₦airaland Forum

JustifiedChild: there is a lot of hate on this forum.. It is too much and its scary at times. Like you guys can actually kill eachother if you meet face to face. What does it matter if someone is igbo, yoruba or hausa...why should it matter if an igbo man lives in Lagos? Why are people filled with so much hate and bitterness? Can't we just forgive what happened in the past and move ahead? Is this the type of society our future generation will born into? To hate his neighbour simply because they don't speak the same language? It makes me sad. It makes me really sad.

[size=14pt]OBA OF LAGOS OPTS FOR LOW-KEY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AS HE TURNS 70[/size]

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Encomium.

Urges admirers, associates, friends to direct proposed fund for advertorials to charity.

As he turns 70 years on October 29, the Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Oba Riliwanu Babatunde Akiolu 1, has appealed to all those wishing to place advertorials for him, either in the print or electronic media, to forego such plans saying the current atmosphere in the country does not warrant any form of merriment.

In a statement from the Palace signed by his media aides, Tokunbo Mumuni-Eshilokun and Kunle Odufuwa, His Royal Majesty advised such admirers, including individual, corporate and multi-national organizations, to direct funds meant for such advertorials to charity and instead join him in prayers for the peace, stability and unity of the country on that day.

[b]Noting that a good number of individuals, corporate and multinational organizations have actually set in motion various programmes and activities to celebrate the occasion, the statement said much as the Oba appreciates such outpouring of goodwill, he would advise the people to cancel the programmes.

According to the statement, “His Royal Majesty has, accordingly appealed to those who have elected to honour him on his 70th Birthday to direct such funds to the Iga Idunganran Primary Health Care Centre and accordingly contact the Medical Director of the Iga Idunganran Primary Health Care Centre in order to obtain the list of needed drugs and equipment for the furnishing of the hospital”.

While expressing the appreciation of “His Royal Majesty to all donors to the Lagos Monarch Projects Funds which includes Ilupeju Town Hall and Anikantamo Town Hall and Health Centre”, the statement, however, noted that the Iga Idunganran Primary Health Care Centre “which has since been put into public use”, still needs quite a number of equipment to bring it to international standard.

The statement also disclosed that N250 million has been collected so far for the Ilupeju Town Hall and Anikantamo Town Hall and Health Centre projects adding that the amount has since been deposited “in a special project account while the total some required is N650 million”.

On the programmes and events lined up by the Royal Palace to celebrate the occasion, the statement said the event would kick off on Saturday, October 26, with the special cleaning of the Palace and its environs which will end on Sunday, October 27. It enjoined all residents to join in the exercise.

On Monday, October 29, according to the statement, there would be a Muslim prayer between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. in the Palace followed by the installation of the new Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo by His Royal Majesty who would be assisted by members of the Lagos Council of Obas and Chiefs “in line with the customs of Lagos State as Oba Dosunmu, who reigned from 1853 to 1885, installed Kosoko as the first Oloja of Lagos”.

The event would be followed by the presentation of the new Olori-Ebi/Overall head of the Bashua Chieftaincy Family in the person of Chief Musiliu Adisa Bashua (SAN) while light refreshment would be served to guests thereafter between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., according to the statement.[/b]

Meanwhile, the International Lions Club will, in appreciation of His Royal Majesty’s Birthday, embark on free health screening and public enlightenment on preventable diseases such as cholera and measles, among others, at the Iga Idunganran Primary Health Care Centre for all Lagos residents, from November 1 to 6, 2013, the statement said.

Ngwakwe: What do you mean by this your comments?

I am telling you somebody sponsored and orchestrated the smuggling out of all these documents in a bid to find something that will incriminate the minister.

The whistle blowing were followed up with vilification of the minister, twisting of logics and outright lies to drag the minister to the center of the scandal instead of Joel Nkemakolam whose signatures were a testament to such criminal act "if any actually"

Ngwakwe: Bros, nobody is stopping or hindering the constituted authorities from probing her.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala has been invited severally by the NASS on alleged abuse of office and some governors have even called for her resignation and yet there weren't much noise from her supporters as these were needful for democracy to strive.

