₦airaland Forum

ianSweet:
You are quite correct.
However the names i mentioned like Somali's Iman and Nigeria's Genevieve Nnaji, am surprised you don't know them, they are very famous.
They might not have won oscars, the former is the best supermodel from Africa while Genevieve Nnaji is a legend in the Nigerian movie industry.
Lupitia is a Kenyan Mexican, so it is easier for her to win an oscar considering her schooling in America and starring in American movies. We have Nigerians for instance who have won all manners of world awards but most of them were not born in Nigeria.
Both Genevieve and Iman were born in Africa and had only African citizenship, they are far richer than Lupita and even older yet still more beautiful. They are famous in their own ways. Lupita is just opportuned. No doubt, Lupita has self carriage and great virtues, but facially let's be honest, she is not the best definition of black African beauty.

See Iman and Genevieve below and Lupita.

Lady, beauty is a very subjective term that has as many interpretations as there are people on planet earth. Your meat, my poison. And that is physical beauty we're talking about here. True beauty on the other hand is all about inner beauty. One's character and personality. And this cannot be faked, its self evident and the only true measure of a human being.

Just30:
The President was doing well with his initiatives and most people admire him for it but he kept on rewarding criminals ho have been found to be corrupt with positions at the office of the President. Thereby surrounding himself with a block of inexperienced communicators who we're attacking the personalities of people who were criticising the government, which place the government in a bad light. There was an extremely high level of chronism and the corruption level was high.
Many people were still going to forgive the government and vote for them for them including me, since majority of those cases were in court. But when I got to my the voting box, upon reflecting on how state protocols was mishandled; many people felt we needed a change after four years of a mishandled economy and we needed a government who wasn't going to drag it feet in prosecuting corrupt officials.
Then there were the demographic issues, there were low turnouts on election day in the strong hold of the governing party because voters there thought they've been taken for a ride and short changed over the past four years whiles there was an unusual high turnout in the opposition strong hold whereby people in their 90s went out to vote.
On the parliamentary side, the ruling government committed gerrymandering years ago by adding 45 more new parliamentary seats which was equally split in the last election, the opposition party placed more effort in winning almost all of those seats since the winning margin was quite slim and they won. And for the first time, everyone was expecting to see a party winning the presidency and having a minority in parliament.
But the major issue was the demographic whereby people grew wealthier and more educated under this government than ever before and these two class of people turns out to favour the incoming party . These class of people largely forms the base of the NPP even though they might at times swing. As Ghanaians become wealthier their perspectives change as they form new social classes, the NDC would now have to restrategise and appeal more to the educated and middle class Ghanaian else they will remain in opposition for a very long time especially if this government does well.

OK. So the NDC seems to be the party of the proletariat. Interesting, i didn't know that angle. Thanks for the candid assessment.
Well, political (as opposed to economic ) corruption is something alot of people seem not to take care of. Even in Kenya, Uhuru protects his ministers and senior officials who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, to the seething ire of Kenyans. It's even more ludicrous when so called investigations never yield positives or prosecutions. They disappear from the limelight to "cool off " only to reappear back in the same role!! If the crap they do is so in your face, they get reassigned to another role elsewhere. I have seen this phenomenon all over Africa, morals and ethics count for jacksh1t.
Talking of criminals in the National assembly or Senate ,we also got plenty plenty here too, it's no secret. We have a clause in the constitution called chapter 6 that deals with a person's eligibility to stand. We completely ignore that and go back to the jungle book of rules, which deep down most people are most comfortable with.

We are a sick continent!

Just30:
yea gone were the days whereby we had extremely good civil servants in the majority. I know about the 20 civil servants that were sent to help in training the Kenyan civil service . We as Africans institutions of state are up and doing again

Permit me to ask: why did Mahama John lose the election? I thought he was doing a great job. What one or two burning issues would you say changed the game in Addo's favour?

ianSweet:
MtuMsuper, Muafrika2

For the southern zones. To my best knowledge.

SOUTHWEST ZONE

No need to break it further. It is the ethnic yoruba zone where i think over 95% of the natives are yoruba speaking, with a few minority groups like the Ijaws and Egun.
Although because Lagos is situated in this zone, it has attracted a very great cosmopolitan population here and made it the most populous zone in Nigeria. (About 50 million people or more).
Religiously it is difficult to tell this zone, although i'd say by the native population, the christians should be slightly more (about 55-60%) or maybe a 50-50. The yoruba people are not religious fanatics, they are very religiously tolerant and liberal.


