₦airaland Forum

@Papabrowne,

Showing me one senseless whitewash project, does not answer my question. Why did the state governor spend Delta state money buying SUV cars for 27 house of Assembly member. We can easyly put a figure of #10m per car, that is #270m. Where did he get the money from.
These are the sort of question wwe should be asking if we truly want to ever have some sort of sensible democracy, not telling me of some stupid project in his brothers village.

We have general hospitals in every major city in Delta state. Wouldnt it have made better sense for them to have invested the money spent on this rubbish, bringing probably 20 odd general hospitals upto very good standard? and by the way that hospital should have been situated in Abraka, that is where the main campus for Delta state University is.

@Papabrowne,

You dont get it. I am not in the business of comparing my state with others. I have often said on the forum , that all should go and hold thier state governors reponsible. Maybe you feel Uduaghan has done well. But were I am concerned, he has been a monunetal failure, and I am not about to approve whitewash projects as successes.

And more importantly, I dont get it, where a governor does the job the people pay him to do, Get this right WE Pay his SALARY, He is accoutable to the state, to US, runs off and spend 100's of millions of state funds on new cars for assembly members, because elections is around the corner. Like I said, good people of Delta are begining to see through the fraud of a governor, and can see that what people like you are calling success are shallow and hollow meaningless projects.

Uduaghan did absolutely nothing. I am from Delta state and understand the politics very well, probably more than you do. I will not be bought over by cheap tricks. So Uduaghan did a bit of white wash, we then call him a hero.

And by the way, if a governor spends #100's of millions of Naira (most likely state fund) buying SUV cars for members of the house of assembly, the big question should be, where did he get the money from. The man is a damn thief.

I think you really need to go and find out what a really good teaching hospital looks are feels like, that sham in his brothers village bears no resemblance to excellence, just another rattly old banger in new clothes.

God help us if we can not as a people shake ourselves away from these cheap ogogoro and garri politics. And if you dont know it, even his own Itsekiri people think he is the worst thing since gonorrhea

Shocking that no one is alarmed by this. I guess as usual with us Nigerians it is business as usual. A Governor uses states funds to buy expensive jeeps cars for 27 state House Assembly members, and no body sees anything wrong with that.

where did he get the money, should be the first question everyone should be asking. Where is EFCC?

I am convinced that 2011 will not be any different fron 2001. I tire for Nigeria

For all those bottom lickers, please see how Uduaghan spends Delta state's money, and yet he is expecting to be voted back in. When will Deltans wake up and smell the ogogoro. This is too much. #650BN and nothing to show for it.

Please read

REPORTER. 23/07/2010 14:37:00
PHOTO: THE FORD EXPEDITION SUV ALLEGEDLY GIVEN TO CHIEF EDWIN KIAGBODO CLARK BY DELTA STATE GOVERNOR EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN.


ASABA, July 23, (THEWILL) – A Ford Expedition King Ranch EST 1853 SUV (see photo) allegedly presented to outspoken octogenarian elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark by Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as a birthday present is currently generating controversies between the Clark group and the government camp.

The car gift which Chief Clark tagged Greek gift was said to have been transmitted to the foremost Ijaw national leader through one Dr. Mike Oberabor, an outspoken critic of the Uduaghan administration.

Just last week Governor Uduaghan gave 27 cars (SUV) to 29 members of the state House Assembly leaving Hon. Abel Oshevire, representing Ughelli constituency 11 and Hon. Friday Onodjae, representing Ughelli constituency out of it, following their political affiliation to Uduaghan’s political opponent, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) during Chief James Ibori's administration, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege.

In a press statement signed by Clark's Political Adviser, Chief Ominimini Chris Obiuwevbi, made available to THEWILL today, the elder statesman said he rejected the birthday present because he regarded it as a "Greek gift" and with his position in the politics of Delta State, he had no other option than to reject the birthday present.

According to the elder statesman accepting the gift may be seen as a sign of betrayal of trust to his teeming supporters across the state.

The Statement reads: "On Thursday, July 22, 1010 at about 3.30pm, some persons in the name of the Delta State Government brought an unregistered Expedition new Ford Jeep into the compound of Chief E’K Clark in Asokoro, Abuja.


"One of the persons later came to inform Chief Clark that the car was a birthday gift from Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan of Delta State.

