got Lahm too; expecting my attacking trio to move me up

removed Van Persie last minute; i hope it wont hunt me sha

i put him last minute.
i am counting on him delivering.
yeye Vidic and ivanovic fall my hand gan!!

boys are not smiling o

When you spread so much lies and propaganda that you begin to believe it yourself, it is time to seek mental help.
I am begining to dobut the sanity of Olusegun Adeniyi.
I leave him to his conscience, if he still has one.

Sunday, 13 June 2010 00:10

I write this article in response to “The Yar’Adua I Knew,” (Vanguard, June 6, 2010), by Segun Adeniyi, who served as Press Secretary to President Umaru Yar’Adua. “I want to offer a few words about the late Yar'Adua based on my interactions with him as his official spokesman,” Mr. Adeniyi explains.  “In all the tributes that have been paid to him, the common thread has been that while he had his personal failings like all mortals, President Yar'Adua exhibited certain attributes uncommon with people who hold leadership positions in our clime, and that made significant difference. These attributes were: humility, integrity and humanity. I can attest that these attributes indeed defined the essential Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.” I have a simple answer for him: “WE DO NOT CARE!”

And if humility, according to Mr. Adeniyi’s preferred testimony, “is concerned with what is right as distinct from who is right,” Yar’Adua was in no way a humble man because if he ever had a clue as to what was right, he never identified it. 

“Yar'Adua,” writes Mr. Adeniyi, “was as honest as he was humble and he had nothing but contempt for the primitive accumulation tendencies of members of the Nigerian political elite who place their personal greed above the collective need.”

Really?  Contempt?  Did he announce that, or did Mr. Adeniyi imagine it?  If he whispered it in Mr. Adeniyi’s ear, are we supposed to break out in jubilation?  For three years, surrounding Yar’Adua in both his government and his party were the fiercest, filthiest, greediest, most acquisitive and most corrupt people this country has ever known.  I do not recall Yar’Adua arresting two or three of them, let alone in the hundreds in which they should be sent to the gas chamber.

On the contrary, such people as the infamous James Ibori and Lucky Igbinedion were his closest friends and confidantes—entering Aso Rock whenever they pleased, and being shown straight to Mr. Adeniyi’s hero.

“You see, these former governors are my colleagues,” he told The Guardian in April 2009.  “We had worked together for eight years. Because I am the President, I cannot just jettison people I know. I am always very careful to separate my personal relationship with people from my state duties.”

But this loyalty to friends ahead of country was not exactly what he pronounced at his inauguration, when he bragged: “We are determined to intensify the war against corruption, more so because corruption is itself central to the spread of poverty.”  On that occasion he spoke of “honesty, decency, generosity, modesty, selflessness, transparency, and accountability” as the “fundamental values determine societies that succeed or fail.”

It is this chaotic and contradictory world view permitted Ibori, whenever he pleased, to swagger into Aso Rock.   The way it appeared from the outside is certainly that the policy of this “humble man” was to protect some of our most corrupt elements.  That is not humility. 

Perhaps the most curious case of executive protection of crime—and therefore betrayal of nation—is that of his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was implicated serially at home and abroad. 

In April 2009, Yar’Adua bragged, in connection with the Halliburton mess, as follows: “…We have also set up a committee under the IG to investigate locally any substance of evidence regarding anybody …I promise this nation that once we have a response (from the United States), those names …will be made public and we will take actions and direct that the names should be forwarded to the EFCC and those officials and former officials involved will be arrested and prosecuted.”

The following month, in May 2009, the (Mike Okiro) committee submitted an interim report on that investigation.  Among others, it deeply implicated Obasanjo and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, showing that they shared $74 million with two other men.  Obasanjo also took $5 million with the PDP, although we do not know if he gave the party a kobo.

And what did Mr. Adeniyi’s man of “integrity” do with the report?  He looked this way and that, staggered to his feet, thrust it under his chair, and sat on it until he died. 