SOUTHEAST ZONE

No need to break it further too. This zone is the Igbo ethnic zone, with almost every native here being Igbo. This zone has the least population because Igbos are very widely travelled and for some reasons best known to other Nigerians we hardly migrate to settle here.
The Igbos are overwhemingly christians, i have never met an indigene who is a muslim.


SOUTH-SOUTH ZONE

This is the zone dominated by minority groups in the south. This zone should have up to 70 ethnic groups or more. The oil rich zone of Nigeria.
The inhabitants here are just like the Igbos (overwhemingly christians) and infact some of them are Igbo and yoruba speaking but may insist on identifying themselves differently.
Some of the major ethnic groups here are Ijaw, Ibibio-efik, Urhobo, Edo, Ogoni, Itsekiri, Ejagham and Igbo speaking tribes like Anioma, Ikwerre, Etche who may not identify themselves as Igbos.

Thanks for the good intro on the peoples of Nigeria. Most Nigerians i have met are igbo. I have ever met only 1 hausa. Several Yoruba people as well and i have a very good Berom friend. We Africans are like that, we like to know about the culture and identity of people who look like us. Unlike many Africans though, i don't have some toxic ethnicity aka tribalism.
Which brings me to my point : its plain foolhardy to say ethnic sentiments did not influence voting patterns in Nigeria. They always do. That's why someone like Salva Kiir(an ethnic Dinka) in South Sudan cannot get votes from a majority Nuer area whose favorite son is his arch nemesis Riek Machar. Its why the northern Ugandan tribes will never put their eggs into Museveni's basket : the resentment from the civil war in which a northern leadership was ousted by museveni still simmers to to this day. It's also why Raila in Kenya cannot get votes from Central Kenya, or Uhuru from luo dominated former nyanza province. The tribesmen of GEJ equally voted overwhelmingly for him, as did other nationalities in the Nigerian SS and SE. There is no doubt that ethnicity and political affiliation are closely related in Africa. Even our dear neighbours ,Tanzania ,had an election in which there was an overwhelming support from the Kilimanjaro tribes such as the chagga, for the opposition party Chadema: the vast majority of opposition Chadema legislators come from the Mt Kilimanjaro region. These things aren't coincidences. Its important to study these correlations in order to understand the political realities of a realm. Heck, even in the USA, whites voted for Trump irrespective of their donkeyness or elephantness. Blacks overwhelmingly gave Hillary Clinton their votes.
We, all of us Africans, have still not learnt the fine art of managing the fact of ethnicity. Instead, we use it negatively. What a shame.

darfay:
@iblawi,iansweet and co don't mind all this kanyans, I think they actually admire we Nigerians. I wonder what I will be doing on a Kenyan forum when I neither stay there or even plan on going there
So the other day I decided to check out what Kenyan music looks and a Kenyan: Akothee in her song titled benefactor sang in very fluent Nigerian pidgin English and the so called song is a top ten song over there
@whoever I am quoting I have read countless articles of how Kenyans are becoming more interested in pidgin English. I wonder why you are telling lies here. Nigerian influence is massive in Africa ( kenya inclusive) due to our movies, music, political strengths and co. you must be one self hating Kenyan to deny this facts, I wonder why you guys hate Nigerians way e no even send una one bit. the best we Nigerians know about Kenya is that it's a country in Africa (honestly speaking)

@pazienza your life must really suck and the way you dey hawk Igbo matters for head like bread is really worrisome, you go around nairaland portraying igbos in bad light when igbos are from this in reality smh

Yemi Alade sang a song in kiswahili in a collabo with kenyan artists. Does that mean Kenya is "taking over" Nigeria ? I can actually speak and write in German, does that make me "germanified"(for lack of a better word)? That kenyan singer, who isn't my cup of tea btw, sang for market capture purposes? Kapish?

Just30:
I have no idea but it's good. I know of a few Kenyans who are married to Ghanaians

When our country gained independence, our first chief justice was a man of Ghanaian origin.