"While Chief Clark expressed his gratitude to Uduaghan for this kind gesture, he wished to state categorically that this ‘Greek gift’ is unacceptable considering his stand on the state of political affairs in Delta State and the misrepresentation of fact this "Greek gift’ may raise from his teeming supporters, followers and the Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum of which he is their national leader.

"Chief Clark has therefore rejected this Greek Gift publicly in order to put the records straight and dispel any rumour that may arise out of this unsolicited gift."



Reacting, some prominent Deltans noted that the rejection of the gift was in order considering that elections are around the corner.


For Dr. Richard Tosanwumi, Chairman, National Central Working Committee of the Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum, "It is not surprising to hear that Dr. Uduaghan has offered Chief EK Clark a car bribe because of 2011 guber elections in Delta state. He is very desperate to retain the governor’s seat but clearly the odds are against him.

"Chief Clark knows how best to deal with this matter in the present circumstances as our national leader. For us in the opposition, Uduaghan’s time up. He should pack his bag and leave government house after his disastrous rule. We are fed up with the looting of our treasury by the cabal he now leads. Deltans will not be deceived again. Chief Clark is a man of integrity and honour."


Commenting, 2007 Delta State Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) governorship candidate, Comrade Emmanuel Odafe Igbini said, "It’s strictly PDP affair. It is traditional for governors and Presidents of PDP and political parties to send gifts to their godfathers and leaders. If he rejected it, he has his reasons."


Also, Prince Obaro Unuafe, former state Chairman of Progressive Peoples Alliance asked, "What is wrong in the benevolence of a jeep to Chief EK Clark, one of our foremost elders who has contributed so much to the development of the Niger Delta region? After all, Delta State legislators and other aides of the governor have recently been given exotic jeeps. Have their contributions to state’s developments been as much as that of respected Chief?"

In a swift reaction this evening in government house, Asaba, Governor Uduaghan denied giving a car gift or present to Chief Clark.

According to Uduaghan who spoke through his Communications Manager, Mr. Paul Odili, "The EK Clark Foundation sometime ago wrote to the governor for support and persuaded by the ideals of the Foundation, a donation of N18 million was made to it.

"The governor did not know whether the Foundation decided to buy a car with the money for the octogenarian elder statesman or not. The governor did not buy any car for Clark. The car displayed by E.K Clark did not come from the governor," he stressed.

http://thewillnigeria.com/politics/5319-Clark-Rejects-Uduaghans-BDay-Car-Gift-Didnt-Give-Him-Any-Car---Uduaghan.html

But some on this forum have often questioned his integrity, and gone as far as accussing him of corruption. We must all try and learn to see good in people, even if it seems like our entire country is swimming in filth. There are a few good men and women left, and we must build on that

I am not sure what thier intentions are, but is it really necessary to bring the elections forward even after the INEC chairman has expressed concerns about the fraudulent state of the current voters register, I would rather suggest that the elections are pushed back a bit to give time for proper votes registeration.


23 July 2010 Last updated at 05:02 Share this pageTwitter ShareEmail Print Nigerian senate votes for earlier elections
President Goodluck Jonathan has not yet declared if he will stand for election The Nigerian senate has voted to change the constitution to bring forward the date of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The changes mean elections originally set for April could take place in January.

Nigeria's House of Representatives must still give its approval to the changes.

The new date is intended to allow any legal challenges after the election to be settled before the new president takes office in May.

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Correspondents say the announcement puts pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan - both to declare if he will run, and to push through reforms to ensure fair elections.

Senators backed a proposal to hold the general election "not earlier than 150 days and not later than 120 days before the expiration of the term of office" of either the president or a state governor.

Under the current rules, polls must be held between 30 and 60 days before the new president's term begins.

Nigerian presidents take office on 29 May.

Attahiru Jega, the head of Nigeria's electoral commission, said the election could be held some time between 8 and 15 January if the constitutional changes became final.

But he told the BBC that it would be difficult to meet the tighter time-frame, as the voters' roll has "very, very serious questions of credibility" and so must be updated before elections can be held.

Nigeria has a long history of electoral fraud, and courts are still dealing with disputes over the April 2007 poll. International observers said the election was seriously flawed.

The ruling People's Democratic Party has a tradition of alternating power between north and south and under this system, it would be the north's "turn" in 2011.

Mr Jonathan, a southerner, has not said if he will try to contest the elections despite this convention.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10736031

So what!