Halliburton was only one of many instances in which Obasanjo’s claim to political sainthood was questioned.  A few samples: even by Yar’Adua’s admission, he threw away $16 billion in the power sector.  He ran the Ministry of Petroleum Resources by himself, and billions of dollars disappeared.  At the PTDF, he spent funds on wine, women and assorted malfeasance.  He seized 200,000 Transcorp shares.  In his hands, N200 billion disappeared from the Ecological Fund.  The Presidential Library scheme consumed billions of Naira.  PDP campaign funds vanished.  Yar’Adua looked the other way. 

“Another area where President Yar'Adua's distinction shone through,” writes Mr. Adeniyi, was his abiding faith in the rule of law.” 

Yes, Yar’Adua did sponsor such propaganda, beginning from his inaugural address on May 29, 2007, in which he mentioned the concept twice.  But what did it mean in practice? 

Mr. Adeniyi offers as his proof the fact that the Governors of Edo State and Ondo would never have won at the electoral tribunals but for Yar’Adua.  In so doint, he confirms the manipulation of votes and tribunals by his principal and the PDP.  The implied threat is that Yar’Adua did those states a favour by allowing the votes of the people to stand.  But there are also many states in which the election tribunal favoured the PDP candidate: does this mean that in those states, Yar’Adua was against the opposition, or that he favoured his party?  Does this claim not suggest that Yar’Adua was involved in the business of the judiciary?  Is that the meaning of the rule of law?

One of Yar’Adua’s most dubious accomplishments concerned Siemens, which Nigeria had blacklisted for corruption.  Not only did Yar’Adua lift the order, he awarded Siemens more contracts.  His excuse was that he did not want the relationship between Germany and Nigeria to be harmed, and that the German Chancellor had appealed to him that Siemens was born again.  That is like a man came to your home and despoiling your mother, only for you to give him a cash award and midnight visiting rights to your daughters because his father reminded you of the need for peace among men.   

Yar’Adua cobbled together a policy known as the Seven-point agenda to enable him run for office.  He promptly lost track of it.  In his tribute, Mr. Adeniyi tried to reinvent history: “The 'Seven-point agenda' is not an economic blueprint but rather a conceptual framework of the critical areas of our national life that the administration considered of utmost priority.”

This is meaningless gobbledygook.  A “conceptual framework?” So it was because Yar’Adua was still conceiving the frame of the work that he never found it fit to transfer power as required by the constitution he swore to uphold?

In all of his tenure, “Baba Go-Slow” could not even declare his much-advertised state of emergency in the power sector.  The closest he came occurred two years after he arrived: “And this emergency I said I want to declare, I want to look at everything,” he said.  “I think by the end of May (2009), I will be ready by the grace of God to declare the emergency in the sector.”

Of course he did not.  He could not come up with one megawatt of confidence to do it.

The seven-point hoax did not take cognizance of the Millennium Development Goals, which Yar’Adua abandoned without a glance.  And to avoid being embarrassed, the man then started fleeing from the United Nations, repeatedly sending two clowns that, elsewhere, I have referred to as Alao and Shakey-Shakey. 

I agree with Mr. Adeniyi that Yar’Adua made a significant impact on the Niger Delta issue, and I give him all the credit for that.  But let us not forget that he almost bungled it at the beginning by insensitively or ignorantly trying to foist Professor Ibrahim Gambari on the issue. 

Mr. Adeniyi would have attracted more sympathy from me when he spoke of Yar’Adua’s weaknesses, had he been more specific.  He identified none, preferring to focus on Yar’Adua’s loyalty to the boys in the palace.  In doing this, he provides a clear example of why leadership routinely fails in Nigeria: people sit at the feet of the king, insulated from the tumult outside those gates. 

It is clear that on the days Mr. Adeniyi was recruited to make the President laugh, neither king nor clown remembered the suffering and the waiting of the people.  Yar’Adua may have benefited from a rigged election, but he was sworn in.  That is the only reason I reluctantly referred to him as President, hoping he would rise beyond himself to enhance the quality of life of our tortured people. 

