₦airaland Forum

The most popular lie: that he will return next week.

Leadership is failing us. If there is willingness to do the right thing - our needs are very straightforward.

I sometimes feel that Nigeria's problems have persisted because we are not usually willing to confront our challenges head long. I also believe its a collective effort. So I will like us to suggest how we can fix Nigeria. What is the best strategy?

@ All
Its very simple to implement. If you are on I may not be able to help much. But if your blog is self host with Wordpress as your platform, all you need is a forum plugin. See mine here http://www./forum The benefit is that your forum will be part of your site and not a separate installation.

Also you may want to make it possible for users to login with their accounts from other sites like digg, facebook, google, yahoo, twitter and more or just create an account (click the login link on the registration page). That can be arranged too. You can do it yourself, but i don't mind helping.

I hope it helps, cheers!

Emeka:
I like that catoon. Laugh wan kill me.

I will do. Thanks.

I urgently need a very good poster for a community programme I am starting. Well I can design well too, but I need something very impressive. So I wish to put forth this request to any good graphics designer on board who will deliver this.

I don't mind much about the software, though I will prefer something on Photoshop or CorelDraw. If you can please respond, am running out of time already.

@ Afam
I like that of yours too, very cool. I will like details on how I can have it implemented on www. I like the concept. (ezeali @ gmail . com 08033656489)

Hello Guys,

I urgently need a very good poster for a community programme I am starting. Well I can design well too, but I need something very impressive. So I wish to put forth this request to any good graphics designer on board who will deliver this.

I don't mind much about the software, though I will prefer something on Photoshop or CorelDraw. If you can please respond, am running out of time already.

Lagos fiery lawyer and President of the West Africa Bar Association (WABA), Mr. Femi Falana, on Thursday, in Abuja, caused a stir in court when he told the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Dan Abutu to disqualify himself from the suit challenging the failure of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to hand over power to Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, before travelling for his medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
Falana, who feared a likelihood of bias on the part of the trial Judge asked him to assign the case to another Judge of the court for expeditious trial.

It was his contention that having carefully studied the judgment of the court in the case instituted by an Abuja based legal practitioner, Christopher Onwuekwe, with regard to the reliefs contained in the originating summons and the allusions made by the Judge to his own case, he is convinced that there was likelihood of bias on the part of the judge in his own case.

Justice Abutu, in a short ruling, transferred the case to Justice Adamu Bello with a directive to hear it expressly, saying that he carefully listened to Falana’s submission and came to the conclusion that another judge should try the case.
Earlier, Falana had begged the court not to consider his request as an attempt to cast aspersion on the personality of the judge nor impugn on the integrity of the court, as he had tremendous respect for the court and would not do anything to erode the credibility of the court and the judge.

Falana posited that since the Presiding Judge had alluded, by his order and his utterances in court, on those issues he filed before the court as to whether it was right for the President not to transmit power through a letter to the National Assembly; he would prefer that another judge handled his case.
Justice Abutu, had in the judgment alluded to ordered Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to start exercising the powers and functions of President Yar’Adua, pending his return from oversea treatment.
Meanwhile, the court has fixed Tuesday next week to hear the case brought by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) over the refusal of President Yar’Adua to transmit power to the Vice President.

This came as a lawyer in another sister case; Mr. Bamidele Aturu, commended the Chief Judge for delivering what he called “the speediest judgment in the history of judiciary all over the world.”
Earlier in a sister case, Barrister Bamidele Aturu demanded a quick trial and delivery of judgment as done in a case that was less than a week in court, adding that a sauce for the goose is also good for the gander.
He sarcastically alluded to the fact that a case filed and adjourned for mention by the parties had judgment delivered on it, stressing that it would go down the record as the most speedily delivered judgment in the world.

He said that the judgment in question had also helped his client’s case on the issue of locus standi and that the preliminary objection raised by the AGF should be discountenanced since it was clear from Wednesday’s ruling that a concerned citizen, as done by one Christopher Onwuekwe, can approach the court for interpretation of sections of the law.
Talking on the main issues before the court, Aturu invited the court to look at the provisions of sections 144 and 146 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to know the circumstances of the absence of President Umar Yar’Adua and decide whether is capable of discharging the duties of his office.