On the issue of present dilemma facing Princess Stella Oduah, there is this perception in Nigeria that she stepped on the professional and business interests of the South Western Elites and they are trying to get even with her. Her achievements are criticised and questioned by S/West based media on daily basis. There have been various editorials and media articles condemning the internationalisation of Enugu Airport while some even questioned its viability and others accused her of not following due processes and waiting for safety audits.

All these events are being perceived by her supporters and base as immoral and the work of aviation cabal and major beneficiaries in Aviation ministry which happen to be South Westerners, then came the plane crash that killed 16 Nigerians and the second death of Agagu giving the Cabal and S/West media something to capitalise on to force her resignation. When the preliminary report from blackbox came out, the S/W media started questioning the authenticity and trying to accuse Stella Oduah of doctoring the report.

Furthermore, as the issue of "act of god" was dying then came another scandal by a whistle blower on the issue of purchase of BMW armoured car "for the minister" when the documents tendered to the public were conspicuously showing a proof of Assets acquisition by NCAA. Then the Cabal, South West media with their social media activists started spinning the accusation out of proportion and instigating the general public to declare her guilty without trial irrespective of the defence coming from NCAA and FAAN.

Then my question to you is: What do you expect her supporters and kinsmen to do seeing that their hero is unfairly targeted by some section of the country to be punished without hearing from her.

Why were they calling for her resignation even before she could appear before the NASS that have the capacity to investigate her?

Something was wrong from the beginning that prompted her defence by her kinsmen.

Why are South West Nairalanders condemning the Easterners for not throwing the minister under the box seeing that there was something fishy from the look of things?

naptu2: [size=14pt]Air Force One - GO AROUND !!![/size]

Time: During the Nixon Administration fuel Crisis of 1973

Place: Indianapolis International TCA (Terminal Control Area)

Players: President Nixon, the command pilot and co-pilot of AF-1, Eastern Airline pilot and co-pilot, Local controller Bob Farnum, Myself as observer

This story requires a lot of background.  From the title: "go around" is a command that is given by a controller to be executed immediately by a pilot. When the command is given by a controller during a landing sequence the pilot is to immediately terminate the approach.  The command is used when an approach becomes impossible for any number of reasons.  That might be another aircraft on the runway unexpectedly, a vehicle on the runway, a departing aircraft delayed on the runway for some reason, etc.  The pilot executing the "go around" will then be instructed to enter a pattern for another approach to the active runway. A "go around" is a very bad thing.  It indicates poor planning or violated procedures.  It is an indication that something has gone very, very wrong and, as a result, some airliner will be late and burn a huge amount of jet fuel getting on the ground in an unplanned way.

When Air Force One enters the TCA on his way to any airport special procedures are followed.  At a set range from the airport ALL traffic (on the ground) stops. Aircraft on approach are placed in a holding pattern in flight.  All aircraft and vehicles are instructed to hold in position wherever they are on the ground.  All movement on the airport stops for security and safety.  Air Force One is then given full use of the active runway (cleared of all aircraft and vehicles) and use of the entire airport surface to land and taxi to the secure ramp area arranged for their arrival.  When Air Force One is stopped in their secure area normal activity on the airport and in the TCA resumes.   Simple.....right ?

I was on duty in the RADAR Equipment room and someone advised us Air Force One was on approach.  While he (Nixon) is in the area, we touch no equipment and disturb nothing.  I had been working for the FAA for about three years at that time, and I thought since we go into a hands-off-everything mode I would go up to the Air Traffic Control Tower and watch the approach of Air Force One with President Nixon on board.  Up the elevator I went to the Tower Cab level.  When I got there and looked out the window it was a chaotic scene.  What had happened is AF-1 got into the TCA during a very busy part of the day.  Aircraft were everywhere on the airport, parked as required, engines running on idle.  Nothing was allowed to move, all were required by AF-1 SOP to remain in place. All the engines were burning huge quantities of jet fuel, with nothing moving anywhere on the airport.