Just30:
I've not been to Nigeria and I've not been to Kenya. But Kenya would be my first east African country to visit . I can't judge from the internet but I find Nairobi to be more livable considering how I live my life and how I want it to be.

Amen brother. I appreciate an honest opinion. Likewise, i pray am sent on a mission to Ghana soon. I want to see Akosombo dam first. personal reasons.

ianSweet:
Exactly brother. The north also has many ethnic groups. Infact northern Nigeria is more ethnically diverse than southern Nigeria but the problem is that ignorance allows most of u southernerns to conclude that all northernerns are the same.
99% of Southerners for instance do not know that states like Adamawa, Taraba and Kaduna for instance have over 50 ethnic groups each and that most of them are even Christians.
The hausas and fulani elders during colonial times connived with the british colonialists to supress these northern christian minorities and use them to their own political advantage.

So many southernerns were shocked when they discovered that 99% of the chibok girls were indigenous northern christians from Borno state. Even from the core north, Chibok LGA in Borno state is overwhemingly christian but most southerners will not hesitate to generalize them as hausa muslims.

We also wept for chibok girls. may the ones who departed us rest their souls in peace.

chrisooblog:
@muafrica2 and mtumsuper you are mistaken that our recent elections were a tribal gangup between the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba against goodluck Jonathan. The regions Jonathan lost in 2015 he won in 2011 (except for.two northern regions). Now for convenience of politics Nigeria is usually divided into six geographical regions namely north west, north east, north central, south west, south east and south south.
NW
This zone consists of jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, kebbi, sokoto and zamfara state. This region is president buhari's home state Katsina. They are almost all Hausa/Fulani and Muslim here so it's no brainer they would vote for buhari.
NE
This has Adamawa, Bauchi, bornu, gombe, taraba and yobe state. Though there is a Muslim majority this zone is quite ethnically diverse with tribes like the kanuris, Fulanis, jukuns, safewas to mention a few. Here I guess you can say religion and some tribal sentiments might have influenced votes for buhari but goodluck's mishandling of the boko Haram crises certainly helped his cause.
NC
This consists of Benue, kogi, Kwara, nasarrawa, niger and plateau state. This is the most ethnically diverse zone of the country with tribes like Nupe, igala, tiv, idoma, berom, igbirra, gbagyi, igede, Yoruba among hundreds with a sizeable Hausa/Fulani population. In this zone there was no clear advantage for either candidate ethnic or religious wise. Jonathan won this zone comfortably in 2011 but lost it slimly to buhari in 2015.
SW
Ekiti, Lagos, ogun, ondo, osun and Oyo state Almost exclusively Yoruba with sizeable Igbo, Hausa, ijaw communities. Voted overwhelming for Jonathan in 2011 but choose buhari also by a slim margin in 2015 due to goodluck's poor performance. You might say it was because a Yoruba man was running mate to buhari but a Yoruba man was also his running Mate in 2011 when he lost.
SE
Abia, anambra, ebonyi, enugu, imo state Predominantly Igbo voted massively for Jonathan not because they liked him per se but buhari represented all they disliked and distrust in a Hausa/Fulani Muslim.
SS
Another ethnically diverse region containing akwa ibom, bayelsa, cross river, delta, Edo and rivers state dominated by former president Jonathan's ijaw tribe and others like Bini, urhobo, itsekiri, isoko, ogoni, Efik, Ibibio, ikwerre, ogoja and some Igbo communities among others. The people identified with goodluck as a fellow minority and voted for him massively.
In conclusion yes candidates might have been voted for because of ethnic or religious sentiments (which election isn't like that) but generally speaking the Nigerian electorate made their choice devoid of those factors

Oga chrisooblog .Your arguments about the NW, NE, SS and SE negate our opinion. We have been on nairaland long enough to know a thing or two. See @Muafrika2 post on ethnic map of Nigeria and voting pattern for to see what i mean. BTw i detest these patterns. I have argued on Ghana, Angola and Nigeria. Kenya is not exempt.

ianSweet:
Pls, what is the % population of muslims in Kenya? Which ethnic groups are muslims in Kenya?

around 9-15%. Somalis and Swahili people's are overwhelming Muslim. i mean totally. I have met real life Somali Christians also. isn't that odd ?