Sack the lot. They are not doing a food job in the first place, so not sure we will miss them

@ Igbo boy, if you are serious, declare. There is no reason why people wont back you. After all we dont have a governor in our state, if he can allow this to happen to his own people.

We need good people to start talking and making very bold steps. I have always advocated for people to go back to thier states and hold the guys in charge responsible. As far as I am concerned Udu should the held respoinsible for all this nonsense.

@meldrick,

Do I need to campaign for anyone to state the obvious truth? And I seriously doubt anyone can be as bad as Udu and his Brother. They are both responsible for the terrible position we find Delta state.

Dont worry I dont need to campaign for change to come. Change is definitely on its way and it does not include UDu and his thieving brother.

Uduaghan is responsible, go and catch him. After all he is an Itsekiri man, he is even cheating his own people. More reason why he must not be allowed into goverment house for another 4 yrs. The man is an absolute disgrace

Where is the state government. they give them extra 13% oil revenue every month. The money is designed to help these communities, but no, those in power chop the whole thing.

The anger should be directed at Udu and his thieveing broda.

For those who remember the story of airport road in warri. When I was growing up, I remember parts of airport road being unpassable for years, after much investigation we found out that, shell at the time wanted to fix the road, and I am damn sure they would have done a good job, but no the then local government chairman, refused, and said the money must be gievn to him to run the show. Well shell declined and the road remains bad for years, just because a greedy old chairman wanted the money all for himself.

Jealousy, hate and greed is why those leaders cant succeed

@Dede1,

I fail to find any logic in your comments, besides your english is extremely poor. was there really any primaries in Delta state? If you believe there was, then your are a damn right fool.

Listen guys, the problem has always been picking a credible candidate from Delta North. We thought we had a fighter in Peter, only to hear that he is probably on his way back to pdp.

I dont think the dis-unity is as bad as you guys make it. We all share a common problem, that is Delta North has been neglected for so long, and like you guys say, there are enough of us to pose a significant challenge for the top job.

We need to select for ourselves a credible leader.

@EzeUche,

You have said it well. The wicked things Ibori and his brother have done to Delta North, can not even be imagined.

Ovie is an Urhobo boy, one of Ibori's cronies. Was denied the opportunity to contest the primaries, and promised SSG. In my opinion, neither Ovie or Udu should be supported. There are a lot of good people from delta north who will serve the state well. Not that rubbish Udu, despite chopping #650n still looks like a cheap tramp.

@Gbawe,

Well done my broda. I really need to buy you a beer, you really captured the true nature of what is happening in Nigeria. The sad things is that is the reality on GROUND (as the naija man would say)

Ribadu is not my favoured choice, but if I am being real, he is probably the best we have, and I believe he means well for Nigerians, enough to take the fight you and I are not prepared to engage in. I think people should stop reading this as blind support.

We need the system to be clean up first before the good and the great can operate.

@kobojunkie,

You are not offering any options, no point in discrediting anyone, f you are not prepared to offer alternatives. Please suggest a candidate, and if you cant, then what is the point. I dont think you will be telling us anything new, but like I said you need to understand the way things work in Nigeria politically.

@Kobojunkie,

You need to be in Nigeria to understand

@Africanson,

look at it this way, the stage in which Nigeria is, you probably need someone like Ribadu to run. The big questions is that why are all the smart guys and dolls not running and the simple answer is that Nigerian politic at this stage would struggles to attract the best of the best.

For those you trully understand Nigerian politics, most of us on here would dare not have the balls to contest, especially with what is involved.

So for now, we must see him as a credible option, though if I had my way I would choose either Pat or Nasir, but that is just my personal preference

@Africanson,

stop pulling yourself where it hurts, Yes Ribadu represents below average. Please suggest someone who is outstanding, let us then support him. When Nigerians start learning that building a country is the responsibility of every citizen, maybe that day we will move forward. As for me, I pitch my tent with the one eyed sailor, for now that repsents the best choice we have.

@Gbawe,


Well said my bro, you really hit the nail on the head. People really need to see things in the right context. In present day Nigeria, people like Ribadu may represent the best option for now. One need to understand the local politics before we run off with some sort of clever ideology. I had a good 2hrs discussion with a friend yesterday, and we still arrived at the same conclusion, whether you like it or not, bread and garri politics is still the order of the day in 2010 Nigeria.