One of the little known causes of some aircraft accidents is what I call "letting the passenger fly the airplane".  Trust me, it happens.  Not literally of course.  The passengers are in the back and do not have direct access to the controls.  What actually happens is some passenger in the back gets some great little idea and asks the pilot to deviate from routine flight procedures.  An example might be: "Hey, can you turn out over there to the left so I can show the guys my house when we get off the runway?".  The pilot looks out, figures there is no traffic in the pattern and takes off.  He turns to make the passenger happy and plows into another aircraft entering the pattern he didn't see on the take off roll.  Another possibility would be: "We really need to make that meeting - do we really need to top off the fuel?".  The pilot looks at the fuel, got enough, takes off.  They get to the airport and it is fogged in and approaches are difficult.  The pilot does a go around or two, using takeoff power (and fuel).  On the LAST attempt the fuel runs out, you can guess the rest.  For another example see:

http://www.ab9d.com/greatmoments/stuck.htm

This above was a case of the pilot letting the cargo (not even a live passenger) tell him he had enough gas to make it.

If you have a lot of experience reading NTSB reports you can sometimes see this contributing factor peeking out.  Letting the passengers (or even the cargo) fly the airplane.

Back to the story.  Nixon wasn't a bad president.  He got in some trouble, but he was a good administrator while in office, and sensitive to the needs of the American people.  He was in the back of AF-1 and found out this was going on (many aircraft wasting fuel). Well there he was, jetting around in AF-1 and causing huge amounts of jet fuel to be wasted following the SOP for AF-1 arrival.  He ordered the pilot to advise the local controller (a guy named Robert Farnum) to ignore the SOP and resume normal operations. In other words, bring AF-1 into the airport as they would any other large aircraft. This is an example of letting a passenger fly the airplane.

In a situation like this it takes some time for an order to propagate through the chain of command and be delivered to the appropriate controllers.  Nixon didn't fully appreciate the chaotic situation his command would create.  During that time lag AF-1 was charging into the airport at 140 MPH. When the command to conduct normal movements actually activated AF-1 was about 100 yards from the threshold of the active runway still doing about 140 MPH.  In that instant everything that was parked was released to move.  Holding in position, waiting to cross the active runway, was an Eastern Airlines flight.  Controller Farnum pointed at the ground controller and yelled "CROSS EASTERN!".  My first thought was what the hell is that idiot doing?   AF-1 is about two seconds from touching down and aimed right at the Eastern flight.  As I leaned to look out the window, I saw debris blow out behind the Eastern flight.  The pilot had firewalled the throttle levers to try to cross in time as ordered by controller Farnum.  I could imagine the pilot in AF-1 grabbing the throttle levers and silently reciting the Lord’s Prayer, hoping the Eastern flight would clear the runway in time.  If he didn’t, we were all going see the very first (and only) "go around" of AF-1 in aviation history. 

It was close.  The Eastern jet blast threw debris all over the place, and AF-1 went by the back of the Eastern flight just clearing the wing tip of the president’s airplane.  Controller Farnum, who was usually wrapped up in his self-perceived importance, never saw the situation.  He was busy creating more chaos across the airport telling others to move.  To this day,  he never knew it happened (unless he reads this).  As far as I know, only five of us were aware of the incident.  I saw it.  There was an Eastern Airlines captain firewalling the throttle on his passenger airliner and his co-pilot probably looking out at the huge looming AF-1 going “OH S**T!”  There was a captain in AF-1 grabbing a handful of throttle controls thinking “WHOOOA NELLIE!  This is going to be close!” and his co-pilot probably thinking that the president will be really pissed about this.  He was probably wondering what driving a snow plow in Dead Horse, Alaska, was going to be like as he pondered the end of his flying career in the Air Force.   When it was all over, it was as if nothing happened and is being told here for the first time.

