₦airaland Forum

Someone did an OBJ-Taylor on Ibori's a-s-s! He thought he was running away, but ran into waiting hands. How fast nemesis can catch up.

All days for the thief, one for the owner.

Ibori needs to cough out all his stolen billions - once they finish dealing with him in London he needs to come back and answer for all his errors on the Naija end.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

9:40 p.m. EDT, May 8, 2010

The e-mails often begin in fractured English.

"Good day, dearest friend. Please permit me to introduce myself to you, to understand and comprehend clearly."

So go the familiar pitches designed to part Americans from their cash. Known as Nigerian check scams because most originate in western Africa, they ask potential victims to deposit checks into their bank accounts and send a portion of the money to a stranger.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office says a DeBary woman helped orchestrate one such scheme that netted her more than $25,000.

Investigators say Linda Stafford, 44, was helping run a scam out of her home. She was arrested Friday night on charges of running an organized scheme to defraud and was being held in jail on $50,000 bail.

Stafford also was arrested in January on the same charge and on a charge of grand theft. Deputies said they warned her in June to stop what she was doing, thinking she might not have realized that she was participating in illegal activity.

Stafford applied for a job as a payroll or accounts-receivable clerk, and someone in Nigeria told her she was hired, investigators said. The person directed her to buy a computer check-writing program, they said.

The person compiled personal information from other job applicants and gave Stafford the information so she could print checks to them, detectives said. The check recipients were told the money was for legitimate work or for scholarships or rebates, the Sheriff's Office said.

About 15 people deposited the checks for $1,000 or $2,000 and sent most of the money back to Stafford by Western Union, investigators said. The people were told to keep a couple of hundred dollars.

By the time their banks told them the checks were worthless, it was too late.

Investigator Chuck Lee said Stafford mailed 1,022 fraudulent checks after being told last year that it was a scam. She received $26,835 from the 15 people, who live as far away as California, New Jersey, Texas and Colorado, and sent $1,300 to the person in Nigeria, he said.

So, dearest friend, if you receive this kind of a pitch, hit delete — or report it to authorities.

Click here to comment on stories, get newsletters and win $50!
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel

If I know Nigerians they will fill the papers with who and what rumours over the choice of VP for the next two weeks. Before all is said and done the squirrel and the bushrat would have had a say in who should and should not be VP.

Here is my advice, choose quickly, follow your own gut - all others are dribblers with eyes on 2011, then move on to electricity, petroleum, electoral reform, etc.

It will be disappointing if we allow the papers to fill their columns with the intrigues of Presd. Yar'adua's death and the choice of a VP.

Take back the national conversation and focus its beam firmly on progress between here and 2011.

A silent probe of the misadventures of the last 6 months of Yar'adua's life to look at the functioning (disfunctioning) of the state apparatus would be in order.

I would also leave the Presidential Villa unoccupied if that was possible - renovation in preparation for the next President in 2001 is a good excuse.

@onlytruth
Our problem in Nigeria is that we mix a grain of truth with two of suppositions and half-truths. Unfortunately, the result is untruth.

Just as surely as you see what is going wrong with the treatment of Igbos in Nigeria today, you must be able to see what was wrong with the coup of 1966. The coup plotters may have had nationalist ambitions, but if their victims were mainly Hausa/Fulanis and the group itself contains no Hausa/Fulani, then you must be able to see why it was perceived as against them.

As you yourself said, the leader of the coup was Igbo and an Igbo emerged at the head of government after all was said and done. Call me foolish, but if I were planning such a thing I would think about what might happen in case the plans failed.

You are not saying that they informed Awolowo of the coup beforehand, otherwise I don't see how you could claim the coup was to benefit him.

Same goes for Ojukwu's war. It wasn't that trying to get out was right or wrong, it was again that he did not build a good foundation before attempting to build a house. He himself said he went to war without all that was necessary to win. You can't do that and anyone that drags their people into such a thing without preparation doesn't love himself or his people.

Ordinarily, Abiola should have deployed his billions to get his mandate back or break-up Nigeria. I am glad he didn't because his naive attempt to cooperate with Abacha early on showed he was not built for such a thing.

Onlytruth:
The bolded is why Nigeria will never progress speedily as one. Some "revolutionaries"  led by elements from one tribe (Igbo) tried to change Nigeria for the better through revolution. It didn't matter that the beneficiary was going to be from another tribe (Awolowo of Yorubaland); when the coup failed, the above bolded quote became my (Igbo) portion in Nigeria for 44 years. Anyone still expecting another revolution in Nigeria is a lunatic.

@Onlytruth

My point is that such a referendum is not going to happen because the congregation of looters span North, West and East, and it is not in their interest to allow any kind of secession.

If you offer any ethnic group the free refrendum of getting out of Nigeria today they will take it one and all, including even the much-maligned Hausa/Fulanis. Again, it is the congregation of thieves that will never let this happen even if it were the only option. A referendum is something I would support not just in Igbo land - let any ethnic group that want out become a nation of its own, and let's see who can stand alone and who cannot.

My view is that separation is not a good option. Why? 1) The so-called Biafra or O'dua or Arewa nations would be dominated by the same looters - so where does that leave us; 2) As for the insistence on Biafra - its basis is not sound, a carryover of a failed attempt; 3) The solution that the east needs is the same solution that is needed in the West and North, and we are likely to succeed the sooner we get on our enslavers together, otherwise they will always find an excuse to hold all of us down; 4) Unlike the 1960s the nations of the world are moving back towards increasing coalitions - if that is where we are going to end up eventually why can't we go there straight from here, rather than break up in the first place. There are those who even believe what we need is an African government - a rather tall and impractical dream in my view.

Really, from my viewpoint the saddest part is that the populace in the North are held down by greedy and wicked elites using religion as a weapon - these enslavers don't even believe in the things they force other people to hold on to. When ignorance boils over into violence they, as surely as they do in the West, East and South-South, deploy weapons of war to mow down the people - so it was for Boko Hara and so it was in Jos, etc. Any reason for uprising is the same problem to them - it threatens their daily bread, and so requires the same solution. Thank your heavens you live where you could come to the internet to critize and bare your mind. Others are banned from talking about the laws they are subjected to even when it is in such an impersonal place as the internet - go figure who is the slave and who is the master.

Onlytruth:
It is an open secret that Nigeria has not appreciated the Igbo through the years. Uwechue is spot on. I wish that Nigeria will at least do one of these two things:

(1) Organize a referendum in Igboland to find out whether Igbos want to continue staying in Nigeria;

or

(2) Remove every roadblock placed against Igbo advancement in Nigeria (eg federal character and quota system, international airport and federal presence-roads, bridges etc )

Nigeria does not have any other choice, and the more Nigeria delays, the more potentially explosive the situation gets. It could be ignited unwittingly by the slightest of things.

Offer Igbo a choice to stay or exit; or reintegrate Igbo into Nigeria.

If Igbo votes to stay in Nigeria despite their current status, then they will stop agitating hence forth. If not, they should be allowed to leave in peace.

There are no other options. Delay is only postponing the evil day.

Over generalization is not good, that is why I asked you to spell it out. As a Yoruba I never got the feeling that Igbos are hated. Unlike some people would like to propagate here on the internet, while growing up the name Zik was always referenced as Zik of Africa or Zik the Great, even though until I began to understand history Obafemi was the same as Oduduwa in my young eyes.

I don't know what the general populace feel about Ojukwu, but he was viewed as one strong-headed man, hence a type of large steel pot was nicknamed during the civil war "Agbari Ojukwu" - meaning Ojukwu's head.

Among the ethnic groups in Nigeria the Igbos and Hausa/Fulani's live in mutual fear of each other, and sandwich the Yorubas in the middle. The hurt from the events of the 1960s is the basis for this fear. The greatest hurt that has happened to the Yorubas in Nigeria are largely self-inflicted.

Really, the hate you talk and think about is the manifestation of the exploitation of these fears by the kleptocrats for the purpose of hanging on to both power and your resources in the name of national unity. They pretend to be watching out for Nigeria, but all they are concerned about is their pocket.

That fear, rather than any innate hate, easily boils over in inter-regional, and inter-personal relationships. Healthy ethnic identity has been converted into ethnic conspiracies, and the back and forth, do me I do you and retaliatory actions has turned into hate since after sometime it doesn't matter who started what - which is where we are today. The same story applies whether you are talking about Hausa/Fulani, Igbos, Yorubas or talking about Modakeke/Ife; Ijaw/Itsekiri; Igbo/Ikwere; Fulani Herdsment/Beroms, etc.

Once upon a time the French, Spanish, Engllish, etc were fighting wars on the North American continent while together enslaving the Africans and exterminating the native Indians. Yet, that same continent domninates the world today because they learned the lessons of their past. What we are lacking are true leaders who would truly wipe away all these hurts by a genuine call to brotherhood.

EzeUche:
Do not act like you don't know. Every social ill or crime in Nigeria is blame on the Ndigbo. Just look at these threads and you will see the level of hate that the Igbo receives.

I hate the term that people say that we are the Jews of Africa, but I can see why now. All hate yet we still shine. We suffered genocidal acts and we are still here and thriving. Every Igbo child born is a smack in the face of the people who hate us.

And we Igbos do not hate anyone except for the saboteurs but that is left for another day.

The peoples of Nigeria, Hausa/Fulanis, Igbos, Yorubas and all the other ethnic groups, are not facing up to what is wrong with the system. That thing is the group of elites that congregate themselves into small groups of looters at every level of government. As those in Abuja are doing so those in Imo, Oyo and Zamfara and the local governments are doing - stealing you blind.

Yes, it is an open secret that the Igbos are kept from reaching the pinnacle of anything in Nigeria by the collective elite of kleptocrats. The reason? The civil war and continued insistence of groups in the east on Biafra. No one should expect the national elite of kleptocrats to allow space for any form of secession - that is going to destroy their daily bread. That is number one. Number two, those in the east who insist on a country of their own are not providing any serious examples of how they would make a greater state than Nigeria if by some miracle they do get a state of Biafra. Number 3, even if an angel were to come down from heaven and right all the wrongs with one condition that everyone remain in one Nigeria, these groups are likely to throw him/her out. In other words, many of these groups are not campaining on the basis of justice and equality, but the view that the Ibos are a race apart. They are not after a just Nigeria, but a no Nigeria. That would make it increasingly difficult for those among the Igbos who are truly supportive of one JUST Nigeria to see daylight.