He urged the court to look into section 148 (2) of the constitution on the veracity of the President having regular meeting with his vice and other ministers and that he cannot effectively do outside the country by the reason of his ill-health and should have sent in his letter to the assembly.
“I submit therefore that looking at the public Service Rules, there are circumstances for this court to conclude that the President is incapable of discharging the functions.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2010/jan/15/newsbreak-15-01-2010-001.htm

OAM4J:
the article you quoted says nothing about your subject i.e 'protest spread to Lagos, Europe, US'

am interested in the follow up, but seems the organizers have become quiet after the Abuja protest and the supposedly Yaradua interview on bbc

Read the 3rd paragraph

Save Nigeria Group (SNG), a pro-democracy coalition, comprising civil society groups, activists, opposition politicians, opinion leaders and workers which marched through Abuja Nigeria’s Federal Capital on Tuesday, has resolved to adopt a more spontaneous strategy in protesting the long absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from the country.

The change of strategy would also affect its pressure on the Peoples Democratic Party-led government to agree to the swearing in of the vice president as acting president by invoking Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.

In furtherance of the agenda, members of the SNG in Nigeria and the Diaspora have resolved to decentralize the protest marches by spreading them across three continents. The continents are Africa, Europe and North America (USA). The rally billed for London has been slated for today while those of Washington, USA and Lagos have been fixed for early next week Tuesday, tentatively, There will also be demonstrations in some state capitals in the country. All the protests are geared towards forcing the PDP-led government to respect the constitution and break the prevailing uncertainty pervading the polity as a result of the sustained absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from the country for over 52 days.

Daily Sun spoke exclusively with three leading organizers of the protests. Radical Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, opposition politician, Alhaji Buba Galadima and the Publicity Secretary of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Mr. Osita Okechukwu.
The SNG at its post rally meeting held at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja had adopted a resolution giving the National Assembly a week within which to write a letter to Mr. President to avail himself of section 145 of the constitution. Failure to do, they would commence the process of impeachment against the ailing president.”

The new strategy of the leaders is to make the demonstrations spring up spontaneously in different cities and continents in a manner that will not portray them as choreographed. Within the country, the group has also decided to organize and carry out its activities in a systematic manner that will leave no room for agents of government to divide the protesters by introducing the North-South dichotomy into its rank and file.
According to Falana, “ we want to show that this is not a southern affair or a religious affair. We want to prove that this country belongs to all of us and that we can together save Nigeria and save the future of our children.
The radical lawyer said, the National Assembly has betrayed Nigerians whom they claim to represent. He argued that rather than initiate the moves towards raising a medical panel to examine the medical condition of the president, the two chambers were busy constituting committees to pay him a get well visit while the country reels under a rudderless atmosphere.

According to the president of West African Bar Association (WABA), the civil groups, including the media have a responsibility not to allow the PDP to plunge the country into “an unwarranted constitutional crisis which we are all going to pay for.” He warned the ruling party not to stretch its luck too far, saying the opposition parties and civil society groups could have been asking for a government of national unity by now rather than allow the PDP to continue after the president elected on its platform had abandoned the ship of state with no one in charge for over 50 days.

Osita Okechukwu told Daily Sun that the SNG is non-partisan, non-tribal and non-religious. He said the group comprises civil society organizations, politicians, workers, professionals, traders, artisans and other interest groups. He stressed: “Our common template is that Nigeria is gradually sliding dangerously into a quasi-dictatorship and failed state instead of a democracy. The situation is worsened by the power vacuum created by the absence of Mr. President, for the fact that President Umaru Yar’Adua refused to protect, defend and uphold the constitution that brought him to power.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/jan/15/national-15-01-2010-01.htm

… Approves N60m mortgage loan for DGM
By AMECHI OGBONNA
Monday, January 11, 2010
•Photo: Sun Publishing
More Stories on This Section

The on- going rescue mission initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to save the soul of some financial institutions in the country may hit the stone walls soon, if the apex bank fails to wade into allegations of official profligacy leveled against some of the presiding officers it appointed recently.

Information available to Daily Sun for instance, reveals that the Managing Director of Bank PHB Plc which only a few weeks ago reported a net loss of about N438.65 billion may have been engrossed in some activities that may undermine the bank’s recovery process and leave it in deeper trouble at the end of the two year tenure given the interim managers.

A highly placed banking industry source told Daily Sun at the weekend that the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Bank PHB, Mr Cyril Chukwuma, appointed last October to steady the drifting ship of the organization may have taken some questionable policies steps that could further jeopardize CBN’s efforts to resuscitate the bank.

