₦airaland Forum

Abeem thanks for your elite response, but there is a saying when the ship goes down, the captain of the ship must go too, so IBB implement the program and should be held accountable for the failure, as for BigBi your brain need to be unscrewed and reexamined. you call me a looser. If I can afford a $250.000 house in the state, and drives a $45.000 car and have a legitimate source of income. and I have over 5 real estate building in Nigeria if that is a failure, what do you call people like Muhammad babangida that has never had a job in his life and has over 100 Million dollars investments? I guess you wont know the answer to that with your barbaric comments. Pussy clot

Imagine IBB wife squandering 8.95 Million for overseas trip. HELL NO IBB will never rule us again. And mr BIGBI, you can never reason with any logical thinker you were been carried around on your mothers back sucking on candy when IBB was distroying Nigeria, so you will never understand


Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, frittered away $12bn of the country’s revenue through special accounts, which he ran as the sole approving authority.

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Photo file
Ibrahim Babangida - his regime introduced SAP.

This was contained in the report of the Panel on the Reorganisation and Reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The panel headed by the late renowned economist, Dr. Pius Okigbo, painted in graphic details how Babangida operated “a second but undisclosed budget” with the then CBN governor, the late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed.

The report, which was submitted to the administration of the late Gen. Sani Abacha on August 29, 1994, had been a subject of interest to Nigerians, who have been itching for the detailed report of the government’s White Paper on it.

According to the report, the Babangida regime operated dedication accounts outside of the budgetary provisions, which he ran without accounting to anybody.

It stated that the operations of these accounts were fraught with irregularities.

“The proceeds of the sale of the crude were not shown in the revenue side nor were the expenditures reflected in the expenditure side of the budget,” the report said.

The report traced the origin of the accounts to September 1988 when Babangida approved a proposal to dedicate 65,000 barrels of crude oil per day for certain priority projects, particularly the Ajaokuta Steel, the Itakpe Iron Mining and the Shiroro Hydroelectric projects.

It added that the quantity was increased to 105,000bpd in October 1989 to finance such projects as the LNG and the commitment to the Joint Venture Partners of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In the early part of 1994, it was again raised to 150,000bpd.

The report disclosed that the “total receipts and payments in respect of the dedication accounts from inception in September 1988 to June 30, 1994 were $6.195bn and $6.109bn respectively, leaving a balance of $85.943m as at the end of the period.”

Other controversial special accounts allegedly opened by the then military regime, according to the report, included the NNPC Sales of Mining Account, the Stabilisation Account, the Signature Bonus Account, and the GHQ Special Fund Account.

While the $2.06bn accrued to the NNPC Sales of Mining Rights Account, through the sale of mining rights in the NNPC/ Shell Joint venture, $4.398bn accrued to the Stabilisation Account between October 1990 and June, 1994.

As the report explained, the Stabilisation Account was created in October 1990 to receive revenue from crude oil sales in excess of the budgeted provision during the Gulf War.

The aim, it added, was to effectively separate it from the Federation Account and to sterilise it pending instructions for further utilisation.

It reported that the bulk of the money was applied to settle obligations outstanding to contractors handling priority projects and in financing the debt buy-back operation.

The report further disclosed that in 1992 $1.21bn, representing the proceeds of debt held by the CBN was received back into the account, but the balance in that account as June 30, 1994 was $117.36m. There was no account of the disbursements from that account.

The report added that as the funds swelled, other revenue streams, including the proceeds from the sale of mining rights, stabilisation account, and signature bonus, were also squandered.

The Babangida regime, it said, also resorted to the financing of mundane projects like the purchase of television and video sets for the Presidency at the cost of $18.30m, documentary film on Nigeria, $2.92m, foreign trips by wife of the President, $8.95m, and medical clinic for Aso Rock, $27.25m, among others.

It said, “Neither the Dedication Account nor the Stabilisation Account was applied for the .purpose it was originally designed to serve.

“Thus, the Dedication Account was used for many non-priority projects and the Stabilisation Account was not, in practice, used to sterilise revenues in excess of projected earnings.

“Instead, after a short delay, the monies in the accounts were spent virtually as fast as they were accumulated.”

On the external sector of the economy, the report insisted that there was nothing to cheer about the various economic policies employed by the Babangida administration in the reviewed period.

“It noted that in spite of the various policy measures put in place since 1986 to reverse the deteriorating trend in the external sector of the economy, the results were unsatisfactory.