The moral to the story is obvious:  never let a passenger fly the airplane, even if he’s the President of the United States!

http://ab9d.com/af1goaround.htm

Does anyone have any insight on why UA 940 from ORD to FRA was delayed yesterday evening (not a huge delay; only 2.5 hours)? My daughter on the flight said boarding was delayed a bit, but after boading the FAs gave several different explanations for the delays including servicing the plane, a cargo issue, delays in reaching cargo, etc.
President Obama was also arriving. When the President lands, are all the flights "grounded" with other explanations given?
Thanks

Yes, then Air Force 1 is landing or taking off, there will will be some delays but not that long. Maybe at the most 1/2 hour unless there was alot of traffic at the time.

Don't know bout 940 specifically, but AF1 flew in to ORD 2 days ago, messing up ATC for a few hours, then left yesterday morning, messing up ATC again for a period, then came back again after the hour photo op in the gulf, only to mess up ATC again.

In the immortal words of Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the king!" I wonder what in Chicago was worth coming to for the 1st night, instead of skipping that leg, and going from WAS to the gulf, then just once into ORD.

Thursday night going from MSP to ORD we were about to board and were stopped when ORD was hit with a 45 minute security stop due to the President (according to the GA). This had a ripple effect - ATC had flow control (according to pilot due to security stop) so we were delayed even further.

This is ORD. With 2 planes landing every minute, and a holiday weekend, there is alot of traffic. During most week days, ORD is scheduled at very close to the maximum the airport can take. A 30min (or longer as the case really is) stop, causes huge ripples that continue on for the entire day and into the night.

I remember a number of years ago when I was at CDG for a flight home to the US. I had planned to arrive early to get some lounge time, and upon arrival found the airport in chaos. I learned that the airport had already been closed for over two hours, as Boris Yeltsen was scheduled to leave for Moscow after meeting with the French president. Yeltsen was on board his plane, but departure was being delayed for some reason. Flight operations were at a standstill until his plane finally took off. My flight ended up leaving about two hours late, as the airport gradually caught up with the backlog.

naptu2: I have a lot to say and a lot of links to post, but no time and the fear of Mr Spambot is making me cautious.

I'm going to look at problems and possible solutions.

Where do I start? In the air.

Around the world the airspace around a head of state's aircraft is usually closed to traffic. This could include the runway and the airspace around the airport. Planes around the airport are usually put on a holding pattern (basically, the circle the airport).

This leads to several problems.

1) Aircraft burning valuable fuel and the fear that an aircraft might run out of fuel.

2) Fear of an aicraft straying into restricted airspace and getting shot down (I shall post, as an example, a recent occurrence in the US).

3) Fear of accidents occurring.

4) Opponents of the head of state using the practice to score cheap political points (eg the clinton haircut on the runway and the Patience Jonathan/Dana incident).

Read my first example below.

naptu2: Oops! I forgot to add possible solutions.

1) In the US the President usually lands at an air force base. This ensures that there is as little disruption to civilian traffic as possible. For example, when flying to Washington DC, his plane lands at Andrews Air Force Base, then he proceeds to the White House by helicopter.

In Nigeria, most of the cities have dual use airports (civilian and military), so whereas the president could land at Port-Harcourt Air Force Base instead of the civilian airport at Omagwa; in Lagos MMA serves as both civilian airport and air force base.

2)They could prevent flights from taking off: If I was going to fly from Lagos to Abuja and the president was expected to take off from Abuja at around the same time, the airport authorities in Lagos should prevent my flight from taking off.

I'll be back with more. I'm tired

birdman: Stop revising history man. The strongest lie is the one that mixes in a portion of truth. Fashola wasnt criticized when he deported indigenes back to Ogun and Oyo either. So not criticizing the Anambra deportation does not in any way make "the same people" as you put it hypocrites. If anything, they are consistent regardless of tribe

I hear you that we need to stop tribalism from clouding our judgement, but your attempt to make the problem look even-handed is flat out wrong. If you are going to call people out, have the balls to call them out without trying to generalize it away.



And the inner agbero comes out

When an official is accused of corruption, abuse of power, etc people will definitely ask questions and call for a probe. The public official is then expected to respond to these questions and give explanations. That's why the person is a public official. The person is accountable to the public. You cannot expect the public to keep quiet and mope.