The Yar’Adua we knew turned out to be no different from his predecessors.  He did not enrich us with his vision or inspire us with his wisdom or uplift us with his energy or humanize us with his compassion. 

Public officials must resist the temptation to interpret the destiny of a nation in terms of their privileged benefits.  And while we may never speak ill of the dead, we must never neglect to speak the truth about our country.  The truth about my country is that I fully regret the Yar’Adua presidency. 

Tribute: The essential Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, by Olusegun Adeniyi
Jun 5, 2010

By Olusegun Adeniyi

There has been a massive outpouring of tributes to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua since his passing a few weeks ago. So much so that it is now becoming increasingly difficult for me to recognize the man I served for almost three years.

In typical Nigerian fashion, everybody, including those who ‘cabalised’ his last days, is now eulogizing the late President. It seems one of our major attributes as a nation is that we are ever generous to, and most often hypocritical about, the dead.

Beyond the familiar graveyard orations, however, the Yar’Adua Presidency, like all previous governments, deserves a rigorous and more honest interrogation so that we can learn useful lessons about the past and secure a good guide for the future.

This is an important task which I am sure many Nigerians will take up once the tears are dried and the tempers have simmered. As a front-row witness, I plan to document my own experience and reflections about this period in the next two years when hopefully, I would have the time and the presence of mind to put things in proper perspective.

For now, however, I want to offer a few words about the late Yar’Adua based on my interactions with him as his official spokesman. In all the tributes that have been paid to him, the common thread has been that while he had his personal failings like all mortals, President Yar’Adua exhibited certain attributes uncommon with people who hold leadership positions in our clime, and that made significant difference.


These attributes were: humility, integrity and humanity. I can attest that these attributes indeed define the essential Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Though interrelated, these enduring values reinforce one another, and cannot stand alone. As a leader, if you don’t have the first, you definitely cannot have the others.

Humility, which Ezra Taft Benson argues is concerned with what is right as distinct from who is right, is the core of those human virtues which work in tandem with other positive character traits. It is therefore no surprise that Yar’Adua was as honest as he was humble and he had nothing but contempt for the primitive accumulation tendencies of members of the Nigerian political elite who place their personal greed above the collective need.

Yar’Adua’s humility was particularly telling because aside his well-heeled family background, he had been the governor of a state for eight years before becoming the President. Many in lesser and similar positions would have been carried away. But President Yar’Adua chose the road less travelled by. He didn’t allow power to change him.

From the outset, he recognized that a leader must place the system above himself and use power cautiously and only for the advancement of human dignity and society. With the late Yar’Adua, I saw this disposition at play in several instances. For this effort, I will cite only one.

Whatever little credit this administration can take for the Niger Delta amnesty process, President Yar’Adua’s personal humility was a critical catalyst. I recall that the whole agenda could have been scuttled from the outset when some hardliners stoutly opposed the idea of releasing Mr. Henry Okah from detention and granting him amnesty. President Yar’Adua never for once agreed with people who argued that it would be demeaning for the President of Nigeria to hold meetings with those they considered “criminals.”

In the course of his dealings with the Niger Delta militant leaders, the late President exemplified the enduring lesson of a Hausa proverb (once shared with me by Second (and Third) Republic Senator Uba Ahmed) that stooping before a dwarf does not cost you your height.

Whenever there was a crisis or the likelihood of a crisis, President Yar’Adua would personally call on phone the leader of whichever group was involved or call for a meeting. That explains why Chief Government Ekpomupolo alias Tompolo had very easy access to the late President who also brokered meetings between the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Mr Ateke Tom just for peace to reign in the Niger Delta.

One of the reasons Mr. Okah bought into the amnesty process was principally due to the disposition of President Yar’Adua in their first encounter.

Perhaps only few leaders would have the temperament to absorb what Okah told the President that night about what he described as the “crazy arrangement” in Nigeria vis-à-vis the Niger Delta people. Rather than express anger, President Yar’Adua assured Mr. Okah that he could understand his rage and pledged that he would redress the wrongs. That parley, brokered by my former boss and mentor, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, was particularly instructive. Despite the fact that there had been a prior decision that government would not meet with the ‘Aaron Team’ of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), President Yar’Adua eventually acceded to Mr. Okah’s request.