“The noticeable favourable performance in the balance of payments in the first year of the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme, 1986-1988, was artificial as some debt service claims against the country were postponed due to debt rescheduling.”

It argued that the improvement could have been sustained but for the usually high level of other external payments and expenditures from 1989 onwards, which wiped out the external reserves and put extreme pressures on the balance of payments.

It noted that the external sector performance deteriorated in 1992 as the overall balance of payments position, which was persistently in surplus during the previous three years, plunged into huge deficit of $3.8bn.

This, according to the report, reflected the large payments made in respect of scheduled amortisation, as well as the debt buy-back arrangement, which led to the repurchase of $3.4bn worth of the country’s external debt.

Other members of the panel were the incumbent Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab; the current Chairman of Diamond Bank, Mr. Paschal Dozie; Mr. Y. Sankey; and Mrs. B. Latinwo. Others were the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette; Mr. O. Oyefodunrin; and Ida, who was the secretary.

Efforts to find out the present state of the various accounts listed in the report from the CBN met a brick wall.

The bank’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Festus Odoko, said in a telephone interview on Monday that he could not say much on the issue since the Federal Government had not released the report to the public.

When pressed further, the CBN spokesman who requested for a copy of the report, dismissed the claims that certain spurious accounts were managed by the CBN.

“I do not know anywhere in the world where CBN opens account for individuals. There are accounts for banks and government,” Odoko said.

In an interview with THISDAY on Sunday, on August 20, 2006, Babangida said he had anticipated the oil windfall as one of the major political issues against his presidential aspiration in 2007.

He, however, added that he was prepared to defend the management of the $12.4bn.

He said, “I prepared my mind. I knew what everybody will be talking about. Now, they have added Vatsa into the vocabulary of the atrocities committed by IBB.

“So, it’s Vatsa, the N12.4bn oil windfall they say I stole; Dele Giwa; June 12 and the institutionalisation of corruption. I hope Nigerians will believe (and I believe they will) when we eventually tell them the truth.

“I said for my eight years, I have never been so fortunate to get a barrel of crude oil above $30. I was that unfortunate to manage a situation where a barrel sold for $12, $10 per barrel during my regime. On one side, you had me who managed poverty, on the other side, you had others who are managing affluence.”

The Coordinator, International Press Centre, Lagos, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, on Monday said the failure by the government to make the report public and issue a White Paper on it raised a major question mark on the genuineness of its anti-corruption war.

Also, the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Edaetan Ojo, said he was surprised by the government’s lack of commitment to get to the root of the case despite the amount of money involved and its anti-corruption stance.

They spoke on Monday in separate interviews with our correspondents.

While commending THE PUNCH for its efforts at putting the report in the public domain, Ojo said his organisation would take the issue up once it had the necessary tools.

Despite the fact that THE PUNCH had it on good authority that a copy of the report had been with Ida, past attempts to get it were unsuccessful.

On October 13, 2004, THE PUNCH wrote Ekaette, asking for the government’s intervention to obtain the report.

But the letter was not replied.

A reminder, signed by the Editor, THE PUNCH, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, was sent to the SGF on October 27.

The SGF, whose office statutorily keeps all reports of panels or commissions of inquiry, sent a terse response on November 12, 2004.

In the response, signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF, the government said it would be willing to make the Okigbo Report available as soon as it could be found.

Still unrelenting, THE PUNCH, on April 11, 2005, wrote a letter to the chairman of the defunct National Political Reform Conference, Justice Niki Tobi, urging the conference to prevail on the government to release the reports of both the Okigbo Panel and the Human Rights Violations and Investigations Commission to the public.

The NPRC did not address the issues bordering on the Okigbo Report.

Having obtained a copy of the report, THE PUNCH on August 10, 2006, wrote another letter to the SGF to verify its authenticity and enclosed the 352-page report.

Extracts from the letter read, “You may recall, Sir, that on October 13 and 27, 2004, PUNCH wrote two separate letters to the SGF requesting for copies of the Okigbo panel report, which among other things, investigated how the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida disbursed the $12.4bn earned from the sale of oil during the first Gulf War in 1990/1991.

“PUNCH was also encouraged to write because the present administration had indicated quite clearly, both in public comments by President Olusegun Obasanjo and specifically in a reply to our enquiries in a letter received on Friday, November 12, 2004 (signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF), that it would be willing to make the Okigbo report available as soon as it can be found.