The right of response has been respected all through this saga. That's why you see the news media interviewing the minister's spokesperson and the spokesperson of the NCAA.

It was the revelations made by Sahara Reporters and the public outcry that followed it that led to the investigation. There would have been no investigation if there was no revelation and outcry.

The problem is that some expect citizens to keep quiet and say nothing about it. The issue should just be swept under the carpet. Well, I'm not one of those types of people and will never be. We must ask questions and hold public officials accountable, because this is the only way we can have a better Nigeria.

I stated, right from the beginning, that I'm opposed to an outright dismissal of the minister, but I believe that she should be suspended while an independent investigation is carried out and she should be sacked and prosecuted if found guilty, or reinstated if found not guilty.

naptu2: I don't believe that she should be summarily dismissed, rather I think that there should be an open investigation. Remember that she is presumed innocent until proven guilty and her right to fair hearing must be respected.

Therefore, I believe that her fate should depend on the result of an independent, fair and open investigation that should answer the following questions:

1) Was she entitled to the cars?

2) Was it right for the NCAA to procure the cars for her?

3) Was the procurement done according to procurement regulations (competitive bidding, etc)?

4) Was the price of the cars inflated?

https://www.nairaland.com/1485309/jonathan-under-pressure-sack-stella-oduah#18953637

I also do not subscribe to this crazy idea that someone should be exonerated or pronounced guilty simply because they are from this or that ethnic group. We need to discuss the issues, not primordial sentiments. Corrupt officials will not remember whether they are from the same ethnic group with you, when they are sharing their loot, therefore we need to thoroughly scrutinise them to ensure that they are not looting. We need to hold them accountable, regardless of what ethnic group they are from.

However, the idea that citizens should not ask questions and should not demand for accountability from public officials, is alien to democracy. Just check out the kind of fire Obama came under due to the Benghazi incident. This is the same way Bode George, Ibrahim Babangida and other present and former public officials have come under fire. Why should it be different now? We must hold public officials accountable if we want a better Nigeria for ourselves and our children.

birdman: Stop revising history man. The strongest lie is the one that mixes in a portion of truth. Fashola wasnt criticized when he deported indigenes back to Ogun and Oyo either. So not criticizing the Anambra deportation does not in any way make "the same people" as you put it hypocrites. If anything, they are consistent regardless of tribe

I hear you that we need to stop tribalism from clouding our judgement, but your attempt to make the problem look even-handed is flat out wrong. If you are going to call people out, have the balls to call them out without trying to generalize it away.



And the inner agbero comes out

Pukkah: Spot the contradiction and embedded confusion in the above quoted parts of your post.

stillwater: These are thieves. I know real life stories. So I'm not talking about something I don't know.

Polio: This thread reeks of tribalism and bigotry.

shymexx: Cowmilk, so you're now Yoruba_Jesus? All hail the saviour of the Yoruba's. Please sanctify these people with some divine milk to give them divine protection while they disobey the gods of the land.

You and I need to take a divine walk during the said time and peep what they don't want these people to see. Protect me with your bosoms. And keep me under them and make me warm when it's cold at night.

Thank you, Yoruba-Jesus.

stillwater: Only harmless traditions should be allowed to continue IMO. The consequence of being caught in this is death. I have never heard of the Oro people taking anyone caught to the police. They will kill you there. Such practice should be discontinued. The government should look into this.

naptu2: I don't believe that she should be summarily dismissed, rather I think that there should be an open investigation. Remember that she is presumed innocent until proven guilty and her right to fair hearing must be respected.

Therefore, I believe that her fate should depend on the result of an independent, fair and open investigation that should answer the following questions:

1) Was she entitled to the cars?

2) Was it right for the NCAA to procure the cars for her?

3) Was the procurement done according to procurement regulations (competitive bidding, etc)?

4) Was the price of the cars inflated?

berem: Your thread lack recent comments. You should have modified the title of the thread to today's debate and let the trend continue. I see there are other similar threads too.