When the late President—with me and Mr. David Edevbie by his side—eventually met with the ‘Aaron Team’, much to the displeasure of some people in government, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Admiral Mike Akhigbe and Major General Luke Aprezi (rtd) can attest to the fact that by the time the late Yar’Adua laid his cards on the table, there was pretty little to argue about as it became very clear he had a roadmap towards resolving the Niger Delta problem.

Apart from the desire to do what was right, President Yar’Adua held the resolution of the Niger Delta issue very dear because he could see in it enormous potentials for the nation at large. It is within this context that the current argument about whether or not the ‘seven-point agenda’ should be reviewed not only begs the question but shows little understanding of what the whole agenda is all about. The ‘Seven-point agenda’ is not an economic blueprint but rather a conceptual framework of the critical areas of our national life that the administration considered of utmost priority. Even at that, President Yar’Adua himself had realised before he died that there was need to focus principally on a few items which would definitely unlock the door to the others.

Three were identified: Land Reform, Niger Delta and Power.
On Land Reform, Professor Akin Mabogunje has done extensive work and the Bill is now before the National Assembly. President Yar’Adua said several times with respect to Niger Delta that the amnesty deal was just the easy bit: the foundation for resolving the crisis in an enduring manner. The solution, he believed, would be in empowering the oil producing communities and this informed his decision to direct that ministerial committees be set up to work out modalities for implementing the report of the Special Adviser on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah. Titled ‘Equity Distribution in Petroleum Administration: Proposal for the Involvement of Host Communities in the Ownership of Petroleum Assets in Nigeria’, the Egbogah report, which seeks to give oil producing Niger Delta communities a stake similar to land owner royalty, was very detailed. Unfortunately that turned out to be President Yar’Adua’s last official engagement as he fell ill only a few days later and travelled to Saudi Arabia. The rest, as they say, is history.

As for power, President Yar’Adua felt it would be delusional to think that electricity could be generated and transmitted on a sustainable basis in Nigeria if resolution of the Niger Delta question remains literally or figuratively in the pipelines, bringing again to the fore his belief about the centrality of the Niger Delta to national development.

Another area where President Yar’Adua’s distinction shone through was his abiding faith in the rule of law. Many in his position would have fancied themselves not just above the law, but as the law itself. For President Yar’Adua however the good society is the one where impunity is a taboo, and where the rights of the rich and the poor are equally protected. On reflection, I believe President Yar’Adua actually understood the seeming intangibles which have actually held us back as a nation with a clear idea of what needed to be done and was ready to chart the course. Today, I can recall the several discussions I had with him on the primacy of rule of law to the development of any society.

For him it was not mere rhetoric. It is indeed to the eternal credit of the respect the late President had for institutions and constituted authority that he never for once dabbled in the affairs of the National Assembly, not even when there was media pressure on him to do so during the Mercy Etteh crisis in the House of Representatives, which the members eventually resolved on their terms. He also stayed away from the internal politics of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And he gave unfettered freedom to the judiciary as the last arbiter. But for President Yar’Adua’s unwavering commitment to the rule of law, it is most unlikely that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole would be Edo State Governor today. The same goes for Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State. And in Anambra State, the recent election would most certainly not have been conducted given the fact that there were people within his party who held on to the belief that they already had a ‘Governor-in-waiting’!

On a personal level, I can also attest that President Yar’Adua was an open-minded leader and a loyal boss. Between April 22, 2007 (when I was first contacted) and May 29, 2007, I turned down the offer to be his spokesman several times and only accepted on May 30 after the decision had been taken out of my hands. Notwithstanding, he was faithful to me, especially at a period when I was considered ‘disloyal’ by some people very close to him! By the warped logic of these political do-gooders, the loyal media aide is the one who makes a nuisance of himself by attacking critics of his principal. For not doing that, there were several reports against me by those who rubbed it in that it was not an accident that President Olusegun Obasanjo picked three kinsmen of his as spokespersons in succession.