I advice our Igbo brothers to start a campaign based on equality and justice within a united Nigeria, rather than the constant drum of Biafra this and Biafra that. At the same time this is not an advice to let yourself be unjustly treated. What I am saying is that Nigeria's ethnic groups need to drop the offensive posture, but keep a well-prepared defensive position that would only be triggered in case of any SERIOUS misadventure by the others.

EzeUche:
Igbos are not appreciated by Nigeria – Uwechue

By Vincent UJUMADU, Awka
PRESIDENT–General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Ralph Uwechue said yesterday in Awka that Igbos have not enjoyed better understanding and demonstrable appreciation from their fellow Nigerians on their role as nation builders and committed custodians of Nigerian unity despite their rich sacrifices to the growth of the country.
In a paper titled “The Role of Ndigbo in Nigeria’s Socio-political and Economic Development” at the 2010 Faculty of Arts conference of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Uwechue observed that Igbos have given a great deal and are still giving, for the sustenance of the Nigeria project, adding that they deserve better treatment than they are getting.
“Igbos played and are still playing a leading role in the promotion of national integration. Today, there are several millions of Igbo people living, working and helping to develop significantly parts of Nigeria outside Igboland. They are in remote villages and towns nationwide and in commercial cities which shows their belief and commitment to Pan –Nigerian nationhood. For the Igbos, anywhere in Nigeria is home.”
“Sometimes, too much is being simplistically made of the random appointment of talented Igbo technocrats to high profile positions, where demonstrable competence is usually required to tackle certain specific and difficult national tasks.
What has been critically absent for decades and still missing today, is fair and effective Igbo participation in the national decision –making process, which is entirely political.
“It is therefore clear that since the British colonial administration put together this vast country, the evident role of Igbo people in the political, economic and social history of Nigeria has been that of bridge builders and nation builders. The Igbo political role in Nigeria has been consistent in the pursuit of national unity and inter –ethnic cooperation,” Uwechue said.
He observed that despite the contributions of the Igbos to national unity, there is the feeling that, as a people, Igbos are deliberately being sidelined, especially in the sphere of political leadership of the country, regretting that no Igbo person has been deemed suitable to be put at the helm of affairs at the apex management position in Nigeria.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/05/08/igbos-are-not-appreciated-by-nigeria-uwechue/

Could you spell it out and say who HATES Igbos and how? Also, does the Igbos HATE anyone?

EzeUche:
That is what the weak does, they bash people who in no way has anything to do with the oppression. Last time I checked, the Igbo are far from power, but get the most hate. Really sickening if you ask me.

JaaizTech:
[size=14pt]

Same Koran cleansed Bin Laden inside and outside? Same Koran cleansed all the Al-Quedai inside and outside? Same Koran cleansed Mutallab inside and outside? Lips sealed

Same Bible cleansed George Bush who has killed more innocent civilians than Bin Laden would ever dream of; Same Bible cleansed Adolph Hitler; Same Bible that Cleansed Harry Truman the American President that bombed Hiroshima; Same Bible that Cleansed Slobodan Milosevic that killed thousands of Bosnian Muslims; Also the Bible that inspired the Killing of notable Scientist: Galileo; Giordano Bruno; whom was burn on the stake;Socrates etc I can go on and On; but really it is not worth it. [/size]

@JaaizTech
This is where you & those on the various other religious sides go wrong. What people of the world are interested in is not some "not only the people of my religion" argument when unflattering, at best, things are pointed out about your religion. What is needed is to state the TRUE position of your religion. Is Osama Bin Laden a true muslim according to the Quran? If not, then you the defenders of the true religion need to take the fight to him and his followers. First, state in clear terms to the world how the Quran is against Osama Bin Laden. Second, call on him and his followers to desist. Third, expel them from your mosques and your assocations. Fourth, bring the full weight of the law against them. Platitudes and such don't wake up the dead. It is not Bush that continues to blow muslims up in Afghanistan or Pakistan or Iraq.

Two wrongs don't make a right. From what I know about the Bible - Adolf Hitler was not a Christian (i.e. a follower of Christ). I don't think Jesus would recognize George Bush as one either. In one statement you condem both Adolf Hitler and the act that decisively put an end to his madness and that of Japan at the time - sure it was horrific but VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE.

Even better let's make IBB the INEC chair, but he can contest.

icycool84:
IBB should just marry Turai jare and run for office. At least they're sure to get all the votes in Zamfara, Sokoto and Bauchi States where their sons in law run things, lol

Really? You realize you are a tribalist. You are about to be cured. The next step is to ask yourself, why?

EzeUche:
I will take a break from my tribalistic posting to mourn the death of President Yar'Adua. May he rest in preace.

However, what does the nation do now. This will be interesting to watch. I hope nothing bad happens though

I feel your pain, but except angels descend from heaven we have to work with what we have. What we have to ensure this time is that we don't let the worst of the bad take the reign.

If we delivered government to Rufai and Co., and we HOLD THEIR FEET to the fire each day of the week then we might shorten the time to truly great leaders in Nigeria.

If we handed it over to IBB, who's only taste of power is military power, it would be like trying to teach an old fighting dog to watch babies - expect blood!

Dede1:
These pseudo-looters tend to wise-up when they ran afoul of the very benevolent government that saw them into places of power and influence. Mallam Ahmed El-Rufai supported the government of Nigeria led by the so-called class of 1966 that prosecuted war of attrition against Biafra. El Rufai hitched a joyous hike on the wings of the government led by the class of 1966 with batting an eye lid. As far as I am concerned, Mallam Ahmed El-Rufai is intertwined with the class of 1966.

You are tripping over yourself. This is not any revolution, All we can hope for is that we get slightly better people who at least would not do foolish things bold-facedly. Then we will complain enough that the next round of people would be better than them, etc.

But a revolution, NO!

keyremotes:
WE ARE WITNESSING A REVOLUTION WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD
LIKE WHAT HAPPENED IN GHANA.

WATCH OUT FOR A NEW NIGERIA.

EACH I DRIVE AROUND IN MY CAR WITH THE NIGERIAN FLAG
FLYING ON MY DASH BOARD, I REALISE I HAVE NOW WHERE ELSE TO RUN,
NO WHERE ELSE TO CALL MY OWN COUNTRY.

EVEN IF I BECOME A CITIZEN OF ANOTHER COUNTRY, I WILL ONLY BE A TOLERATED STRANGER.
THE DAY I AM PERCIEVED TO BE A THREAT I WILL BE DEPORTED.

IN NIGERIA, IT CANNOT HAPPEN.

GOD BLESS NIGERIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mekusxxx
You are reading me wrong. He was never part of the main cabal. He was a beneficiary, so it may appear that he was part of the cabal. You and I know that IBB and his cohorts were the movers behind that coup. Like I said they merely used Buhari and Idiagbon until they were ready to take over proper. In any case, that doesn't absolve Buhari of stealing government, which is one reason why his political ambition never took off. IBB's ambitions must likewise be rendered impotent.

mekusxxx:
Naijajimi:

sO Buhari is not part of the cabal? Buhari who truncated the well-laid out democratic process in the second republic is not part of the problem that has led us to the present sorry pass. I do not even know how to describe you.

How are they different? Are you kidding me?

They both stole government, that is where the comparison stops. And you have not seen me supporting Buhari for president (although he would be much, much better than IBB, if that was the choice), have you?

Buhari was never part of the cabal that holds Nigeria by the jugular, but definitely a beneficiary. IBB and his cohorts used him and Idiagbon until they were ready to dump them - they were the ones behind the coup alll the way. Xteristically, when Idiagbon proved to be unwilling to follow the rules he got sacked. Babangida was participating in coups before he got out of diapers.

Mention Buhari and what word comes to your mind? - spartan discipline, straight-shooter, perhaps with some less encompasing religious views.

Mention Babangida and what word comes to your mind? - schemer, price-is-right kind of person, full of hidden agenda - would hide his real religious agenda as long as it serves his ambitions, etc

In addition, Buhari did not rule the country for 8 years, thanks to who? IBB. Buhari & Idiagbon's short reign, like Muritala's, was a time of purpose. Buhari's mistakes are childs-play compared to the "mistakes" of IBB. The major one being backdating the Press Decree to convict the two Guardian reporters. The other is they were a little overzealous in their enforcement of the WAI. These were some of the things IBB came to rectify back in 1985. Look where that got us. Go, support IBB. A few years hence you will come here to recant.

Lastly, even if that was IBB's only "mistake" cancelling the June 12 elections was enough reason to deny him the benefit of the same process, forever. What is he going to do this time? Wake up Abiola and take us back to 1993? June 12 is not even the main reason I personally don't want to ever see him "lead" this country again.

The man is a complete charlattan and a schemer. If a man would execute his best friend and the best man at his wedding for "thinking" (and we don't even know that this was true) about engaging in the same business they have been involved in for years, especially without even allowing the due process of appeal to run its course, I would not let him run my toilet. And that is still not my reason for not wanting him as the captain of the Nigerian ship, no matter how wretched our ship looks.

mekusxxx:
How is IBB different from Buhari who has contested for presidency twice without anyone making much ado about it? The anger of Yoruba against IBB stems from nothing but the cancellation of June 12 election, despite that they have been compensated and the fact that MKO was a confirmed crook. Tribalistic morons.

You guys like to debate yourself. Wasn't Babangida himself accused of being a drug baron?

These unsubstantiated allegations are not the reasons people are opposed to IBB, at least not in my book. In the same way, it is not closing one's eyes to unsubstantiated allegations that is the reason for supporting the June 12 election.

No. The reasons are:

1. IBB stole government - and unashamedly, even today, calls himself president. And that's just one of his many "mistakes" as he would like us to believe.
2. We had a free and fair election, which IBB canceled, and now he is trying to become president in Nigeria.

Wasn't IBB still maximum ruler, with all the powers of state b/4 the election? Couldn't he have, with good evidence, arrested the man and prevent a criminal from contesting the elections? You might say that would have been difficult, but not really, IBB was banning and unbanning at will.