“In fact, we recall that as part of the government’s effort to address our request, Kaigama said in his letter that the SGF’s office had written one Alhaji Ibrahim Ida, a member of the panel, for a copy of the report and that his response was being awaited.

“After years of diligent search, PUNCH has obtained what could be a genuine copy of the Okigbo report. We would be most obliged if the SGF, who on page VI of the report is indicated as one of the eight members of the panel, and a signatory, could assist PUNCH in verifying the authenticity of this volume in the overriding interest of the public.”

As at press time on Monday, there was no response or acknowledgement from the government.

Its amazing what $8.95 Million can buy you in 1990. amazing how IBB wife was taking foreign trips of the sum, $8.95m and yet he want to come back and rule Nigeria.

Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, frittered away $12bn of the country’s revenue through special accounts, which he ran as the sole approving authority.

This was contained in the report of the Panel on the Reorganisation and Reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The panel headed by the late renowned economist, Dr. Pius Okigbo, painted in graphic details how Babangida operated “a second but undisclosed budget” with the then CBN governor, the late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed.

The report, which was submitted to the administration of the late Gen. Sani Abacha on August 29, 1994, had been a subject of interest to Nigerians, who have been itching for the detailed report of the government’s White Paper on it.

According to the report, the Babangida regime operated dedication accounts outside of the budgetary provisions, which he ran without accounting to anybody.

It stated that the operations of these accounts were fraught with irregularities.

“The proceeds of the sale of the crude were not shown in the revenue side nor were the expenditures reflected in the expenditure side of the budget,” the report said.

The report traced the origin of the accounts to September 1988 when Babangida approved a proposal to dedicate 65,000 barrels of crude oil per day for certain priority projects, particularly the Ajaokuta Steel, the Itakpe Iron Mining and the Shiroro Hydroelectric projects.

It added that the quantity was increased to 105,000bpd in October 1989 to finance such projects as the LNG and the commitment to the Joint Venture Partners of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In the early part of 1994, it was again raised to 150,000bpd.

The report disclosed that the “total receipts and payments in respect of the dedication accounts from inception in September 1988 to June 30, 1994 were $6.195bn and $6.109bn respectively, leaving a balance of $85.943m as at the end of the period.”

Other controversial special accounts allegedly opened by the then military regime, according to the report, included the NNPC Sales of Mining Account, the Stabilisation Account, the Signature Bonus Account, and the GHQ Special Fund Account.

While the $2.06bn accrued to the NNPC Sales of Mining Rights Account, through the sale of mining rights in the NNPC/ Shell Joint venture, $4.398bn accrued to the Stabilisation Account between October 1990 and June, 1994.

As the report explained, the Stabilisation Account was created in October 1990 to receive revenue from crude oil sales in excess of the budgeted provision during the Gulf War.

The aim, it added, was to effectively separate it from the Federation Account and to sterilise it pending instructions for further utilisation.

It reported that the bulk of the money was applied to settle obligations outstanding to contractors handling priority projects and in financing the debt buy-back operation.

The report further disclosed that in 1992 $1.21bn, representing the proceeds of debt held by the CBN was received back into the account, but the balance in that account as June 30, 1994 was $117.36m. There was no account of the disbursements from that account.

The report added that as the funds swelled, other revenue streams, including the proceeds from the sale of mining rights, stabilisation account, and signature bonus, were also squandered.

The Babangida regime, it said, also resorted to the financing of mundane projects like the purchase of television and video sets for the Presidency at the cost of $18.30m, documentary film on Nigeria, $2.92m, foreign trips by wife of the President, $8.95m, and medical clinic for Aso Rock, $27.25m, among others.

It said, “Neither the Dedication Account nor the Stabilisation Account was applied for the .purpose it was originally designed to serve.

“Thus, the Dedication Account was used for many non-priority projects and the Stabilisation Account was not, in practice, used to sterilise revenues in excess of projected earnings.

“Instead, after a short delay, the monies in the accounts were spent virtually as fast as they were accumulated.”

On the external sector of the economy, the report insisted that there was nothing to cheer about the various economic policies employed by the Babangida administration in the reviewed period.

“It noted that in spite of the various policy measures put in place since 1986 to reverse the deteriorating trend in the external sector of the economy, the results were unsatisfactory.

“The noticeable favourable performance in the balance of payments in the first year of the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme, 1986-1988, was artificial as some debt service claims against the country were postponed due to debt rescheduling.”

It argued that the improvement could have been sustained but for the usually high level of other external payments and expenditures from 1989 onwards, which wiped out the external reserves and put extreme pressures on the balance of payments.