Just30:
yes I'm Ghanaian.

Okaaay!! I prayed for a Ghanaian and here he is. God is good and great all the time and always. Akwaaba. Just to be very clear, i am on your side in the jollof rice war. By the way, did you know we have naturalized kenyans of Ghana origin right here in Kenya?

ianSweet:
Hmm, ok. But even down to the interior villages in all the tribal territories?

Yes. even in the most remote place where mobile phones cannot connect.

Just30:
yes I'm Ghanaian.

Akwaaba to this thread. Now,may i ask you to weigh in with regard to the actual title of the thread. Your contribution is welcome

Muafrika2:
The story repeats itself all the way into Northern Arabian Africans like Libya, etc. For some reason, Naijans seem embarrassed of that fact.

And the major opposition group is always a rival ethnic group...

Yup. even in the nation of Angola, the main opposition UNITA is dominated by ovimbundu (not exclusively though) ,and the ruling MPLA by Mbundu and Mestizos. The Bakongo seem to be in some limbo in that regard since their group FNLA got defeated militarily earlier in that conflict. How do the northern arabs do their ukabila. Am new to this one.

Muafrika2:
Am starting to believe "dominate" has a different meaning in Nigerian lingo.

Let me put it in simpler terms. Who makes the biggest percentage of the population in these states? There are only 36 states. It's not rocket science! !!

I'll do it myself

Thanks @Muafrika2 .Those two maps vindicate my earlier statement i.e there was a clear rejection of goodluck in hausa and Yoruba dominated areas. Am also an African, so i know the delicate interplay in party politics and ethnicity in Africa.
Interesting side fact:Morgan Tsvangirai comes from the shona sub group called Manyika but gets votes from the very non shona Ndebele speakers in the SW of Zimbabwe and also other zimbos. Other shona groups tend to be split but its where Mugabe gets his "votes". They would all find it hard to elect a ndebele into office though. Sounds familiar?? Ukabila kila mahali.

Just30:
NPP gets 30% of it votes from the Ashanti region then it always wins the Eastern Region with a comfortable lead , NDC gets 30% of it votes the Volta Region and then it get to win the three northern regions by a comfortable vote lead. The remaining regions determines who wins the elections.
But this year, the demographic has changed to a large extend
Whiles 70% -80% of general voters are party base voters and the remaining 20%-30% are floating voters , university and secondary school graduate voters mostly tends to vote for the NPP . The NDC gets majority of it's votes from the uneducated voter class as well as the Zongo communities

I see. So i can surmise there is a class/social dynamic that fits into a map where regional disparities closely mirror ethnic realities?

Just30:
NDC strong hold is the Volta region, NPP strong hold is the Ashanti region. The Western, Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo and Central Regions are Swing regions anyone who wins all four or even three wins the presidency if it is split then there would have to be a second round

Thanks. I have stated clearly where each party dominates. Are you Ghanaian?

pxjosh:
Gute Frage. Lernen auf eigene Faust

sehr gut. ich hab es vor 20 jahre auf schule gelernt. wo sind sie, wohnst du, machst du?

Just30:
sorry but you are wrong with your assessment of political parties in Ghana. Parties formation in Ghana are not based on ethnic lines.
They're extremely complex and you don't get to win an election without winning in certain four regions.
Political parties everywhere, have their strong holds where no matter what the opposition does; they won't win an election there.

But NDC struggles for votes in Ashanti and western regions mostly. Elsewhere it wins hands down especially in Volta region dominated by Ewes. That's what i meant. So what 4 regions are these.( errr,,, Sorry folks for diverting )

Muafrika2:
And by that long list you are avoiding my question. I just want this:

1. The 36 stastes

2. The majority/dominant tribes in each of those states,

3. WHO the majority votes went to in those states

I think he's avoiding the real question. I have been on nairaland long enough to know that the party of buhari APC rode to victory on a wave of support from majority Hausa Fulani areas in the north and Yoruba SW. The same thing exists in Ghana where Akufo Addo's party while not exclusively Ashanti, derives the majority of its support there. I follow African politics to minute details. This regional and tribal ganging up is the bane of us Africans, its only CCM in Tanzania that i can immediately name as an exception to regional or tribal based politics.