Among the numerous allegations leveled against him, was that he demanded and collected a whopping $120,000 as off-shore vacation allowance for the financial year ended December 31, 2009, even though he has spent only three months in office as chief executive of the ailing institution.
According to Daily Sun sources, the annual offshore vacation allowance in Bank PHB is meant for management staff who have spent a minimum of six months in the service of the organization, an indication that the new chief may not have qualified for it, having been in the employment of the bank for only three months.

The revelation comes on the heels of a report that he authorized the movement of about $3.13 million cash which was recently intercepted at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport by law enforcement agents.
Other faulty policies which some observers say may vitiate recovery effort at the bank if not checked include his unilateral change of the bank’s policy on status cars for executives to monetization, and for which he was alleged to have been collecting a monthly allowance of N2 million in lieu of official cars.

Besides, Bank PHB’s boss was alleged to have approved N60 million mortgage loan in favour of a yet- to be confirmed deputy general manager, who recently joined the services of the bank. It was revealed that the amount approved by Mr the deputy general manager’s was about N21 million more than the official limit that staffers in Mbolu’s category are officially entitled to.
It was further alleged that the new managing director had recently without board resolution, approved his appointment as a director of the bank’s offshore subsidiary in a bid to exit two sitting directors of the bank.
The CBN had on October 1, 2009 sacked the management of Bank PHB Plc, after its special investigation confirmed the Mr Francis Atuche-led management gave out over N400 billion unsecured loans to friends and relations contrary to laid down credit approval procedures.

The CBN consequently drafted Mr Chukwuma, an accountant to run the bank as Chief Executive on October 1, 2009 with the mandate to recover the huge bad loans and return the bank to profitability. As at the end of October, 2009, the bank had only recovered about N2 billion an indication that the management still has so much on its hand.
But the bank’s result published a few weeks ago revealed a whopping loan loss provision of N232.16 billion, while its stock of non- performing loans stood at N415.11billion.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/jan/11/national-11-01-2010-01.htm

that he does free mid-night calls for hour with his friends in Aso Rock, but can't spare us one minute, for us to be assured he is alive

Well from all indication, he is on honey-moon (since the only guest he receives is the wife)

18 platoon:
I am in support of all those bashing this el-rufai of a fraud, the guy is not real he is fake. RIBADU is more sincere, and i thank you all for seeing the truth.

To all of you bashing El-rufai. I don't really think its that a great idea, cos everyone doing the best they can for the good of the country (even myself that declears the president missing). He is over their he shouldn't be silent.

Some of you even question his capacity to speak, haba! For all the tens of thousands of thread and replies here, I wonder on what capacity una dey talk? I appreciate your concerns but you should allow how. I would have been glad if that was President Yar'Adua's letter on 25th Dec. But you see,


@ becomrich
You never cease to amaze me how everything usually boil down to "the federal republic of south nigeria". Do keep it up though. And I have a job for you: can you do some map-reading on Yar'Adua's location?

Basically yes. The site is primarily intended to carry news, information, business, events and developments in the Coal City State of Enugu and its environ. So what do you think of the site? I was hoping I may be omitting something?

I have done some good number of sites from scratch and on some CMS. But when I decided to put up my most famous site, I prefer doing it on WP. I really love Wordpress cos it allows me to concentrate on the results.

TheCoalCity site is intended a community information platform. After some modifications, I have avoided adding just about anything but those that help further the objectives of the site.

Some of the ones I admire most include;
- The Shopping Directory
- The implemented SP forum
- Login with your existing accounts: like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter and more
- Interconnecting Twitter, Facebook and the Site on a single Dashboard,
- Social Sharing tools
- Tweet Posts and Pages
- Implementing my Facebook fans on the site (though I hate I had to forgo my FB Group and Friends Accounts which have large following too)
- Picture Gallery is up
- Advert gallery
- Boost loading speed
- Opinion poll, etc.

I know some of you have seen it and made very useful recommendations. I will soon be hitting the road, what do you make of the current outlook? www.

But why do they want to remove the only credential in Yar'Adua's CV since becoming President. Why dey wan leave the man empty-handed.

I saw this on Facebook. I hope something can be done to relieve Nigeria the tag of a bad name. Thanks El-rufai, G55, Nairalanders and others who have added their voice. I hope a real leadership returns to this Nation.

Dear Mr. President,

It is an honor to humbly address myself to you on this occasion, and extend a warm greeting to wish you a successful New Year.