In reality, no sane reason exists for canceling the vote of the entire nation, and destroying their psyche for generations to come. Have you seen any students on the streets since the latter days of IBB and the early days of Abacha? What happened to the Nigerian fighting spirit? I'll tell you what happened. We got dejected & depressed because a free and fair vote was openly canceled, the man who canceled it would not offer up an explanation & lives on the "mountain-top" as if soldiering leads to riches, while the winner of the election sat and died in jail.

Let me tell you, as much as Abiola and his family suffered (mind you nobody brought up the issue of being a drug baron all those days, not even IBB), generations of Nigerians to come are the ones that really suffered both now and in advance.

IBB is the worst thing to have ever happened to Nigeria. My guts tells me that he was taking orders from above (and there are a couple of them) or from his, until then, foot soldiers, Abacha & Co.

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend!

jumobi1:
Abiola won because the average Nigerian has a below average political IQ. People just voted because they were desperate, was popular and frankly, Tofa wasn't a better option. People don't do their research. Idk if he was a drug baron but he was no anger. Heard he funded coups and stole money from a contract he was given to provide phone lines for Nigerians.

snowdrops:
In a decent society, even if you steal one kobo, it is enough to go to jail. Over 1 billion naira is still a substantial amount.

Agreed but even if Rufai were found to be culpable in some way I am confident that this is not some elaborate stealing scheme common in Nigeria. I am thinking we are talking about a "little" (by Nigerian standards) nepotism here.

Why am I so confident? Because this is perhaps the first time in Nigeria that someone who could have comfortably stayed abroad returns home under the necessary assurance that he will receive a fair hearing. He was wise to stay away from the protector of Ibori.

---

As for the EFCC's current management if any of the following is true, they are gonners: http://saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/5971-fraud-at-the-efcc-stunning-new-petition-to-ap-goodluck-jonathan-details-farida-waziris-leadership-and-lifestyle.html

Fraud at the EFCC: Stunning New Petition To AP Goodluck Jonathan Details Farida Waziri's Leadership And Lifestyle PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Monday, 03 May 2010 19:11


Faridaw Waziri
No 10 Porto Novo Street
A new petition to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan calls upon him to investigate the “massive fraud” going on at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the leadership of Mrs. Farida Waziri. Signed by Joseph Amadi on behalf of a group which calls itself the PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY LEAGUE, the petition alleges that Mrs. Waziri has been enriching herself by negotiating deals in cases before her in which she obtains huge commissions.

The scams began soon after Mrs. Waziri assumed office, the writers say, alleging an “extortionist committee headed by Mohammed A Bako” that the EFCC chairperson set up which negotiated huge takings “in excess of 35%” for cheques recovered before she assumed office that were awaiting collection.

“Our investigation revealed that those who refused to part with any bribe compelled EFCC to discount their cheques with the issuing bank,” the petition says.

An important element in Mrs. Waziri’s approach to her job is the Anti-Corruption Revolution Campaign (ANCOR), through which she has sought to portray herself as being a forthright and dogged crusader.  Indeed, according to the Public Accountability League, Mrs. Waziri has spent over N700 million on each of the ANCOR launches in Lagos and Abuja.   It observes, however, “This was never provided for in either the 2008 or 2009 EFCC budgets,” and “the items used in the events never passed through due process as they were never advertised for.”

Turning to the bank reform programme initiated by the Central Bank governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, the group also alleges that Mrs. Waziri negotiated 10% from the banks as administrative fees for funds recovered.    “Where are the monies recovered from bank debtors?” the group asks.  “And how much commission did she charge these banks?”

The group also raises questions about Mrs. Waziri’s acquisition of property, alleging that since her assumption of office at the EFCC, she has bought several homes in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Dubai.  

Among the more stunning of the allegations, the group writes as follows: “Waziri has since February 2009 been receiving the sum of N50 million monthly from Intercontinental Bank Plc, N20 million monthly from Access Bank and NI0 million monthly from Skye Bank Plc.  These monies, represent interests accruing to the over N300 billion recovered looted funds including the N17 billion from former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, placed as fixed deposits in these commercial banks by the EFCC. These funds, were supposed to be placed in the federation account instead of these commercial banks.”

The full text of the petition is as follows:
Fraud In EFCC- Farida Waziri's Penchant For Negotiated Commission On Recovered Funds

We are writing to intimate you of the massive fraud going on in the EFCC since Mrs Farida Waziri took over as its Chairman. This fraud has been ongoing but has reached a crescendo since the recovery of debts for the failed banks. When Mrs took over at the EFCC, she inherited several cheques of funds recovered by her predecessor which were not disbursed to the beneficiaries. On assumption of office, Mrs Waziri advertised that beneficiaries of the cheques should come forward to claim their recovered funds. Mrs Waziri immediately set up an extortionist committee headed by Mohammed A Bako. This group negotiated and collected on behalf of Mrs Farida Waziri in excess of 35% for funds recovered before beneficiary’s cheques were released. Several beneficiaries reluctantly parted with these commissions while those who rebuffed are yet to receive their funds. Our investigation revealed that those who refused to part with any bribe compelled EFCC  to discount their cheques with the issuing bank. These banks were quick to accept EFCC request just to remain in their good books thereby violating laid down procedure by paying cash to EFCC for a cheque that belongs to another individual or company. These funds end up in the coffers of Mrs Farida Waziri. This practice has been ongoing and has reached an alarming proportion in the recent recovery of loans from bank defaulters. Mrs Waziri negotiates for 10% from banks as administrative fee for all funds recovered. Banks have not been able to complain due to threat and intimidation from the Waziri led EFCC. Most debtors like Henry Imasekha, Peter Ololo etc have parted with several millions to Mrs Farida Waziri.

We are attaching  EFCC recovery list inherited by Farida Waziri. The list contains case file Nos. Exhibit Nos, Date Cheque/Draft was issued, Issuing Bank/Beneficiary, Amount and investigation Team.

In the recovery list No 60. A bank draft of N200million was issued to Delta State Government,  List No. 71. A draft of N300 million in favour of Delta State Government and List No 83. for N200million in favour of Delta State Government totaling N700 million.

Mr. Acting President, please ask Mrs Farida Waziri how she disbursed the N700million due to Delta State Government. What role did James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan play in this disbursement? How much did she make from the N700million?

How much percentage did she collect from companies like Nipco Ltd. and Jugi Mann International Ltd. who protested the extortion of Farida Waziri.

Where are the monies recovered from bank debtors? And how much commission did she charge these banks.

Mr. Acting President, you just inaugurated the code of conduct bureau to look into the assets declaration of civil servants, can you please ask Mrs Farida Waziri to present her asset declaration form when she took over and her assets to date both in Nigeria, UK and Dubai.

Since taking over as EFCC chairman in 2008, Mrs Farida Waziri has bought several properties both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and Dubai. She bought from the FCDA a five bedroom detached house for N50.4 million at No. 10 Port Novo Crescent Wuse 2 Abuja by Red Cross office. She recently moved into the said 10 Port Novo crescent Wuse 2. This house is valued for over N450 million.

Mrs Waziris penchant to amass properties in Abuja continued unabated, She applied for properties with the FCT and it was approved immediately by then Minister Umar Modibbo whom she was investigating.
Waziri's Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) was offered to her the next day. The C of 0 read that she was allocated Plot 1460 of 25 Trent River Street, Maitama, Abuja with file number 60219 in Cadastral Zone, B06 of MABUSHI.

However, her plot soon assume a game of hide-and-seek. According to a source within FCT who knew about the transaction, Waziri and the former minister suspected that people were aware of the land allocated to her. Waziri, then, arranged with the FCT to change the ownership of her land. On October 13th 2008, the Federal Capital Territory Administration Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) wrote her a "withdrawal letter" titled "Notice of Withdrawal of Right of Occupancy", the short letter, addressed to Mr. Farida Mzamber Waziri, stated that her Right of Occupancy to Plot 1460 within B06 Mabushi was revoked by "DISCRETION BY AUTHORITY." The letter listed the Director of Development Control, Director Legal, and Director "URP" as the source of the letter.( Attached)

Two days after the revocation, the same plot was allocated to Waziri's daughter, Zainab Naomi Salawu. The same plot was now assigned a new file number GO 60167. In an attempt to hide the exact identity of the re-allocated land, FCT Officials gave the address as 2 River Trent Crescent, Maitama - Abuja.

Mrs. Waziri sent Mohammed A. Bako, the EFCC protocol officer, to sign a letter accepting the land. Bako, who signed on behalf of Zainab Naomi Salawu,  gave his EFCC Office Phone Number 09-6441118, and Mobile Number: 0803-325-5447, his E-mail Address: abako@efccnigeria.org as well as his home address in Karu Phase 1 Area of Abuja.

Mrs Farida Waziri received a Mercedes Benz GL 450 gift from Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom to stop ongoing investigation against her and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu on billions of Naira stolen by the duo from Akwa Ibom state coffers.

Waziri has since February 2009 been receiving the sum of N50 million monthly from Intercontinental Bank Plc,N20 million monthly from Access Bank and NI0 million monthly from Skye Bank Plc, These monies, represent interests accruing to the over N300 billion recovered looted funds including the N17 billion from former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, placed as fixed deposits in these commercial banks by the EFCC. These funds, were supposed to be placed in the federation account instead of these commercial banks.

Waziri has spent over N700 million each in the ANCOR launch, in Lagos and Abuja. This was never provided for in either the 2008 or 2009 EFCC budgets. All the items used in the events never passed through due process as they were never advertised for.

Mr. Acting President, we will avail you of more information and title deeds of the properties recently acquired by Mrs Farida Waziri in London. We have a very big surprise for you Mr. President, so that you will see the nature of woman that is heading one of the most important institutions in Nigeria.
It will be worthwhile if the fight against corruption is to be fought, let it be by people of integrity.

We wish you well Mr. Acting President and the world is watching you and commend your efforts in the sack of former INEC chairman, IWU.