It noted that the external sector performance deteriorated in 1992 as the overall balance of payments position, which was persistently in surplus during the previous three years, plunged into huge deficit of $3.8bn.

This, according to the report, reflected the large payments made in respect of scheduled amortisation, as well as the debt buy-back arrangement, which led to the repurchase of $3.4bn worth of the country’s external debt.

Other members of the panel were the incumbent Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab; the current Chairman of Diamond Bank, Mr. Paschal Dozie; Mr. Y. Sankey; and Mrs. B. Latinwo. Others were the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette; Mr. O. Oyefodunrin; and Ida, who was the secretary.

Efforts to find out the present state of the various accounts listed in the report from the CBN met a brick wall.

The bank’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Festus Odoko, said in a telephone interview on Monday that he could not say much on the issue since the Federal Government had not released the report to the public.

When pressed further, the CBN spokesman who requested for a copy of the report, dismissed the claims that certain spurious accounts were managed by the CBN.

“I do not know anywhere in the world where CBN opens account for individuals. There are accounts for banks and government,” Odoko said.

In an interview with THISDAY on Sunday, on August 20, 2006, Babangida said he had anticipated the oil windfall as one of the major political issues against his presidential aspiration in 2007.

He, however, added that he was prepared to defend the management of the $12.4bn.

He said, “I prepared my mind. I knew what everybody will be talking about. Now, they have added Vatsa into the vocabulary of the atrocities committed by IBB.

“So, it’s Vatsa, the N12.4bn oil windfall they say I stole; Dele Giwa; June 12 and the institutionalisation of corruption. I hope Nigerians will believe (and I believe they will) when we eventually tell them the truth.

“I said for my eight years, I have never been so fortunate to get a barrel of crude oil above $30. I was that unfortunate to manage a situation where a barrel sold for $12, $10 per barrel during my regime. On one side, you had me who managed poverty, on the other side, you had others who are managing affluence.”

The Coordinator, International Press Centre, Lagos, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, on Monday said the failure by the government to make the report public and issue a White Paper on it raised a major question mark on the genuineness of its anti-corruption war.

Also, the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Edaetan Ojo, said he was surprised by the government’s lack of commitment to get to the root of the case despite the amount of money involved and its anti-corruption stance.

They spoke on Monday in separate interviews with our correspondents.

While commending THE PUNCH for its efforts at putting the report in the public domain, Ojo said his organisation would take the issue up once it had the necessary tools.

Despite the fact that THE PUNCH had it on good authority that a copy of the report had been with Ida, past attempts to get it were unsuccessful.

On October 13, 2004, THE PUNCH wrote Ekaette, asking for the government’s intervention to obtain the report.

But the letter was not replied.

A reminder, signed by the Editor, THE PUNCH, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, was sent to the SGF on October 27.

The SGF, whose office statutorily keeps all reports of panels or commissions of inquiry, sent a terse response on November 12, 2004.

In the response, signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF, the government said it would be willing to make the Okigbo Report available as soon as it could be found.

Still unrelenting, THE PUNCH, on April 11, 2005, wrote a letter to the chairman of the defunct National Political Reform Conference, Justice Niki Tobi, urging the conference to prevail on the government to release the reports of both the Okigbo Panel and the Human Rights Violations and Investigations Commission to the public.

The NPRC did not address the issues bordering on the Okigbo Report.

Having obtained a copy of the report, THE PUNCH on August 10, 2006, wrote another letter to the SGF to verify its authenticity and enclosed the 352-page report.

Extracts from the letter read, “You may recall, Sir, that on October 13 and 27, 2004, PUNCH wrote two separate letters to the SGF requesting for copies of the Okigbo panel report, which among other things, investigated how the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida disbursed the $12.4bn earned from the sale of oil during the first Gulf War in 1990/1991.

“PUNCH was also encouraged to write because the present administration had indicated quite clearly, both in public comments by President Olusegun Obasanjo and specifically in a reply to our enquiries in a letter received on Friday, November 12, 2004 (signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF), that it would be willing to make the Okigbo report available as soon as it can be found.

“In fact, we recall that as part of the government’s effort to address our request, Kaigama said in his letter that the SGF’s office had written one Alhaji Ibrahim Ida, a member of the panel, for a copy of the report and that his response was being awaited.