My reasons for writing this letter, however, are regrettable. Please allow me to be among the first to express my profound sadness and distress on behalf of all Nigerians for the recent attempted terror attack over American soil on December 25, 2009. Our feelings of outrage and rejection of this appalling act are beyond words, and we pledge our full solidarity to you against the specter of international terrorism.

Unfortunately, this narrowly averted tragedy also raises tremendous concerns for both my people and their relationship with the people and government of the United States of America.

In the aftermath of this event, official decisions have been made with regard to security policies and practices to ensure the safety of American citizens, as is the full right and responsibility of your offices. One of the new measures put in place has been to subject incoming passengers of Nigerian nationality to undergo the same security screening procedures as state-sponsors of terrorism.

I write to inform you that inside Nigeria and among our large diaspora, this understandable change in policy has created a negative and hopefully incorrect perception that the United States considers us to be a terrorist state. There are significant fears that other countries will adopt similar measures, and speculation that 150 million innocent and peace-loving citizens of Nigeria could be subjected to racial profiling and discriminatory treatment at all airports and transportation hubs in the world.

Serious threats from international terrorism must be confronted head on with tough policies and strong actions on behalf of a united international community. I understand that in its rightful pursuit of security, the U.S. government is confronted with difficult choices and sometimes controversial decisions.

Nevertheless, there are strong arguments which point out that the addition of Nigeria to a terrorism list causes more damage than benefit. For example, we have seen terror attempts perpetrated by a wide variety of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, so it is impossible to define a typology. Yemeni authorities also indicate that the individual was recruited in London, United Kingdom, a close ally of the United States. Furthermore, following the reprehensible terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia to the United States were not subjected to this kind of treatment, despite the fact that eleven of the attackers held Saudi passports.

Instead of providing an additional security precaution, this decision has sown deep bitterness and distrust on the streets of Lagos and Abuja, among people who firmly reject the actions and beliefs of this one tragically misguided individual. It saddens me to witness this acrimony, and it is hoped that when constitutional order is restored from the currently troubled leadership, that the U.S. and Nigeria can repair their once strong partnership.

As you may know, given your family origins, your election last year held great meaning for us, as Nigerians poured into the streets to broadly celebrate new possibilities and optimism for the people of Africa. As a proud Muslim man, I was inspired by your historic June 4th speech in Cairo, in which you stated "So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, those who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. And this cycle of suspicion and discord must end."

I respectfully submit to you, Mr. President, a proposal to reconsider these targeted policies against Nigerian nationals, which contradict the essential principles of your Cairo declaration. I believe that peaceful cooperation, fruitful partnerships, and mutually respectful engagement is possible between the people of the United States and the Muslim world, and Nigerians are ready to lead the way. But you must give us a chance to build trust.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Nasir El-Rufai
January 8, 2010

That he is medically fit to run affairs of Nigeria.

Congrats Mr. Christopher Ejiofor. I hope you become the best king over there.

You can't take it away from him, he is a very lucky fellow. This will be the forth time he ever have to replace his superiors. So you all should be mindful of having a deputy called "Goodluck". You guess, right!

@ Poster
What are you smoking. Drop it. Thats ok. Now sit back. What was it you wanted to write over there. ok. You can now log back and type that. Good. Clap for yourself.

I hope they fast forward the process. So that this news will go away. Its done nothing but bring us shame.

I hope this is for real - Hope its not a waiting game - Or are they running out of excuse.

xterra2:
When yaradua comes back(if he is not dead) he should publish a book"Between me,my health and the rumours" i can guarantee that it will be a best selling book because the lies are just too much,

Nice try xterra2. You keep copying and posting this everywhere. Keep it up, so you can pick your payment on Monday

From your posting the govt is now saying that he is writing some manuscript in Saudi Arabia; and will be publishing a best-seller once he returns.

From one shame to another.

xterra2:
Sorry if i am off the Topic of this thread but
When yaradua comes back(if he is not dead) he should publish a book"Between me,my health and the rumours" i can guarantee that it will be a best selling book because the lies are just too much,

that he is writing some manuscript in Saudi Arabia; OR
that Yar'Adua will publish a best seller once he returns

that his seat in ECOWAS is not empty

Why wouldn't he plead guilty? When he want to rush to heaven and claim his 74 virgins. Am only sad that he left a shit we no fit flush.

otesy:
@ Netpro; LWKMD,

So much how you go bid? Please don't say "even if na free".