Yours Sincerely,

For: PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY LEAGUE
JOSEPH AMADI

EFCC RECOVERY LIST



S/N
CASE F.  NO
EX. NO
DATE ISSUED
ITEMS
AMOUNT (N)
TEAM

1
99/03
175-03
 
Habib Bank Cheque in favour of Nipco Plc. Dated 24/09/03
7,000,000
Manga

2
99/03
175-03
 
Union Bank Cheque in favour of Nipco Nig. Ltd. Dated 15/010/03
6,000,000
Manga

3
99/03
175-03
 
Union Bank Cheque in favour of Nipco Nig. Ltd Dated 15/10/03
6,000,000
Manga

4
99/03
175-03
 
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour Nipco Nig. Ltd. Dated 15/10/03
6,000,00
Manga

5
99/03
175-03
 
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of Nipco Nig. Ltd Dated 15/10/03.
6,000,000
Manga

6
99/03
175-03
 
Fidelity Bank Cheque in favour of Nipco Nig. Ltd. Dated 15/10/03
6,000,000
Manga

7
99/03
175-03
 
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of IPMAN Dated 15/10/03
9,000,000
Manga

8
99/03
175-03
 
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of IPMAN Dated 15/10/03
6,000,000
Manga

9
012-03
303-03
30/12/03
New Nig. Bank Draft in favour of Cooperative Dev. Bank
5,000,000
Janga

10
 
652-04
24/8/04
Zenith Bank Cheque Dated 24/08/04
2,000,000
Odude

11
221-03
2018-04
21/12/04
Trade Bank Draft in favour of Datson Nig. Ltd. Dated 09/12/04
5,000,000
 

12
39-04
105-04
23/02/04
Allstates Trust Bank Cheque in favour of Inland Bank Dated 1/3/04
1,400,000
Hamma

13
39/04
105-04
23/2/04
Fountain Trust Bank Draft in favour of Inland Bank/IPMAN
1,165,000
 

14
1841/03
221-04
25/03/04
Habib Bank Cheque in favour of NNIL
1,000,000
Janga

15
395/04
670-04
9/9/2004
FSB Int’l Bank Cheque in favour of Victoria Falls Ltd
4,500,000
Odude

16
359/04
593-04
9/8/2004
Access Bank Cheque in favour of Victoria Falls Dated 9/9/04
7,500,000
Odude

17
56/04
283-04
21/4/04
Union Bank Slip dated 06/08/07
 
Magu

18
602/04
410-05
11/4/2005
Access Bank Cheque in favour of VEE Networks Ltd. Dated 7/4/05
150,000,000
Haruna

19
 
3004-05
 
Magnum Trust Bank Cheque in favour of Oduniyi O. Dated 22/11/05
675
EG5

20
686/05
1987-05
16/11/05
Zenith Bank Draft in favour of KDC Nig. Ltd. Dated 16/11/05
1,000,000
Wakili

21
 
2051-05
 
Oceanic Bank Cheque in favour of Transvari Services Ltd. Dated 20/09/05
135,000
Magu

22
359/04
012-05
7/1/2005
Prudent Bank Cheque in favour of Victoria Falls Ltd. Dated 31/1/05
7,000,000
Hamma

23
359/04
012-05
7/1/2005
Prudent Bank Cheque in favour of Victoria Falls Ltd. Dated 12/1/05
2,000,000
Hamma

24
607/04
015-05
7/1/2005
Prudent Bank Cheque in favour of Ondo State Govt. Dated 7/1/05
10,000,000
Janga

25
119/05
1725-05
17/10/05
Gateway Bank Cheque in favour of Fed. Housing Authority Dated 15/11/05
2,000,000
Janga

26
327/05
1185-05
9/8/2005
UBA Draft in favour of Apex Securities Ltd Dated 09/08/05
1,500,000
Magu

27
165/05
1371-05
6/9/2005
Broad Bank Draft in favour of FBN Merchant Bankers Dated 05/09/05
100,000
Manga

28
 
1374-06
19/6/06
Intercontinental Bank Draft in favour of Fed Housing Authority
1,000,000
EG2

29
66/06
2496-06
6/11/2006
Sky Bank Draft in favour of Ekiti State Joint LGA
5,000,000
Magu

30
158/05
963-06
24/4/06
Zenith Bank Draft in favour of Nig. Maritime Authority Dated 24/04/06
200,000
EG3

31
 
741-06
30/3/06
GTB Cheque in favour of NDLEA Dated 30/03/06
1,800,000
EG6

32
 
1863-06
15/8/06
Standard Chartered Bank Cheque in favour of Nig. Telecoms Ltd. Dated 11/07/06
1,000,000
Magu

33
 
1328-06
12/6/2006
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of Clement Malong Dated 07/06/06
155,000
EG7

34
 
1328-06
12/6/2006
Zenith Bank Cheque I gavour of Aighbokhai Edekin Dated 06/06/06
28,688.000
EG7

35
352/04
1205-06
30/5/06
Equitorial Trust Bank Cheque in favour of Victoria Falls Dated 28/02/06
3,7000,000
EG3

36
 
2675-06
 
Skye Bank Draft in favour of Ekiti State Joint LGA Dated 96/1/06
5,000,000
Magu

37
 
849-06
12/4/2006
First Bank Cheque in favour of Prince E. Ogunoye Dated 31/05/06
200,000
EG5

38
 
849-06
12/4/2006
First Bank Cheque in favour of Prince E. Ogunoye Dated 31/06/06
150,000
EG5

39
 
1615-06
18/7/06
Diamond Bank Cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd.dated 1/7/06
8,383,333.33
Magu

40
66/06
2563-06
22/1/06
Bank PHB Cheque in gavour of Ekiti State Joint LGA Dated 20/11/06
5,000,000
Magu

41
 
430-06
 
Oceanic Bank Cheque in favour of Transvari Services Ltd dated 20/09/05
630,000
Magu

42
791/05
833-06
11/4/2006
Oceanic Bank Cheque in favour of Transvari Services Ltd. Dated 31/03/06
520,000
EG4

43
472/04
2757-06
19/12/06
Diamond Bank Cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd. Dated 1/8/06
8,383,333.33
Magu

44
472/04
2757-06
19/12/06
Diamond Bank Cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd. Dated 1/9/06
8,383,334.33
Magu

45
472/04
2757-06
19/12/06
Diamond Bank Cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd dated 1/10/06
8,383,335.33
Magu

46
472/04
2757-06
19/12/06
Diamond Bank cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd dated 1/11/06
8,383,336.33
Magu

47
472/04
2757-06
19/12/06
Diamond Bank Cheque in favour of Jugi Mann Int’l Ltd. Dated 1/12/06
8,383,337.33
Magu

48
868/07
1659-07
20/7/07
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of Emmanuel Agbo Dated 30/10/07
1,000,000
EG6

49
866/07
1659-07
20/7/07
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of Emmanuel Agbo dated 30/09/07
1,000,000
EG6

50
66/07
343-07
20/2/07
Ecobank Cheque in favour of Oyo State Govt Dated 20/02/07
10,000,000
EG2

51
902/07
2624-07
16/11/07
Oceanic Bank Draft in favour of Ejigbo LGA dated 15/11/07
300,000
EG3

52
664/06
491-07
6/3/2007
Standard Chartered Bank Cheque in favour of Nig. Telecoms. Dated 31/08/06
2,500,000
Magu

53
66/07
2579-07
12/11/2007
Sterling bank Cheque in favour of Oyo State Govt. Dated 08/11/07
10,000,000
EG2

54
907/07
2632-07
20/11/07
First bank Draft in favour of Ejigbo Local Council Dev. Area Dated 19/11/07
50,000
EG2

55
 
2610-07
15/11/07
Bank PHBCheque in favour of LJB Ent. Ltd. Dated 14/11/07
8,250,000
EG7

56
1556/07
2670-07
23/11/07
Broad Bank Cheque in favour of Aquamarine Investment Ltd. Dated 19/09/05
9,000,000
EG6

57
1556/07
2670-07
23/11/07
Broad Bank Cheque in favour of Diamond Rich PTY Nig. Ltd. Dated 12/09/05
10,000,000
EG7

58
213/07
1026-07
8/5/2007
GTB Draft in favour of Jibril Jamilu dated 07/05/07
800,000
Magu

59
665/06
1911-07
20/5/07
GTB Draft in favour of Nig. Telecoms. Ltd. Dated 07/05/07
610,000
Magu

60
41/07
1994/07
318/07
Intercontinental Bank Draft in favour of Ministry of Fin. Delta State Dated 28/08/07
200,000,000
Magu

61
194/07
803-07
11/4/2007
Diamond BankCheque in fabour of Nipco Trift & Credit Society Dated 10/05/07
160,000
Magu

62
663/06
490-07
11/4/2007
GTB Cheque in favour of Nig. Telecoms Ltd. Dated 11/08/07
3,000,000
Magu

63
 
371-07
6/3/2006
Wema Bank Draft in favour of Ekiti State Govt. Dated 22/02/07
20,000,000
Magu

64
213/07
706-07
29/3/07
GTB Draft in favour of Jibril Jamilu Dated 29/03/07
300,000
Magu

65
904/06
2813-07
11/12/2007
First Bank Draft in favour of Oshodi LGA Dated 10/12/07
438,900
EG3

66
237/07
489-07
6/3/2007
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of Emmanuel Edughaen Dated 05/03/07
6,234.740
Magu

67
213/07
581-07
15/3/07
GTB Draft in favour of Jibril Jamilu
5,174,610.37
Magu

68
66/06
67-07
19/1/07
Skye Bank Draft in favour of Ekiti State Joint LGA Dated 09/10/07
5,000,000
Magu

69
182/07
1034-07
9/5/2007
UBA Draft in favour of Oyo State Govt. Dated 19/04/07
250,000,00
Magu

70
542/07
1424-07
22/6/07
IBTC Draft in favour of National teachers Institute Dated 14/06/07
83,600,00
Magu

71
41/06
581-07
 
Intercontinental Bank Draft in favour of Delta State Govt. Dated 24/04/07
300,000,000
Magu

72
298/07
1436-07
25/6/07
Intercontinental Bank Draft in favour of African Petroleum Dated 12/06/07
500,000
Magu

73
66/07
417-07
28/2/07
Sterling Bank Draft in favour of Oyo State Govt. dated 27/02/07
12,500,000
EG2

74
1202/07
2153-07
20/9/07
Bank PHB Cheque in favour of Okerulu Ngozi Dated 25/09/07
1,200,000
EG3

75
213/07
541-07
12/3/2007
GTB Draft in favour of Jibril Jamilu Dated 12/3/07
311,174
Magu

76
763/07
2268-07
4/10/2007
Standard Chartered Bank Draft in favour of Federal Inland Revenue Dated 3/10/07
500,000
EG6

77
 
2544-07
 
Platinum Bank Cheque in favour of Sunny Evbodeghe Dated 27/10/06
595,000
EG6

78
1083/06
633-07
21/3/07
Union Bank Draft in favour of Lagos State Board of Int. Rev. Dated 20/3/07
321,000
Magu

79
797/06
264-07
13/2/07
Zenith Bank Cheque in favour of TRW Stock Brokers Ltd Dated 30/06/07
18,400,00
Magu

80
1104/07
2057-07
6/9/2007
IBTC Cheque in favour of Wanger Grace Dated 4/09/07
140,055
Magu

81
335/07
693-07
28/3/07
Wema Bank Draft in favourof Ogali Julie O. Dated 28/03/07
158,509.85
Magu

82
287/07
622-07
20/3/07
Wema Bank Draft in favour of Federal Inland Revenue Dated 16/03/07
920,000
Magu

83
41/07
2042/07
5/9/2007
Zenith Bank Draft in favour of Delta State Ministry of Finance Dated 4/9/07
200,000,000
EG2

Yeah right, Kosovo. You and Oshimole are in the same boat with IBB. A pastor had better run if he got to his "church" and found the devil leading the choir and the congregation "happily" singing along - they might all be in a trance.

kosovo:
Oshiomole is a perfecte example of an inteligent politician should behave, i wish we had many like him  . . .