“After years of diligent search, PUNCH has obtained what could be a genuine copy of the Okigbo report. We would be most obliged if the SGF, who on page VI of the report is indicated as one of the eight members of the panel, and a signatory, could assist PUNCH in verifying the authenticity of this volume in the overriding interest of the public.”

As at press time on Monday, there was no response or acknowledgement from the government.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200609052143979

Big Bi, I just rather not say any thing to you, cause you were still a child when IBB was busy siphoning and killing us with his dribbling tactics. it will take at least 100 years to repair Nigeria with what ibb DID, WE USED TO HAVE OPERATION GREEN NATION, NOW WE HAVE operation Okada and all this streets are brown, so MY BIG BI< don't bother to respond cause ill be ignoring you from now on. PS

the only way he will be prosecuted in my opinion is if Buhari becomes president and he retaliate against IBB for over throwing his regime na mandating him to house arrest. and again Buhari was not a good leader, he was a figure head, Idiagbon was running the country under that administration, we will get IBB one way or the other. his days are numbered, not all Nigerians are blinded by IBB, someone with dignity will rise out fallen compatriots souls will rise and clamored on his wicked head. we just don't have concrete evidence to nail him for now, we will get him when he start withdrawing his starch loot

Big BI How old are you? why are you so blind and see how people are suffering in Nigeria, In the history of Nigeria, no other person or president had done what IBB did to Nigeria, Not even Umaru Dikko, just hang tight, we will exposed IBB to the world. read this

How can one bastard slowpoke like IIBB greedy steal all this loop, and there is no name attributed to this accounts, just 3% of this stolen starch by IBB is enough to change millions of people's life in Nigeria.

Oprah just build a school in south Africa for $40 Million, Imagine what this Trillions will do in Nigeria, and yet, this fat neck slowpoke smiling and getting fat by the minute.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2006/sept/02/national-02-09-2006-01.htm

EFCC will be here, they are guided by constitution not OBJ

Here comes this gay again,

well IBB was the leader, he should take full responsibility for the failure, he was too busy siphoning the gold revenue $12 billion to a swiss account

Two old ladies are outside their nursing home, having a drink and a smoke, when it starts to rain. One of the old ladies pulls out a condom, cuts off the end, puts it over her cigarette, and continues smoking. Maude: What in the hell is that? Mabel: A condom. This way my cigarette doesn't get wet. Maude: Where did you get it?
Mabel: You can get them at any drugstore. The next day, Maude hobbles herself into the local drugstore and announces to the pharmacist that she wants a box of condoms. The pharmacist, obviously embarrassed, looks at her kind of strangely (she is after all, over 80 years of age), but very delicately asks what brand of condom she prefers. "Doesn't matter Sonny, as long as it fits on a Camel." The pharmacist fainted.

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5 a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
44. give her compliments regularly
45. love shopping
46. be honest (white lies okay)
47. be very rich
48. not stress her out
49. not look at other girls
<br>
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
50. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
51. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
52. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
53. to never forget:

* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes


HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY

1. Feed him
2. **** him
3. Shut the **** up

Big B1, is a baby he is only 16 so why waste time discussing this IBB issue with him he was in diaper when IBB was dribbling us aka maradona

We will get and nail IBB, it will be tough cause he is a very smart man and he did cover all his tracts, but we will start confiscating all his investment that he is not claiming, and before you know it, he will be frustrated

BIGB you got to be a gay. this one is specially for you, i dig out the dirt on your father IBB

I HAVE been reading articles published in The Guardian Newspapers for so long and have enjoyed every piece that I read, but the one I have found so immature, na?ve, confrontational, unscholarly, biased, offensive, and sycophantic is the one written by one Mr Ade Osijo titled "In Defense of IBB" (The Guardian, Friday, August, 25, 2006). Mr. Osijo's reaction to Dr Reuben Abati's piece titled: "A Birthday Gift for Babangida" published in The Guardian on Sunday, August 20, 2006 page 56, is nothing but a piece of trash. I don't know what Osijo is up to, but I think that that article shouldn't have been published in The Guardian in the first place considering the article's undertones. The article also seems to be begging the question. Who is IBB if I may ask? Is he God? Is he the only one in Nigeria? There are more than 50 million people in Nigeria who can perform better that IBB if allowed to rule. Why are Nigerians always the problems of Nigeria?