There were also other people in government with their power mongering collaborators outside who hated my guts and put pressure on President Yar’Adua to replace me with their own media men. Some did not stop at mere attempts to replace me, I was also considered expendable. Such was the desperation. It is not on record that my predecessors were ever invited for interrogation by the security agencies for just doing their job. In my own case, I endured that humiliation over the controversial Ekiti State re-run gubernatorial election.

In all these situations, President Yar’Adua stood solidly by me, the same way he resisted all the pressure to replace his ADC, Col. Mustapha Dennis Onoyiveta, who got the job purely on merit after a competitive interview conducted by the former Chief-of-Staff, Major General Abdullahi Mohammed (rtd) from a shortlist sent by the Defence Headquarters. That became an issue for those who wanted Mustapha out with the whispering campaign that former President Obasanjo planted him on Yar’Adua. Yet it was clear that Mustapha’s only sin was the little fact that he is an Urhobo man from Delta State and not a Northerner!

As a boss, Yar’Adua was easy to work with and approachable. He was also sensitive to the welfare of his staff. Such was his attention that one day he noticed that his personal secretary and speechwriter, Mr. Matt Aikhionbare, was walking with a slight limp and asked what was wrong with him. When Matt complained about some pains in his leg for which he was seeking local medical care, the President immediately called his personal doctor and asked that he should arrange for Matt to travel abroad and he personally paid all the bills.

Another aspect of the man Yar’Adua which Nigerians did not get to see was his down-to-earth, brutally frank disposition to issues. One morning, as we were leaving the residence for his office, the ADC noticed that the President did not have his Nigeria-lapel pin on. As he attempted to place one on his Agbada, the President turned to us—myself, the Head of Service, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, Matt Aikhionbare, PLO, Habu Habib and the CSO, Yusuf Tilde—and asked cynically: ‘what does this thing really mean? It is not whether we carry the national flag on our head or chest that matters. I wonder why we place too much premium on symbolism in this country when what should inspire us as public official is that our actions are dictated by public good’. In characteristic style, he challenged us to convince him as to why he must wear the pin and was prepared for a debate.

In the end, we managed to convince him to allow the pin to be put in place if only to humour us. I have fond memories of President Yar’Adua because I interacted so closely with him that even colleagues who initially felt uncomfortable with me could not but notice he enjoyed my company.

It got to a point that sometimes when he was alone, they would send for me to go and stay with him. I am one of the few people who could bring out his earthy, humourous nature which he tried very much to suppress. With me, he would laugh because I recognised the fact that while he might have been President, he was first and foremost a human being and I related to him on that score.

While it is true that Nigerians hardly speak ill of the dead, I have received several positive testimonials from people I encountered on the streets in the last few weeks that make me conclude somehow that beyond the crocodile tears and the political tributes, there must have been a genuine affection for President Yar’Adua by most Nigerians and deep sympathy for his personal travails. If only these people had known him up close and if only illness and death had not conspired to rob Nigeria of the freshness and vigour of his humble, honest and humane leadership!

The late president definitely was not the saint some people are trying to make of him. He was a mere mortal who had his faults and weaknesses. But he was also far from being the desperate power-monger that the “cabals” on both sides tried to turn him to in his last days.

He was essentially a very good man who had lofty dreams for his country; a man of ideas who, though hampered by ill-health, gave the thankless job of building a good society his very best; a simple human being who refused to let position and power deprive him and others of their humanity.

All said, I am proud to have served my country through the late Yar’Adua. I also feel gratified that I remained faithful to him to his very end. For me, this humane and loyal boss deserved no less. May God Almighty grant him eternal rest. And may He grant his family the fortitude to bear the loss.

*Adeniyi was Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the late President Yar’Adua

papabrowne, i am with you.
As long as the debt are not squandered or used for white elephant projects like Tinapa, the projects will service the debt.
It is unintelligent politicizing the use of debt for developmental projects.