He is trying to be VP to IBB. Period.

Stan017:
Oshiomole is a disgrace to Nigeria Civil Society. What he has exhibited is his true nature. Remember during his farwel speech as NLC President when he refused to make a single statement on Obasanjo's Third Term Agenda because of his political ambition. It is a shame that his form of activism lacks morals.

Opon assumption of office as Governor, he refused to say a word about the corruptive leadership of Lucky Igbinedion because they are old time friends. The news of his resolve to contest 2011 as IBB's Vice President is just filtering into the air. We are waiting

You are being unfair.

If they are not just talking, but mean this then they ought to be commended. What the world needs is for moderate Muslims to stand up to the extremists, tell the world about their religion, be willing to understand that people may not agree with them, renounce any form of violence in the name of religion, reform glaring areas of deficit in practice, and recognize the freedom of religion, including the right to convert from muslim to other religions and vice versa without compulsion.

That would never happen if everytime a Muslim shows some courage and says something positive you tell them to take it somewhere else.

0hsisi:
they should tell that to osama bin laden and the thousands of Nigerian muslims who celebrated 9/11 on the streets
The killers of theo van gogh and hundreds of thousands of innocents murdered if not millions
The families of all the killed
They should tell that to Mohammed himself who advocated violence as a means of spreading his religion,the example these Muslims follow.
We cannot be deceived

It seems so, and I am not really advising you against it. Just pointing out that you know what you will be getting into and to stop abusing Yoruba people because the Yoruba elite happen to be dancing palongo with the Northern elite. They only serve their own ends. But if that is what you want by all means have it.

The Yorubas know that they never sent Obasanjo to be president. He was the stoogee of the Northern elite under the illusion that he was promoting national unity. The only free and fair election ever held in Nigeria, whether well arranged beforehand or not, was for a Yoruba-man who they kind of realized too late was not going to dance to their music. So, what did they do? They cancelled it - that how far the cabal would go. Think about how they openly tried to make sure Jonathan never assumed his constitutional role, and that was a role that was automatic!

Dine with IBB if you want, but use a very loooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, oooooooooooooooooooooooong spoon.

mekusxxx:
Naijajimi:

I would rather that Igbos support rotational presidency and when it gets to Igbo turn they get denied by your socalled powers that be. Then we can take it from there.

Do you think the Yoruba can lead Nigeria except under such a rotational arrangement? Keep living in Somaliland. Get wise, for your idiocy is sickening.

So tell me what exactly about being Igbo that makes that a mark of greatness. Think about it and come back with an answer that makes sense, perhaps I will be convinced yet that tribe is an appropriate measure of greatness - tic-toc-tic-toc!

mekusxxx:
Whenever mediocrity, nepotism, tribalism and incompetence are set aside, the Igbo are sure to worst ( I know many of you may not know the meaning of worst as used here) the rest of the people in Nigeria.

@PapaBrowne

Great topic. I suggest that we figure out the political economy of development first. Here are a few principles of development based on religious sayings since Nigerians are a very religious people:

1. Man was not made for infrastructure, but infrastructure for man - translation?
If your people do not earn enough you can build all the houses, roads, bridges, etc you want, they will not be maintained or used. If used, nobody would pay for them and your multiplier effects goes straight to zero. Bola Ige was certainly not corrupt, but after a couple of years the row of houses he built along Ibadan-Ife road were abandoned. I don't know what is going on with those houses now, but we have similar moribound projects all over the Nigerian landscape.

2. The truth (education) will set you free.
There is no other way to raising people's productivity so they can produce valuable work and earn dignified wages than to increase their skill and knowledge base. Workers can demand all the minimum wage they want, if productivity doesn't increase they are simply going to take the increase from someone else's pocket, get fired or the government would have to borrow to pay them. Or as we do in Nigeria wait for the price of oil to go up.

3. The borrower is the servant to the man doing the lending.
It is as simple as that. One thing Ag. President Jonathan and his new finance minister is doing that would ruin Nigeria all over again is this increasingly bold talk about the need to borrow to develop. There is nothing farther from the truth. The lenders that make money from international borrowing are looking to push debt on the ignorant nations of the world. Does that mean we don't need foreign investment? Yes, we need foreign investment, but our government only needs to provide the right environment for capital to come in. Reduce the risk to foreign investors, clean up the system of doing business, improve its efficiency, make sure a sizable portion of the investment gains made in Nigeria is received by Nigerians and let the ball roll. Any government that thinks it is going to borrow to develop Nigeria is showing a serious lack of what Nigeria needs and must not be allowed to remain longer than is necessary.

4. Go to the ants or he that refuses to work let him not eat
Free loading is embedded in our collective psyche. Until we begin to recognize property rights and the need to pay and receive just compensation to/for  ownership of such rights Nigeria will forever travel around a circle the size of a pin-head.

Wonders shall never end. I never thought the day would come when someone like yourself would believe this kind of bull. I know you say some really mean things about the Yoruba, but was about to give you some credit for not being gullible.

Now your credit is gone, and you need to apologise for abusing Yoruba people because the Yoruba elite are in tango with the Northern elite. That is exactly what you are supporting here.

Let me put it straight to you. The powers that be is determined that the East would never see the Presidency.

If you play with them, you play into their cold hands. Your only hope is to drop this tribalistic posture and support true change no matter from which corner of Nigeria it comes. Mark my words support and elect IBB. After 4 years they will forment a coup, and your so-called turn is poof into thin air. If they ever allow the east to produce a President you will be looking at a person that is completely under their boot, like they have OBJ. Ojukwu and whoever he supports can forget it.

The youths of this nation need to enter into an intellectual conspiracy against the old guard that is holding us down for their selfish ends. They lead us from crisis to crisis playing up tribal sentiments and spreading false hope, but their plan always works for them.

Enough word for the wise.

mekusxxx:
Ojukwu is playing a strategic game by supporting a northerner in 2011. He knows that for now only PDP can rule Nigeria and he is aware of the PDP rotational presidency. Jonathan should wait until 2015 when it is the turn of the South to rule, then he can take it from there. No one is against Jonathan, but denial of an existing PDP pact to rotate presidency will not augur well for the south and for Nigeria. If the country is left without any power rotation in place, the North will rule for life because they have not only the population, but also the unity and political sagacity. Rotational presidency is the only means that the thoroughly divided south can ever dream of ruling. Obasanjo -Yoruba- benefitted from it and now turns round to deny-true to type. If it takes an IBB to continue the PDP rotation, I say go for it. Jonathan is actually no saint, his wife should account for the stolen billions just like IBB should. No Nigerian leader past and present and infact future is/will be immuned from corruption as the vice flows from bottom to the top. Obasanjo was supposed to be a born again, but he stole as much as IBB, Abacha, and Abubakir, if not more. So those who accuse IBB of corruption (and that includes me) should go the whole hog and expose everyone else.

The benefit of rotational presidence also applies to the Yoruba and Ijaw among others. The only way they can have the opportunity to lead is by rotational presidency. The other parties are a bunch of unserious clowns and there is no way a Yoruba party (for e.g., AC) or an Igbo party (for e.g., APGA) or an Hausa party (ANPP) can lead. PDP is the only viable option that cuts across the different regions, and this is in no doubt, as recognized by people like ATIKU who have since returned to the PDP.

Now who are the potential candidates in the North?

Nigeria yearns for true change.

It is not Just the Northern Elite. Tribalism is a disease that is so deeply woven into the Nigerian collective brain. Look around you in your offices - North, Middle, East, West, South-South, etc. Look at the man of power in your midst and then look at how many of those that answer to him are from his tribe, his region or his religion. This video merely shows that the Northern elite never hid their way of doing things, but everyone was doing it.

With this kind of attitude merit is kissed bye-bye, while mediocrity says hello.

Nigeria, how long? The road to development is so open yet we cannot to rise to the occassion!

[center][flash=450,350]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvmwd5ZRRM&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1[/flash][/center]

More information on Albert Pike than you care for. However, without knowing the below the posted article had all the signs of a hoax written all over it. Don't you know a 419 letter when you see one. Enjoy

Outrageous Fabrication: Pike, as a member of the Illuminati, outlined a plan for three world wars which would result in the establishment of a single world government.

The facts: For fifty years, Pike was a staunch advocate of the principle of States' Rights. He didn't even favor a strong national government. It is therefore absurd to think that he would advocate a single world government, much less formulate a plan to bring about such a government.

If the excerpts I've read on the internet are part of this supposed master plan, then I can say with a high degree of confidence that it didn't come from Pike. It's not his rhetorical style. Further, I think it's not in the rhetorical style that was taught in the 19th century. I think this three-world-war letter is a 20th century hoax. I'm not saying there's no master plan for three world wars, I am saying that letter didn't come from Pike.