And if I may ask again, does Osijo possess what it takes to comment on whether or not Reuben Abati is a good analyst? If Osijo is with the Centre for African American History, what right does he (Osijo) have to comment on Babangida's credibility and ability to perform if he (Babangida) becomes the Nigerian president again? Who is Osijo by the way? When did he begin to write or publish articles in newspapers? What experiences does he have as a Nigerian? What does he know about Babaginda? How old was Osijo when Babaginda was in power? Is Osijo being objective or just being subjective? Is Osijo following his heart or his head? How can people like Osijo ask that Babangida should come back again? What does Babangida has to offer that he wasn't able to offer when he was in power for close to 10 years? I don't think I can take Osijo seriously because he lacks the locus standi to comment on Babaginda as a person and as a politician, and also on Abati as an analyst.

As young as I am, if given the opportunity that Babaginda was given to rule as head of state, eight years for that matter, I will perform better than he performed. What did Babaginda do that is outstanding other than the fact that he sowed a seed of discord that may or may never heal among Nigerians? If there is only one reason why I want Babaginda not to come back, the reason would be that he is not the only one in Nigeria. People should learn to bow out when the ovation is loudest. Babaginda did not respect himself, so I see no reason why Nigerians should respect him. One sentence in Abraham Lincoln's Letter to his Son's teacher enjoins the teacher to tell his son "To be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people." Nigerians should learn from this. It is time Nigerians began to be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people, Babangida being a tough element in Nigeria political circle. Babanginda thinks he is wise. 130 million people are better than one person. It is time he realised that Nigerians are no fools.

Any student of logic would agree with me that Osijo's article lacks substance. The argument he raised doesn't hold water at all. I thought Osijo was going to say something critically sound about Babanginda, but his argument was a bunch of disappointment. Osijo asked "what could have made Abati to say: ", if they won't tell him the truth, we will". The question is: who are the "we" Abati could be referring to? Does the "we" represent the media community? Or is it the human rights community? And I beg to ask, could he be referring to the Nigerian populace or folks in his village? I want Osijo to know that we, Nigerian youths, are the "we" that Abati was referring to.

We are tired of irresponsible governments characterised by cheating, corruption, deception, and lack of transparency. I am not interested in whether or not Babangida performed well when he was in power; my concern is that he should let other people try. Inordinate ambition for power is bad. Let us be objective, if Babaginda is elected again, that means he will rule for the first four years and there are chances that he will be re-elected for the second term, making a total of eight years. Plus the eight years he spent as head of state, from (1985-1993), making a total of 16 years. That doesn't make sense to me.

Osijo also asked another question: "Is it a crime to register one's admiration for a man close to one's heart via the pages of newspapers? The answer is YES. Yes, because the information in the advertisement for Babangida is misleading and provocative. It is a shame that most newspapers in Nigeria now prefer money rather than the truth. If not, how would a newspaper agree to promote Babaginda as a good leader. What happened during his regime as head of state suggests that something is wrong with that advertisement.

While also referring to Abati's comment, "But why does Babangida want to be President?" Osijo posited again "Nigerians and admirers of IBB should ask Abati if it is now a crime to aspire to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?" The answer again is YES. It is a crime to aspire to be president of a country when you know that you don't have what it takes to change the situation around for good.

Lastly, Osijo argues again "on my own part, I was in Abuja for the lecture in my capacity as a researcher on the June 12 election annulment and the intimidating presence of his acolytes is an attestation to the fact that the man Nigerians fondly and affectionately call IBB is still very much loved and revered. Even the colleagues of the popular slain journalist and co-founder of Newswatch magazine Dele Giwa were physically present to pay IBB homage. Messrs Dan Agbese and Soji Akinrinade came, their presence was publicly acknowledged too." Again, Nigerians should ask Osijo this question: And so what? What is the big deal about the presence of the people he mentioned at Babaginda's lecture?

Big B1 , why don't you go find a guy rub up on bomber clot, you always looking for attention, this is serious matter not jokes, we will stop IBB at all cost

Words with two Meanings

1. THINGY (thing-ee) n.
Female, Any part under a car's hood.
Male, The strap fastener on a woman's bra.

2. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj.
Femal e, Fully opening up one's self emotionally to another.
Male, Playing football without a cup.

3. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni-kay-shon) n.
Female, The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one's partner.
Male, Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.

4. COMMITMEN T (ko-mit-ment) n.
Female, A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male, Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.

5. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter-tayn-ment) n.
Female, A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male, Anything that can be done while drinking beer.

6. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n.
Female, An embarrassing byproduct of indigestion.
Male, A source of entertainment, self-__expression, male bonding.

7 . REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
Female, A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male, A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.