And like I have often said, as part of a prgressive Nigeria, if people do not like Ribadu, offer alternatives. You know what would happen, we will be here discrediting people like Ribadu, the bad boys again will sail through, come 2011.

Infact, I am convinced that will happen.

@Manhein,

There are other very poor countries in this world, most dont go crazy like we do. There is something about Nigeria, what is happening is pure EVIL

Just more evidence that Nigeria was not designed to be one country, we must divide before there is no one left. See what happened in Uganda.

@NaijaNawa,

Well, so Pat, Nuhu, Nasir, and Donald are all unfit. Please suggest someone else. We cannot sit and wait endlessly, things dont just happen, we make them happen. Lets get past this critisizing any candidate that turns up to actually suggesting a credible candidate. I can assure you that if Nigerians do not act now, 2015, 2019 will come and go and we will be stuck with the same rotton lot.

@Africanson, nice. So it is Fashola you want, no problem, we must all get behind him and vote him in, and that includes you. I bet in no distant future, someone will come on here and discredit Fashola, you wait.

I refuse to accept that, in a country of a 150m people, we cannot choose 100 men and women that can lead us out of where we are. If that is what you are suggesting then the peoblem is not with our leaders but with us.

There are a lot of decent people, that can be seen as credible, if only we give them a chance. But the usual things is for to think that any potential politician is a criminal. Whats wrong with Pat Utomi, even Donald Duke?

I think it would be helpful, when we all discard a potential candidate as useless or not fit for office, that we suggest a suitable credible one. the problem with Nigerians is that we are very good at seeing the wrong, and never in a position to suggest the right.

So if ribadu is not right, who is, should then be the discussion.

This same thing was said about Pat Utomi, and Donald Duke and Nasir El-Rufai

Absolute Thieving lazy Kunt

There you have it. And what do Nigerian do? sit and look as usual. Is it not this guy who was asking for #1BN salary. Please read.

July 2010 20:45





Dimeji Bankole
Beleaguered Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, is seeking respite at the World Cup finals in Johannesburg this weekend.  He left Nigeria on South African Airways flight SA 061 on Thursday night after the house adjourned for one week, landing in Johannesburg down at 4.45 AM on Friday.  The speaker flew First Class, enjoying the luxuries of Seat 2D. He was believed to be traveling with an older woman.

But despite his disappearance from Nigeria, his tenacious opponents have linked him to the burglary of the offices of the Code of Conduct Bureau, which maintains the asset declaration forms of Nigerian political office holders and civil servants.

Although the police have arrested over 32 persons in connection with the burglary, there has been no breakthrough in identifying the motive of the burglars.

Mr. Bankole’s opponents told Saharareporters that internal findings of the CCB so far show that Mr. Bankole has enriched himself above and beyond his declared assets since assuming power as Speaker a few years ago. They point to newly built mansions in Abeokuta, Abuja and a house located at 54 Adepoju Lane in Ikoyi, Lagos, that the Speaker purportedly purchased recently for N800 million. Saharareporters could not independently confirm the allegations.

Those accusing Mr. Bankole of involvement in the CCB break-in said his trip to South Africa was partly to create an alibi that would help stave off any suspicions that he is involved.

Last Friday, the embattled Speaker was slammed with a lawsuit by some of the members of the House who were suspended after they tried to introduce a motion asking for his impeachment over allegations of massive corruption.

In one instance, confirmed by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials to Saharareporters, Mr. Bankole, through his deputy Mr.Usman Bayero  Nafada, shared N500 million from proceeds of overinflated car contracts. The report of the car purchase scam in which investigators recommended the prosecution of Bankole and Nafada has “disappeared” at the presidency, according to public statements made by the EFCC. The proceeds were deposited in a used car company account owned by Nafada and to which he was the sole signatory.

Nigerian law makers are the highest paid legislative officers in Africa but the lawmakers are also the least productive.  Most of the time, they are bickering over allowances, or collecting kickbacks from government agencies before they do any work.  Only last week, they were involved in a shameful brawl on the floor of the house, with some of them leaving with injuries and torn clothing.

http://www.saharareporters.com/news/6501--house-of-representatives-suspends-plenary-sessions-for-a-week-as-speaker-dimeji-bankole-dashes-to-joburg-to-watch-world-cup-soccer.html