Quoted from the Mazzini letter, supposedly written by Pike in 1871: "The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists." The only trouble with that is that the Fascist Party was formed in 1919. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there was no such word as "fascist" until almost thirty years after Pike's death.

Myth busted. The Pike/Mazzini correspondence is a lie, a fraud, a hoax. It was written in the 20th Century by a liar who tried to attatch Pike's name to his lies.

[url]http://users.aristotle.net/~russjohn/literary/pikerant.html[/url]

SPECIOUS ALBERT PIKE MATERIAL

While researching a story on Albert Pike, one of the most important figures in Arkansas history, I ran across a surprising number of mistakes, distortions, misinterpretations and outright falsehoods. For some reason there is a highly motivated contingent out there who wants to have Pike's statue in Washington taken down, and they've allowed themselves to present lots of false, misleading and distorted information in order to further their cause. Here I hope to correct some of the more hysterical assertions.

The source for these corrections is Walter Lee Brown, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his book "A Life of Albert Pike," published by the U. of A. press, 1997.


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Distortion: Pike was a traitor.

The facts: Pike was convicted of treason by the U. S. Government. So was every confederate officer of the rank of Brigadier General and above. It was a blanket conviction, routinely overturned with the signing of a loyalty oath.

Distortion: Pike abandoned his family after the Civil War.

The facts: Pike's wife was mentally ill to the point where Pike could not live with her. They remained married for life, but lived apart as early as 1850. Later in life the Pikes obtained a legal separation, but Pike left her well provided in terms of money and property. Pike continued to support her and his children financially throughout his life. Some of his children lived with him in Memphis and in Washington after the war. One son was even a business partner in Memphis. He did not abandon his family. He and his children were very close.

Distortion: Pike "carried on" with Vinnie Ream.

Fact: Pike enjoyed the company of intelligent, talented young women. Vinnie Ream was the most prominent of them. Pike always claimed the relationship was platonic. We'll never know what really happened, but nobody ever held anything against Benjamin Franklin for his flirtations. The anti-Pike authors use the vague phrase "carried on" in hopes that the reader will assume the relationship was sexual.

Unsupported: Pike was a founder and high officer of the Klan.

The facts: We really don't have any facts on this one. From his postwar editorials, it certainly looks like he was sympathetic to the idea of a secret society as a way the disenfranchised former confederates could still wield power; but we just don't have any evidence other than hearsay.

Distortion: Pike was a war criminal.

The facts: According to the tribunal that tried Pike in absentia, at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Cherokee troops under his command killed a dozen or so wounded Union soldiers and took at most eight scalps from dead soldiers. There was no southern testimony in this finding.

Pike himself was horrified at the accusation and requested an investigation by his own side. He was able to confirm one scalping and one killing of a wounded Union soldier. A packet of confederate testimony was sent to the Union court, but the verdict was announced before the testimony arrived.

The Indian troops were untrained and undisciplined and their tradition of warfare allowed and even encouraged the mutilation of corpses. The Indians under his command were from what were then called the Civilized Tribes, and Pike assumed these traditions to be in the past.

Whether it was one scalp or eight is not the point. Pike was not in control of his troops. It's not a good excuse, but Pike did not order his troops to take scalps.

The newspaper accounts were more lurid and exaggerated the farther north and east the newspaper was. In St. Louis the paper reported Pike's 2000 Indians scalped 18 Union soldiers. By the time the story got to Chicago, the report claimed 3000 indians took 100 scalps, impossible since there were only 24 Union killed in the regiment attacked by the Indians troops. In reality there were 600 Indians taking at most 8 scalps. Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers.

Error: Pike hid out in Canada while he was tried in absentia for war crimes at Pea Ridge.

The facts: After Pea Ridge, the Confederate government had him stationed in Indian Territory. He was beyond the reach of the U. S. government, but he was in Oklahoma near the Texas border.

After the war he lived a few months in Canada while soliciting friends in New York for aid in obtaining a pardon. I think this is understandable. How dumb would it be for a Confederate General accused of war crimes to move to New York one year after the war? Especially considering the exaggerations of the newspapers as I mentioned above.

Outrageous Fabrication: Pike, as a member of the Illuminati, outlined a plan for three world wars which would result in the establishment of a single world government.

The facts: For fifty years, Pike was a staunch advocate of the principle of States' Rights. He didn't even favor a strong national government. It is therefore absurd to think that he would advocate a single world government, much less formulate a plan to bring about such a government.

If the excerpts I've read on the internet are part of this supposed master plan, then I can say with a high degree of confidence that it didn't come from Pike. It's not his rhetorical style. Further, I think it's not in the rhetorical style that was taught in the 19th century. I think this three-world-war letter is a 20th century hoax. I'm not saying there's no master plan for three world wars, I am saying that letter didn't come from Pike.

Quoted from the Mazzini letter, supposedly written by Pike in 1871: "The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists." The only trouble with that is that the Fascist Party was formed in 1919. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there was no such word as "fascist" until almost thirty years after Pike's death.

Myth busted. The Pike/Mazzini correspondence is a lie, a fraud, a hoax. It was written in the 20th Century by a liar who tried to attatch Pike's name to his lies.

Fabrication: Pike was a Satanist.

The facts: Pike was Episcopalian.

Distortion: Pike was frequently accused of plagiarism.

The facts: All that we have in print is that Pike was obliquely accused of plagiarism exactly once as a young man, when somebody opined that one of his poems too closely resembled Poe's "The Raven." That's once. Not "routinely." Not "often." Not "frequently." Once and only once in his whole life. And if you read the poem, you'll see it doesn't resemble The Raven at all. The guy who accused him didn't know what he was talking about.

Fabrication: Pike's book, Morals and Dogma, is a satanic manual.

The facts: M& is the devil to read, I'll grant you that; but if you actually do manage to read it you'll discover that it's a comparison of world religions, mythologies and mystical traditions. It's very much like the work of Joseph Campbell, just written in a florid style and unfortunately not footnoted. I've synopsized an excerpt below to illustrate the point.

Error: Pike attended Harvard.

The facts: He was admitted to Harvard twice, but never attended. Pike was accepted at Harvard as a freshman but didn't attend because they demanded advance payment for two years' tuition. He didn't have the cash, so he went to work for a time to earn tuition and took a test to enter Harvard as a junior. This time, in addition to junior and senior tuition paid in advance, they hit him up for freshman and sophmore tuition paid in arears. He didn't like the idea of paying for two years' worth of classes he hadn't attended, so once again he decided against going to Harvard.

Error: Pike was jailed for treason and/or war crimes

The facts: Pike was once taken into custody near Van Buren because a traveling companion had stolen some otter skins. Pike was released when the guilty party confessed. That's the only time he was ever arrested. He was never jailed for treason or war crimes.

Fabrication: Pike posessed a bracelet, through which he was in constant communication with Lucifer.

The facts: If you believe that, no amount of proof will convince you otherwise.

Misleading: Pike charges of treason were pardonned by fellow Freemason President Andrew Johnson.

The facts: All the pardons for all the former Confederate officers were issued by the President. Masonry was much more prevalent in the 19th Century than it is today, especially among the southern aristocracy that comprised the officer corps. In light of that it's not all that suspicious that Brother Mason Johnson would end up pardoning Brother Mason Pike. The people who point out the masonic connection between Pike and President Johnson try to make Pike's pardon seem sinister and conspiratorial by not mentioning the fact that lots of the Confederate officers were masons and so were lots of the Union officers.

The charges of atrocities at Pea Ridge held up Pike's pardon. Pike moved north (where the populace was openly hostile to him) for a year to lobby the authorities and compile and present evidence of his innocence. This was no rubber-stamp backroom pardon issued the day after the war. Everything was done in the open through normal political channels.


RTJ -- 2/26/2006

MORALS AND DOGMA (EXCERPT)
In order to demonstrate the actual nature of Morals and Dogma and prove that it's a discussion of world religious and philosophical systems rather than a satanic manual, I've simplified one whole chapter of Pike's prose as best I can. Below is my paragraph-by-paragraph synopsis of chapter 17 of Morals and Dogma.

If you want to read the original to convince yourself that I've done a proper job, you can download M& free at www.phoenixmasonry.org. Here goes.

KNIGHT OF THE EAST AND WEST (XVII)

1) Don't despair at not having found Truth so far. Masonry hides truth under layers of metaphor and allegory.

2) Concerning the development of ancient religions:

3) Judaism is an assimilative religion, borrowing elements from Egypt and the Middle East during the wandering of the tribes and afterward.

4) During times of unification, like the times when large land masses were politically united by Alexander or the Romans, people moved around a lot more and religions borrowed from each other and tended gradually to resemble one another.

5) The same kind of philosophical assimilation occurred in Christian/Pagan Europe. Pike -- "The man of intellect, devotee of one system, rarely displaces it with another in all its purity."

6) A Christian sect, the Gnostics, mixed in with their own teachings, other lessons from Egyptian and Indian and Jewish mystical texts.

7) Refinement of the soul through reincarnation was one of the far eastern principles the Gnostics incorporated into their brand of Christianity.

Another imported principle was that all existence emanates from a central light we call God, as if things separate from God are made to exist by reflecting His light. This is an idea found in Plato.

9) John, Jesus and Paul used the allegorical language similar to the way the Gnostics used it.

10) Judging from the languages in which Gnostic texts were first written, Gnosticism is mostly based on Greek, Egyptian and Jewish beliefs.

11) Pythagoras and Plato had travelled to the east in order to increase their body of knowledge. Pythagoras went as far as India, and probably brought the Indian mystical ideas back with him, as evidenced by the frequent inclusion of Platonic ideas in Gnostic teaching. These ideas are also found "overlaid with fiction and absurdity" in Masonry.

12) The notion that some teaching is obvious (exoteric) and some teaching is obscured in metaphor (esoteric) comes to Masonry from the Greeks, whose esoteric teaching is preserved in Olympian mythology.

13) Jewish/Greek/North Egyptian scholars named Aristobulus and Philo tried to demonstrate that Palestine was the origin of stories that Greeks and Egyptians shared with the Jews. Philo also taught that the raw facts of the world around us were metaphors for more profound eternal truths, that nature was something like a code for reaching a greater understanding of God. (An example might be that a rose is red for the blood of Christ, green for everlasting life, thorny for the crown of thorns, maybe the suffering of Jesus and so on. Then you do the same trick with a spider web or a parakeet and gradually this leads you to a greater understanding of infinite truth. That's Philo's thinking.)