AND;

He said . . . I don't know why you wear a bra; you've got nothing to put in it.
She said . . .You wear pants don't you?

He said . Shall we try swapping positions tonight?
She said . That's a good idea - you stand by the ironing board while I sit on the sofa and fart!

He said . , What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you?
She said . , Turn sideways and look in the mirror!

He said . . How many men does it take to change a roll of toilet paper?
She said . We don't know; it has never happened.

He said , . Why are married women heavier than single women?
She said . . Single women come home, see what's in the fridge and go to bed. Married women come home, see what's in bed and go to the fridge.

SEND THIS TO A SMART WOMAN WHO NEEDS A LAUGH

AND TO THE GUYS YOU THINK CAN HANDLE IT

Good move since they are scared to come out and claim their ill gotten wealth, confiscate the shares

Good and Bad leaders will come and go, but IBB want to stay, His structural adjustment program was a total failure and Nigerians should wake up and put this man behind KIRIKIRI jail


Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) are loans from the IMF given to a nation with certain conditions. Nations are required to follow these conditions for approval of the loan. These conditions are technically known as "conditionalities".

Some of the conditions commonly are:

Cutting social expenditures, also known as austerity,
Implementing user fees in basic services such as education and health,
Focusing economic output on direct export and resource extraction,
Devaluation of overvalued currencies,
Trade liberalization, or lifting import and export restrictions,
Increasing the stability of investment (by supplementing foreign direct investment with the opening of domestic stock markets),
Balancing budgets and not overspending,
Removing price controls and state subsidies,
Privatization, or divestiture of all or part of state-owned enterprises,
Enhancing the rights of foreign investors vis-a-vis national laws,
Improving governance and fighting corruption.

and I did not say all Nigerians are corrupt minded read between the line dude, you state if i was in IBB shoes I will do the same, so in retrospect, you are saying all Nigerians if given the opportunity will steal.

GNature:
I'm sure IBB has more stolen assets all over the place

Hell no I have my dignity and name to protect, and I have two boys that look up to me as their role model, I will not want them reading stuff like this about their beloved father, some of you guys will sell your faith and dignity for a minute of fame, not me bro.

GNature, the problem with Nigerians are ignorant and greed, people are letting greed and little money and contract the will get from IBB clamore their judgment, we all witness what happen during IBB regime, firing squads, unsolved murders, and public embezzlement, and the introduction of 419, and yet people want to give this illiterate generals power?

HELL NAH, get the criminals spoiling our country name and burn them in hell

I do not hate IBB, I was a witness to his cruel dictatorship, and I felt the hardship of his regime, so every ones evil will follow them to their grave, so IBB is not ripping the fruit of his seeds.

Bustyn , THIS GUY SHOULD BE IN JAIL, i am glad he got what he deserve.

EFCC was set up to combact crime and reduce the internet scam and corruption, not to find a solution to it, even In America there is no such thing as free school

Its not a crime to be smart, but its a crime to defraud the nation of billions of dollars, if only he can invest 1% of his stolen wealth in Nigeria we will be better off, prime example read this story. Oprah open a $40 Million school in Africa, and we have people like IBB with his money starch in swiss account. you guys that are pro IBB are making me sick to my stomach

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/08/25/koinange.oprah.otsc/index.html

Danmasani , why waste your time with that fool bigb, even Ray Charles can see what wonderful Job EFCC is doing, only the criminals and 419Er's that are been sought are against this organization.

THIS GOES OUT TO IBB BUTT LICKERS

Former military dictator General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), who some people call Maradona but prefers to be known as "the Evil Genius," has finally declared his intention to run for the office of President in the next general elections. According to him, Nigeria is in ruins and disrepair and he verily believes that he has the capacity to repair or fix it. If the speech that I read is representative of his beliefs then he is saying that he is the only one that can repair Nigeria. That is, the Nigeria that he ruined. But I will come to that later. According to him, with the exit of the military and the advent of democracy, Nigerians had hoped that things would be better for the country, but that is not the case. Nigerians are greatly disappointed in President Olusegun Obasanjo as he has failed them and dashed their hope of a quick and accelerated economic development.