PissedYagami:
A huge chunks of Kenyans I know are either atheists or agnostics

Am a very tolerant and practicing protestant Christian. I simply like other cultures and i dislike disrespectful and intolerant beings regardless of where they come from, but i hold hope they can change

ianSweet:
Pls, all Kenyans here are free to ask me (i don't know about other Nigerians here) absolutely any questions, i promise to answer to my best knowledge.

My second question to Kenyans here

I believed that Tanzanians were the first or original owners of the swahili language which later spread to Kenya and other areas but you guys corrected me that Swahili evolved simultaneously along all east African countries at the same time.
So i would sincerely like to know pls, how come almost all Tanzanians are very fluent in swahili and majority have adopted it as their first language? compared to Kenya and Uganda where only about 2/3 and 1/2 speak swahili?

Lately, i have been watching a lot of East African music and i must admit that i have come to start falling in love with East African music, just that i think my love is one-sided and it is mostly towards Tanzania (Bongo) music.

(No offence pls) I have discovered that Tanzanians speak and sing in swahili in a lovelier, sweeter and more attractive tone than other east Africans. Pls why is this? Their swahili sometimes have this Indian and middle eastern flavour the way they sing it at times. There are about 10 Tanzanian musicians am a big fan of, Uganda about 5 of them while in Kenya i think i love Sauti sol and a duo group (i think Gabu & Frasha).


KenyanStar, MtuSuper, Muafrika2, kikuyu1, PissedYagami, gallivant, NairobiWalker.

First things first, your change in tone is welcome. I hope it lasts. I welcome anyone who chooses to learn, am a free education activist in my spare time.
Now to your question regarding EAC: It has always been the most successful sub regional organization in Africa (better than SADC which is a South African dominated entity and true integration a mirage:see how they treat Zimbabweans). In terms of its successes its down to a close cooperation between Uganda,Rwanda and Kenya. Tanzania is the major stumbling block as they are constantly filibustering and quarter backing to use an American phraseology. They are never pro active and belong to both SADC and EAC. Some say they are too east to be southern Africa and not southern enough anyway. Free movement between Uganda and Kenya is possible whereby i can go to Uganda with my national ID and a Ugandan only needs a voters ID to cross into Kenya. Many of our tribes are similar too hence we even look like Ugandans. Very close cooperation between Rwanda and Kenya to the extent that kenyan teachers are overwhelmingly preferred there due to an image that kenyan teachers are hard workers and strict. Remember the borders were drawn in Berlin in 1884!
I think ECOWAS doesn't work because the vast majority of west Africa countries are francophone and firmly under the thumb of Paris under that disgusting system called francafrique. They cannot exercise free decision making and the language barrier is a hindrance.

Ps the proper term to use is kiswahili not Swahili (the word Swahili is an adjective, hence terms like Swahili cuisine or architecture ). Our Tanzanian brethren love to parade this fallacy that they "own" the language. Its origins lie along the loooong stretch of coast from kismayu in Somalia to sofala in Mozambique. What is not in doubt however us that it's a bantu language in syntax and structure. Loan words are plenty even in English. There are several dialects such as kiamu(from Lamu), kimvita(Mombasa), chimiini(southern Somalia ), kitumbatu and kiunguja(Zamazibar), Comoros kiswahili. Kiswahili was standardized in 1848 and used the template of the Zanzibar dialect known as kiunguja as its dialect. I guess you can say the language situation of kiswahili is akin to that of German where there are several dialects and they also standardized theirs using Prussian as the main stem. I think Hausa also has several dialects, which one is the central or standard?
There are two councils that regulate the tongue known as baraza la kiswahili(kenya) and chama cha kiswahili (Tanzania ). It's only in Kenya however you can obtain a PhD in kiswahili, hence any doctor of kiswahili must have been trained in Kenya, to the eternal chagrin of our neighbors.
I am not so much into commentary regarding music but the musical flavors you listen to are African, not middle eastern, you most definitely heard of taarab music which i personally enjoy because the women singing them poke nasty jabs at each other.

EVILFOREST:
SNOW follows the whitemen wherever they go.