14) Masonic ritual transmits knowledge to initiates who are training themselves to understand things in terms of the deeper language rather than the superficial appearance.

15) Philo describes the Supreme Being as a light source.

16) If you can't see the Light directly, maybe you can see images made by the light, or if you prefer, shadows cast by the light. Philo calls this secondary version of God "The Word" or in Greek, Logos.

17) The third expression of the Supreme Being is matter. The physical world, including you and me and all of which was created by the Word of God, as in "Let there be this. Let there be that."

18) God created an ideal world with his pure thought. A blueprint that would yield a perfect world if we subcontractors would only follow the specs. The material world we live in is an imperfect copy of that divine abstract.

19) In the material world we come into direct contact with the Word, but not directly with the Light and not with the Supreme Being.

20) Man has within him true rationality which enables him to use the Word to understand God, and he also has within him irrational spirits which try to confuse the issue. Passions, disorder, inferior spirits posing as ministers of God. God permits the existence of evil as an educational tool of sorts, as a contrast to good, or as an ongoing test of souls so that in undergoing a series of good v. evil tests a soul is either advanced or reincarnates from body to body. Pike says these ideas are found in the epistles of Paul, who wrote after Philo.

21) These notions express themselves in Masonic symbology as pairs of opposites sun/moon, black/white of the checkerboard floor, two columns that the initiate walks between. Also in Masonry is the notion that the visible world is like a cheap and dumbed-down made-for-TV movie version of something else, a "real" world that none of us are allowed to see because it's too close to God. Similarly our own personalities are cheap photocopies of the real souls that God originally gave us. Through Masonry this inner character can be refined and improved to better approximate that ideal soul.

22) There was philosophical disagreeement between Jewish teaching in Alexandria and Jewish teaching in Palestine. The Alexandria school held some teachers and prophets to be superior to others. They placed high value on guys like Moses and Jeremiah and other Jews who were either born in Egypt or had been educated there. Moses, being adopted into the Egyptian upper crust, would have been initiated into "The Knowledge of the Word." Pike says here that we can deduce from actions in the bible taken by Moses, Aaron, the Council of 70 Elders, Solomon and a succession of prophets that the esoteric knowledge of Egypt had been transmitted to the Jews and they were using it.

23) Amun, the principal god of lower Egypt, where Moses grew up, fits the description of the Supreme Being as a light source and the duality principles discussed above generally apply here, too.

24-25-26) Hard to figure. This paragraph just seems to be a catalogue of symbols and concepts related related to Amun. The relation of this list to other parts of this degree are unclear beyond the fact that they are represented on the graphic emblem at the top of the chapter.

27) Pike outlines the symbology of Isis, Osiris and Thoth and shows that these symbols follow the same patterns of Supreme Being-Light-Word-World and good/evil duality as were discussed above.

28) The New Platonists picked up the idea from Egypt or Persia and the Gnostics got it from the New Platonists that our individual characters advance through seven increasingly purified stages signified by seven planets or seven seals.

29) Gnosticism came directly from the Jews of Syria and Judea (note that this contradicts text above stating that Gnosticism comes from Hellenistic Jews and another place where Pike connect teaching of Egyptian Jewish teaching to Gnosticism). Prominent Jewish figures Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Daniel brought ideas into Jewish teaching from Asia, Chaldea, Assyria and Persia. They were raised in these areas and as adults moved into the promised land where they got themselves incorporated into Jewish history and teaching. This is the other side of the philosophical divide mentioned in paragraph 22.

30) It was after the rescue of Jews from captivity in the eastern kingdoms that mystical elements like dream interpretation entered Jewish philosophy. The story of Daniel typifies this.

31) Freed Jews remaining in the eastern kingdoms incorporated into Judaism elements of Zoroastrianism that could be reconciled with their own traditions.

32) In the Zend-avesta (the text of Zoroastrianism) God is described not as light, but as time. God's first emanation was light, which in turn created the King of Light, Ormuzd, who created the pure, ideal world by using his words. So you can see this is pretty much the same philosophical blueprint we've found in Greece, Alexandria, India, all over. It's like the same story told in a hundred languages.

33) That Supreme Being of Zoroaster was actually more like one of us, a fourth generation imperfect copy of his own ideal soul, which was created by the Word, which was spoken by Light, which is the Word of Time. There. Clear as Mud?

34) This same Supreme Being created six genii, who were imperfect enough to interact with us in the material world, but near enough in etiology to the Supreme Being that by our standards they could serve as models of perfection. Jewish teaching translated these genii into Archangels. The Gnostics taught the existence of similar beings called Demiourgos.

35) List of the names of the six genii.

36) One of these genii created man and woman.

37) Ormuzd created a bunch more beings and when all was said and done there were 30 chief holy beings occupying the top level of heaven. This was thought to be a proper number. All offices occupied. Egyptians and Gnostics also taught ranks of mystical beings, the top echelon of which had thirty occupants.

38) Still with the Zoroastrian teaching, Ormuzd generated numerous other spirits called Feroeurs. They are his thoughts and his ideas. He thinks one up and boom, there it is. These spirits serve as guardian angels and spirit guides for human beings.

39) There was another spirit born of Light but second after Ormuzd. This jealous spirit, called Ahriman, is vanquished to the far corner of the universe.

40) The story is comparable to the fall of Lucifer and his banishment to Hell.

41) Ahriman was symbolized by the Dragon. Again we see a lot of Zoroastrian influence in our own Bible. Ormuzd calls the world into existence in six periods mirroring exactly the Biblical creation story. In the Zoroastrian story, the "days" of creation are each 3000 years long. When Ormuzd makes humans, Ahriman the serpent/dragon tempts the female and precipitates a fall from Ormuzd's favor.

42) After a reign of 9000 years by Ahriman and his rotten spirit buddies, three prophets will arise and deliver humanity from its suffering.

43) The Pharisaic Jews incorporated some of this stuff into their doctrine here and there, but the Gnostics copied lots of it into their teaching.

44) The doctrines of Zoroaster came from Bactria, which was an eastern province of Persia close to India and exposed to Buddhism and Hinduism.

45) After the Jewish captivity, their philosophy seems to have been largely taken from that of the Persians. The early Jews and the Persians both claimed a) esoteric knowledge b) conflict of good and evil c) rebellion and fall of a chief angel leading to sin in man d) protection of their adherents by agents of the Supreme Being.

46) The Pharisees claim to transmit through the generations the unaltered traditions given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

47) The Saducees arose in opposition to the Pharisees on the grounds that those traditions were not so pure and were too much adopted from eastern countries.

48) The Essenes and Therapeuts were sects that incorporated both the eastern (Persian/Indian) influences of the Pharisees and the western (Greek/Egyptian) influences of the Saducees.

49) These two sects preached meditation and moral practice rather than philosophical speculation on infinite matters.

50) Philo and Josephus described these practices as resembling those of Zoroastrian followers of Ormuzd.

51) It is interesting to note, that while the Therapeuts and Essenes were widely separated they arrived at such similar practices and philosophies.

52) Although the teachings of Jesus match well those of the Essenes, and he mentions the Pharisees and Saducees with whom the Essenes were in conflict, he never mentions the Essenes.

53) John the Baptist's teaching and practice were in line with the Essenes.

54) John denounced the Pharisees and Saducees and lived and ministered in the area where the Essenes were.

55) Based on the miracles of Jesus, John declared from his prison cell that Jesus was "Elias, who was to come."

56) When John was executed and his followers buried him, for a while the authorities could not account for the body and were afraid that rumors of a resurrection would ignite messianic fervor. Christ declared John to have come in the way of righteousness.

57) John taught some creed predating Christianity, of course, and he was often consulted by Herod. His chief following was among the commoners of the desert, so it is likely that he was Essene. And since Jesus went to him for validation, for baptism, it is likely that he, too, was Essene.

58) Pike brings up the story of Apollus of Alexandria as related in the Bible.

59) Apollus was a Jew from Alexandria who, having been taught nothing of Christianity and having no more credentials than baptism by John, began a teaching career that was essentially Essene. Pike concludes that since Apollus was from the west and taught as he did he must have been a Therapeut.

60) St. Augustine concludes that the religion we know as Christianity had existed since ancient times and that Jesus brought it to the fore.

61) Itenerant exorcists were probably Therapeuts or Essenes.

62) In Acts 19 Paul goes to Ephesus and talks to the people to whom Apollus has been preaching and discovers that Apollus has not been teaching the doctrine of the existence of the Holy Ghost.

63) This is more evidence that Apollus was teaching out of the Essene/Therapeut traditon conferred or taught by John.

64) In Corinth there were disagreements in doctrine taught by Paul, Apollus and Cephas.

65) Paul taught that the resurrected Jesus was going to return and set the world right. The other sects did not necessarily teach that. Some even denied the resurrection.

66) According to Philo's description, there were two types of Essenes, the Practici, who held regular occcupations, and the Therapeutici, who were monks and doctors. They were all financially humble, pious and obedient. They also had secret ceremonies.

67) They ate simple food, didn't swear, bore hardship as stoics, despised death, kept the Sabbath and held their own religious courts.

68) They lived in Engaddi and Hebron. Roman historians said they were an ancient sect and were among the first to embrace the teachings of Jesus.

69) Socially their towns were communes. They were Jews by birth. Their chief symbol was the tetractys, which Pike links to the Pythagorean school. They faced the sunrise during prayer, a practice which they might have picked up during captivity in Persia.

70) They believed in the resurrection of the soul, but not of the body. They believed in a future judgement with rewards and punishments. They believed in mankind's fall from a previous state of grace. They disregarded many of the ceremonies in the law of Moses, offering no public sacrifices and supporting no temple. Observances to them were private and individual matters not requiring priestly intermediaries.

71) Eusebius equates the Essene Theraputae with Christians.

72) They believed wisdom was scattered throughout the world, so true philosophy is collected here and there.

73) They established something like monasteries and observed solstice festivals.