Babangida did not explain the yardstick he used in measuring President Obasanjo’s performance and the peoples’ assessment of it. I have the feeling that he based his views entirely on the summation of his admirers and sycophants who are gearing up to climb on his back and return to power and affluence. Without any caution he seems to have taken their flattery for the people’s voice but I am certain that the instant response to his declaration must have driven home the fact that he must have ignored many pertinent issues in his comeback. He probably must be chiding those who hurried him to make the hasty and dangerous declaration. Agreed, he had since 1999 made it clear that the only reason why he kept off the political arena was to avoid a collision with President Obasanjo. He had said that until President Obasanjo declares Aso Rock vacant,he was not going to participate in any election.That was wise and commendable. After ruling Nigeria for that long (August, 1985-August, 1993) through the instrumentality of force, and after plunging the nation into one of its severest political turmoils on account of his annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, an election Nigerians considered to be the most transparent and freest, commonsense would have advised him against taking on an incumbent as ruthless as President Obasanjo.

But by thinking that the only bar he has on his desire to return to the Aso Rock bunker is President Obasanjo, he made an unpardonable error that he would live to regret for the rest of his life. An average thinking person would have known that his past is in essence his path to Aso Rock. What I mean here is that it is his past that will determine or seal his political fate. If Obasanjo is a factor in his bid for the Presidency, I consider his past as a more critical factor. There is no way he can avoid his past. Already, many issues have rightly come up that will or should engage him. The issue of the killing of his bosom friend, General Mamman Vatsa, is making the headlines now, but that issue may not be as telling on him as the allegation that he had a hand in the murder of Dele Giwa.The Press may not forgive a man they consider as the killer of one of their own especially when he ignored the opportunity to dispel the allegation at the Oputa Panel. His spite for the Oputa Panel is in itself an issue on its own and my feeling is that many people went away with the belief that his rush for judicial protection was an indication of guilt.The Panel was to my mind a beautiful opportunity that he bungled.

The most critical issue in the ambition of IBB is about how he can reconcile his ambition of wanting to get to the Presidency through the electoral process with the general view that he personified the military’s disdain for the electoral process. It would take, and, in fact IBB would establish, the greatest wonder on earth if he is able to get the forgiveness of Nigerians over his role in the June 12 calamity and get elected as the democratic Executive President of this country. I imagine that those who risked the elements and went out to vote in the historic June 12 elections are still around and would constitute a sizeable number of those that would vote in the forthcoming general elections.The children and perhaps the grandchildren of those unfortunate June 12, 1993 electorate would be part of the electorate in the elections that IBB intends to use to return to Aso Rock.

IBB is said to be a very perceptive and cautious person. The way he carried himself over the years support these characteristics, but his decision to return to the political fray betrays some failings that history has kept away from the generality of us. Many people are of the view that the searchlight placed on his son and perhaps his own protÈgÈs is to scare him away from the political process, but I am of a very different view. If for anything I think President Obasanjo is earnestly trying to shore up sympathy for him. Without the scandals of his son and the rumours about his huge investments through fronts, IBB is politically worse off. Without any rigorous thinking, it is easy to tell why IBB can never see the four walls of Aso Rock again.

IBB personifies the ugly history of this country. Military adventrurism, political and economic corruption would be nothing more or less than IBB if they were to be human. IBB is the most celebrated military adventurer that this country has produced. He features prominently on all the annals of coups in this country.At the twilight of his military career he presided over the regime that ruined the moral fabric of this country. He institutionalised opportunism and corruption. If Nigeria is grappling today with moral crisis it is because of IBB. It was the era of IBB and his fellow adventurers that this country lost all of its glorious past. All institutions and infrastructures of the state were destroyed by IBB and his ilk.

The most singular problem that Nigeria has had to grapple with since the inception of this republic is the issue of what socio-economic path it should take to fast- track the need to return the country to the path of sustained growth and development.The country is yet to build and sustain firm democratic structures and developmental morals due to the military mindset of the generality of the political actors. An IBB presidency would be a disservice to civilisation and the global effort to wean Africa away from its dictatorial past.The outside world would not take Nigeria very seriously if it failed or refuses to break away from its sorrowful past. IBB represents that past and if I were him I would spare this country the misfortune and pains of bringing back the ugly pictures of its socio-political past.

If I were IBB I would have gone into self-redeeming endeavours. I would have worked earnestly to express penitence and remorse. I would save my old life the odium and ridicule that an attempt at the presidency would bring. I would have surrendered some of my ill-gotten acquisitions to the state and cooperate with the EFCC in its efforts to end the culture of graft and impunity.

imagine 12Billion Dollars, if you divide that among all Nigerias, how much will everyone end up with? emm, and this fat Pig IBB pocket am with him pally pally

kitaun must be a history teacher, damn he is too smart for his ass