I wonder how exchanging e-insults make any look stronger or intelligent?
If you can't make your point without insulting others, you are a weakling of the highest order.

foul throw, at this stage?
i give up.

argentina is not all that.
we are all crap.

the secret to her looks is not in that DVD.
only a fool will be deceived.

see this thread
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=460488.msg6186782#msg6186782

@poster,
i shared a similar sentiment elsewhere but on 2nd thots i don't think he was wrong.
he was not going to sing a political song, had to sing something with high tempo and it is his more popular song there and finally he was singing for less than 3 mins.
The song Hugh Masekela sang is not too different.A song called MARKET PLACE.
It is not like there is anything in that song that is unknown or unnatural.

stillwater,
better go and look for that opening ceremony and watch it.
it was lovely.

NIKIWE BIKITSHA: HIGH HEELS - Jun 04 2010 16:05

'Not everyone likes sex." This was an amusing and rather unconvincing reply by Brazil's coach Carlos Dunga while taking questions at a press briefing after the team's arrival in South Africa last week.

He was being quizzed about whether his players would be allowed to indulge in carnal pleasures during the tournament. He ventured that he would leave it up to the players to decide.

The Argentinians, on the other hand, have been advised by their team doctors they can also do "the beast with two backs" -- but only with regular partners or beasts, if you will, and this should preferably not be accompanied by other excesses, such as champagne and cigars.

So let the games begin then! I can hear the imagined chorus from the countless women and reportedly 40 000 sex workers who are here for precisely that -- to entertain soccer players and the throngs of accompanying fans who are expected to flock into the country for the beautiful game.

To lubricate this copulation, the South African government has announced that it will distribute one billion condoms during the tournament. A billion. That's nine zeros. Gosh. Are they really expecting that much fornication to be taking place in just one month?

In disbelief at the Health Department's largesse, my colleague Jeremy Maggs and I decided to calculate how far these condoms would go and whether we really needed that many.



So, with a billion free condoms doing the rounds, tourists are likely to have intimacy five times a day. That leaves little time for watching the football, doesn't it?

After the Health Department announced the freebie, I posed this question to my Facebook friends: With so many condoms being made available, what exactly are people here to do? Watch the footie or play footsie footsie?

Many took offence at the Health Department's gesture, saying that by making so many condoms available the government is creating the impression that South Africa is a permissive country, where sex tourism is promoted to the detriment of women and children.

Others glibly retorted that one could watch only so much football. A match is just 90 minutes after all, so a "sleep with-a-thon", as one friend called it, would be the best form of recreation in the remaining 22 hours.

I think it is very disingenuous of South Africans to be sanctimonious about the provision of condoms given our sky-high HIV infection rates. It is clear that people are having sex, lots of it, and lots of it is unprotected sex, with devastating consequences. Making the condoms available doesn't condone licentious behaviour but is a plea to South Africans and our visitors that, although whatever happens in their bedrooms is their business, protection is an absolute must. This is simply a tactic to safeguard the nation's sexual health.

Furthermore, Aaron Motsoaledi, the health minister, who recently began a major drive to promote "the bosom is best" policy among the moms of newborns, doesn't really want to be singing the same tune some nine months after the World Cup.

As for the soccer players themselves, their wandering eyes and straying is legendary. Whether they are fastidious about using condoms, we don't know, but we need not look far for an example of promiscuity in the world of high-profile, super-achieving sports personalities. The May issue of Vanity Fair magazine has spoken to four of Tiger Woods's concubines who, without exception, all say that in his disturbing Lothario ways he never used a condom. This is a man with a wife, nogal.

I think the health department is displaying foresight by trying to encourage good behaviour because, whatever Dunga might believe about people's appetite for sex, there will clearly be lots of it. So people should either zip it or wrap it.

quick question
can i make subs and change a player who has played yesterday for a player who is playing today or moro?

to believe i had Marquez on the bench!!!
damn.