74-75) They believed that the scripture had at least two levels of meaning, one literal (exoteric) and further symbolic (esoteric) meanings which only the initiated would understand. Their belief in this principle for the Old Testament to the Gnostics' similar belief for the new.

76-77) Paul, Origen, Eusebius and St. Gregory all said that the gospels are not to be taken literally.

78) Pike mentions books of Jezirah and Sohar, formative texts for Kabalah and compares their descriptions of God (King of Light, All That Is, The Ancient of Days), to descriptions in the teachings of Zoroaster.

79) Indian doctrine also mirrors descriptions found in Zoroaster.

80) Said diety emanates a ray of light initiating existence.

81) The ray of light creates a creative agent which creates an idealized protoperson, which in turn creates ten spirits (things like Will, Severity, Beauty, Glory, Benignity and so on) which Pike explains in the following paragraphs.

82) Wisdom is likened to "the Word." Intelligence is equated with the Holy Spirit and the oil anointing.

83) Beauty is green and yellow. Victory and Glory are the columns in the lodge.

84) In this paragraph Pike says we do not follow Kabala description of the etiology of the material world from the essential emanating light. Then he gives a description that sounds exactly like the one starting in paragraph 8.

85) To the Phoenicians, the Word was written in stars by gods for them to read. They revered fire and light.

86) Summarizing, nearly every religion explains the universe in terms of an emanation of an ineffable singularity.

87) The Chaldeans always said the Word of God created so-and-so rather than saying the Word created it.

88-91) Not sure about these paragraphs. He seems to be saying that in Genesis the Chaldean construction is used.

92) To Philo, God and the Word are interchangeable.

93) So, by the time John began to preach, the questions of creation, matter, the fall of man, the nature of God, everything in this chapter that is Essene, had been around for a long time. John's preaching was Essene, therefore eclectic.

94) Contrary to Essene philosophy, the prevailing Jewish doctrine was that God created everything personally himself without going through intermediary phases. (I'm not sure we could square this idea of Pike's. If God says "Let there be giraffes," then the Word is an intermediary.)

95) Cerenthus of Ephesus (and everybody else but the mainstream Jews) believed the material world was too imperfect to have been created directly by a perfect being.

96) Pike reviews previously discussed concepts of god-emanated intermediary forms. Supreme Being, God, Word, Light, Angels, Material and so on.

97) To some like Simon Magus, founder of the Gnostics, all these things were ad hoc manifestations of the Light of Lights. To others these were myriad separate beings inferior to the ultimate source.

98) The second notion is found in Talmud, Kabalah and in Persian teaching.

99) To the Essenes and Gnostics all these things from snails to angels to light are temporary exposures of a God that has a kind of revolving door where the ideas (manifestations) of God go in and out. So in a sense the universe, from puppy dogs to angels and planetoids, is made of bits of God's memos and invoices making the rounds.

100) Basilides says that from the Original Diety come two things, the First Born and the Mind. From the Mind comes the Word. From the Word comes Wisdom. From Wisdom comes Power and from Power comes Righteousness. (There might be some problems with translation of these principles.) In all, the Gnostics came up with 365 such emanations, which taken as a bundle comprised God and created the universe.

101) A sect of Gnostics (the Ophites) described seven spirits inferior to God described in the sky by seven planets and seven constellations.

102) All of these groups recognize the Word as an early emanation of God.

103) All these groups held the original God to be eternal and unchanging.

104-105) All these groups believed that dualism was universal, that things are divided into good and evil, hot and cold, light and dark, spirit and matter and so on.

106) Philo hypothesized a soul of the world which was in constant communication with the supreme being and carried out God's instructions.

107) The Book of Revelations belongs to extreme antiquity and Persian origin. Images in this book are borrowed from all religious traditions.

108) The returning Christ of Revelations resembles the Ormuzd and Sosiosch of Zoroastrianism, the Ainsoph of the Kabalah and the Carpistes of the Gnostics.

109) The machinations of Satan outlined in Revelation can also be found in the traditions listed in paragraph 108.

110) These traditions all believed in the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

111) Read this paragraph for yourself. I think it sums up a lot about this book.

112-113) The message in all these religions is that God is great, benevolent and caring. That evil and pain are temporary and will eventually be vanquished.

114) A redeemer which is expected to vanquish the evil is expected by all religions, and lots of people do lots of intellectualizing to try to spot the guy or claim one of their own culture as that annointed one.

115) In this degree we see that this expectation is found among the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Jews, Indians, Essenes, Gnostics and the spread of this idea from one group to the other is described.

116) Most of these old groups have faded away, but their stories and teachings survive in masonry.

117) The study of these teachings by properly trained initiates leads to an understanding of the deeper meanings of the symbols. The East and West treated here are the eastern (Essene) and western (Therapeut) teachings.

RTJ -- 3/3/2006


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Smells like a hoax

deco2come:
With a comment like this "A forum like this is in reality a race to the bottom, except those few instances when spectacularly good news gets interest", I will say that you deserve a bottle of beer. Show me a post that has more than 50 response, and I will show you a post full of racial insults and quarrel.

Regarding the case of China, the truth is that their government control most of the things with the news media not an exception. The only thing I like is that their news shows most of the good country side to the viewers(its citizens) than they show the bad side. With this kind of thing, it increase their citizens moral especially someone that is nurturing a dream.

But showing/talking only the bad sides of a country is one of the quickest way to kill one's ambition for his/her beloved nation.

No bottle of beer needed. This is simply the reality of internet fora - Nairaland is mild compared to what you will find going on in many fora.

On China's case, yes they show what is good about their country, as any country should strive to do, but also in China a person would get executed for corruption and it doesn't even have to be something big. So, while absolute power is never good, China is dealing with 1.2 billion or so people and they are not just promoting good news for its sake, they also swiftly eliminate those who attempt to destroy the country. If we did that in Nigeria, half of our leaders would have to go to jail and and another quarter to the realm beyond.

Pray tell me how do you hide the news of a Senator of the Federal Republic taking a teenager as wife and then coming out to say the only law he recognizes is the Hadith and the prophet - isn't a Senator our constitutional lawmaker anymore? When we reform and clean up that dilpidated house called Nigeria, nobody would need to argue for good news, because it would simply follow naturally.

deco2come:
If you think that good or bad news doesn't have a great impact on people, then take the case of China for an example.

Can you explain the China part, please? By the way I wasn't suggesting that good news doesn't have a great impact on people - good news is the tonic of life. My note was about the complaint that good news doesn't get a lot of responses - it doesn't generate much controversy as almost everybody usually likes it, so you are not going to get a lot of back and forth. A forum like this is in reality a race to the bottom, except those few instances when spectacularly good news gets interest.

What I am warning about is FALSE good news, propaganda. If you want to live in China go give it a try and see whether you will like to be control and watched in almost everything in you do and say.

If our government wants to open a flood of good news, let them pass the freedom of information bill, and open every one of their activities up to the press. It is sad that they muzzle information flow and at the same time keep sending emissaries to internet fora to try to bend information their way. It will never work.

You are not saying those who found themselves in the same space as IBB wanted to be there to lambast him. You got it wrong. They felt the same way as Prof. Soyinka felt - one option was to leave as he did, the other was to impromptu speak up, which they did. Both valid reactions to IBB's presence, when you don't have foreknowledge of his presence. Both those who spoke up and those who left have made their stand known, Oshimole is the one we are wondering about.

Deep down I know Oshimole doesn't want to be associated with IBB, but when you take favors from the machiavelian prince himself he is going to make you pay back. I hope that Oshimole would have the courage to say that's enough payment for IBB's favors. Otherwise, if he allows himself to continue being associated with him, his days are numbered as a respected politician.

Pame:
i watched the rally on AIT. IBB was given the humiliation of his life when festus keyamo came on stage to address the crowd and he said IBB's presence was not needed here that his not a true democrat for annulling the the june 12 election, that nigerians shuoldnt vote for him and IBB buried his head in shame while the crowd rained abuses on him(IBB). the most embarrassing moment of it all was that IBB wasnt allowed to address the crowd like the other niger delta governors. SHAME ON IBB!

[pre][/pre]Can anyone here tell me hw better nemesis can catch up with someone even right at his nosedive than this? This is just the beginning, watch out for a lot more in his life time.

Quoted right or not is not the problem with OBJ's statement. The problem is the lack responsibility for the outcome of their actions by Nigerian leaders. How can OBJ appoint Iwu, control the police and the funding for INEC, and then not see himself responsible for their failures. These are not lapses we are talking about, no we are talking about complete cluelessness about the job Iwu was supposed to be doing.

On another point OBJ is basically saying there is no hope for Nigeria, since I have yet to see a rehabilitation clinic for Nigeria politicians. Moreso, any politician anywhere would do what is "barely" legal to win an election. The challenge for those responsible for elections is to make "barely" legal very firm, otherwise give them an inch and they would take a mile.

Look Gen. OBJ, free and fair, undisputed elections were conducted in Nigeria, although to no avail at the end of the day. That was possible because the people really believed in the leaders they were about to elect - they saw hope: Hope '93, excellence seemed to be on the horizon, plans were drawn up to reform Nigeria and take her to the next level, and the campaign song - "On the Road Again" was irresistible (by the way look for IBB to start stealing some of Abiola's strategy in 2010 & 2011).

Their choice was not some seriously sick man that was being forced down their throat, another one completely embroiled in corruption & running on a party only months old or a former general whose only goal in Nigeria seems to be to walk into Aso Rock as President.

Pk001:
Let him be quoted right.

The former president who appointed the outgoing INEC boss said, “with all due respect, if Jesus Christ could come to the world and be the chairman of INEC, any election he would conduct will be disputed.”
Obasanjo said what was required was the urgent need to reform Nigerian politicians for the nation to have acceptable elections in 2011
“Since I got here three days ago, I understand that the chairman of INEC has been asked to go on leave. People have also talked about electoral reform.
“Quite honestly, I have said that I don’t understand in detail what this electoral reform is. One thing that we need to reform in our own society is the politician. We need to reform politicians,” Obasanjo stressed.
He said he first participated in elections in Nigeria in 1959 and since then, there has been no election conducted that has not been disputed.

“It will be difficult to have a perfect election. What is important is that the result of an election should reflect the will of the people,” he said.The former president also said he was optimistic about the role of the Nigerian youth in the future of the nation

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=172241