Name one country above, that doesn't have whites in significant numbers...
Is it KENYA, Tanzania or South Africa...

first two actually

pxjosh:
Ich bin überrascht, dass Sie Deutsch verstehen. Sie leben in Deutschland oder haben Sie hier in Nigeria Deutsch gelernt?

Diese photos sind toll, ja? Es schneet oft hier in Kenya. Ich hab nur eine frage: wo hast deutsch gelernt?

naijalander:
Mimi si gala kama wewezudiss watu na lugha hawajui. Enda home ujifunze manners

You can actually attempt sheng? This is amazing, we should extend new years by one day. Na usijaribu kutukanana hapa, utawezwa vibaya, utashangaa. (Now run along and go grab your translator friend to help you with that , that google translate is not very accurate for any language )

naijalander:
Your very clueless for this statement. Have you ever actually even lived in Nigeria up to a year?

Nigeria has everything your environment has in triple portions. It's not just some geographical carving, it is an identity forged by generations of feudal wars, show some respect when you come on here bro.

Oga, i hope you're back home with your folks celebrating yuletide. Am busy stuffing myself and family , and inspecting my 25 strong dairy herd. Do you know how refreshing it is to eat ugali dona as opposed to the super refined stuff from commercial millers? I run my farm via phone but now am back to see for myself things before i return to the City. I build my nation both in the City and rural as well as the non tangible nation building like raising kids and looking after my elders. I have no time proving anything to a whining , petulant ungrateful visitor with a sense of entitlement, who has scant respect for his hosts. And not that i should prove anything to anyone anyway. I have this very day harvested mammoth bananas from our family plot.So huge they are twice the size of normal bunches. We shall also be passing by some place in the lake region this week to buy cheap rice by the 90kg bag. Full bellies are the norm in this place. Even by the poorest, they can afford healthy meals.

PS: Please, don't come back to our "small " place .

Muafrika2:
I've seen things here,

I am not advocating for people to start eating snakes, but i wouldn't blame a culture for eating non venomous pythons (chisos help me, what am i saying !!!). They are full of muscle. Its the part where people eat venomous snakes that is truly shocking. The human psyche has evolved over millions of years to revile snakes as even the physical form itself is revolting. Virtually all cultures hate the reptile, it beats me why someone would eat it. And then proudly post pictures of it. I mean, WTF!!!

Muafrika2:
Would you rather we just eat all the animals to extinction like you people?

Everything from Lions, crocodiles, pythons, monitor lizards, rats to fvck knows what else . All here on nairaland. just search and see for yourself

Just30:
Pidgin is not even a language yet. it only used to pass jokes

Maybe you guys can consider kiswahili. We use it for serious stuff, you can even study it to PhD level. Ain't no joking here with isht.

PROVERBZ:
who do u want to believe this now

aiee I could pull out many pictures and videos of people from this region jumping and rolling on the floor even fainting

when nigerian artist host concerts which they always sing in this language

be it Kenya Tanzania what and what

are u telling me Kenyans don't want to be profiled as touts smugglers

but worship and adore this same set of people well not like I give forks

pidgin is a phenomenal thing here in west Africa and oh yes ave also seen musicians from those regions trying to sing in pidgin

I think the point he's trying to make is alot of 9ja people you meet in Nairobi want to speak to the locals in pidgin. We don't speak pidgin in these parts. Our pidgin is called Kiswahili, and is spoken by virtually all literate kenyans and Tanzanians. Half of DR Congo speaks it as well. Add to that number a significant number of Rwandans and Burundians. Few Ugandans but a growing number of South Sudanese born and bred in Kenya and who live in Kenya more than they do in their own country.
That makes kiswahili the only truly African language that has many cross border speakers, regardless of colonial history. The only truly African lingua franca.

darfay:
I guess it should be pidgin English coz everyone understands it. It has over 200million speakers in Africa from Nigeria,ghana,sierra leone and through our influence it's spreading across Africa,noticed some of you using piding English words like oga, ashewo etc freely

I can assure you lil bro, pidgin can never take over anywhere in East or southern Africa, let alone Kenya. I think it shall remain confined to West Africa, and the English speaking countries at that. We are nairalanders sir, so we tend to pick up some new words along the way and whose use we employ to reinforce a point, and not that it part of our written or spoken repertoire of words.

iblawi:
YANKARI HMMM

How many visitors per year/ revenue?