₦airaland Forum

Opening refinery when other countries are building hybrid batteries power stations for future hybrid cars..

The body of Chuddy Nwike, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Vice Chairman who was abducted on March 19 in Anambra, has been found in Agbor, Delta.

Reports say the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N30m (denominated in dollars) but the victim’s family negotiated till it was reduced to N5m. In a curious twist, however, the kidnappers decided to hold on to the courier and the ransom money when the exchange was being done and they have since been inaccessible.

Nwike’s body was identified by ACN Anambra State Chairman, Chief Amaechi Obidike; State Secretary, Barr Emeka Ibe and his brother Dr Bufo Nwike, at the Agbor Police Station

The deceased was Anambra deputy governor under Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife between 1992 and 1993.

http://www.ynaija.com/kidnapped-acn-national-vice-president-chuddy-nwike-found-dead/

Chief Guy Ike Ikokwu, second republic chairman of the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) in Anambra State, was a member of the Strategy Committee that tried to hammer out a merger among four progressive opposition parties to stop the then ruling National Party of Nigeria(NPN).

Reminiscing on how the merger was scuttled, Ikokwu, a foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former chairman of the PDP in Anambra State, lamented that the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have been elected as president in the second republic if his followers, who were in the UPGA Strategy Committee, had so desired. He said current moves by some opposition parties to merge into All Progressive Congress (APC) would not yield electoral laurels at the highest level – Aso Rock.

On this score, he said leaders of the various factions of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) should jettison joining APC and join hands to prevent APGA from failing in Anambra because the party will cease to exist if it fails in the state.

You were a member of the Strategy Committee of the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) in the second republic. Why didn’t the alliance work?

The Strategy Committee of UPGA in the second republic was made up of four parties: the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP), and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). These four parties had hoped to evolve a very close alliance fielding single candidates for the constituencies across the country based on their own evaluation and party primaries.

The main figures for UPGA were Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, Malam Aminu Kano, Abubakar Rimi and Balarabe Musa. The main aim of the alliance was to prevent the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) then headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari as president from sweeping the polls and ruling the country politically.

The alliance’s Strategy Committee, in its painstaking and calculating methods, had shared all the positions in the legislature and the executive and government agencies in such a way as to prevent any single party from having dominance over the other.

This was done to the satisfaction of all the parties. Over 2,000 positions were shared but then the problem of accommodating the leaders, particularly Dr. Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the other leaders of GNPP and PRP became a very thorny issue due to the historical antecedents of the political roles played by the individuals concerned.

At the last meeting of the Strategy Committee, headed by the former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the basic and final problem was how to resolve the ambitions, political or otherwise of the two main leaders – Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo both of whom had played very distinguished roles in the anti-colonial struggle and the emancipation of Nigeria into an independent country. Chief Awolowo was the leader of the UPN, which controlled five states, whereas Dr. Azikiwe was the leader of the NPP, which controlled three states.


*Ghief Guy Ike Ikokwu
Alhaji Lateef Jakande was the chairman of the Strategy Committee which included Senator Abraham Adesanya and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the UPN colleagues of Chief Awolowo. Others members were Chief R.B.K. Okafor, Chief Guy Ikokwu, Dr. Omo Omoruyi and northerners representing Dr. Aminu Kano and Waziri Ibrahim.

The UPN members forgot that the difference between Zik’s NPP and Waziri’s GNPP was due to the fact that Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim wanted to assume the presidency of the country and at the same time hold the chairmanship of the political party. In the case of the UPN, the leader of the party was also the presidential candidate of the party.

We, therefore, at the meeting proposed to the UPN leaders, who had five states under their control, that they should make the first choice of either the presidency or the chairmanship of the party into which all four parties will merge. If you, the UPN, chose Chief Awolowo for the presidency, then the political party for the merger group will be NPP under the chairmanship of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Since Lateef Jakande’s group could not take a decision on this critical matter, the meeting adjourned for them to do consultation.

Till this day, they were unable to resolve their position for Chief Awolowo to become the presidential candidate for the merged party in order to fight Shehu Shagari’s NPN, a position Dr. Azikiwe agreed to if it was the decision of the Strategy Committee.

On the other hand, if they had chosen the leadership of the party, Chief Awolowo would have become the head of the merged and enlarged party – the UPGA- while Dr. Azikiwe will be the presidential candidate. And it had been agreed that the party would have supreme authority in its affairs. The Yoruba leaders requested that the matter be kept secret and, since they failed to take up their first choice position, all the four parties went into the elections on their own and without a single l[b]ist of candidates.

All Nigerians however, knew that Awolowo had said that his ambition will be to be the president of Nigeria even if it is for one day but, this time around, it was his followers who disappointed the progressives and their leaders.

How do you see the All Progressive Congress, APC, merger. Do you think it will work given the personalities of General Buhari and Senator Tinubu vis a vis the history of failed alliances in the country?

The APC merger of three parties – the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)- is still very much shrouded by the various distinguished personalities in the three parties, particularly former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the governors of the three parties, who have all been exercising governance and political clout for more than 15 years during which they have made a lot of friends and a lot of enemies as well.

So far, from all the meetings they have held, they have not come up with an ideological platform on various issues facing the country which will make them to be different from the other parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This is because the constitutions of all the political parties registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are very similar in all their details.

It is basically for this reason that issues like ethnicity and the historical antecedence of various individuals and groups that attempted alliances and mergers eventually fail. If, however, the APC merger breaks new grounds in ensuring within its platform ideological and differential programmes on serious issues confronting the country with a lot of discipline and patience, then it will engender large scale following which will make it a strong opposition and eventually a governing party.

Chief Annie Okonkwo said it is in the interest of South-East to back APC. Do you agree?

I do not agree with Chief Annie Okonkwo a former senator of the PDP, that it is, at this moment, in the interest of the South East to back the APC. Chief Annie Okonkwo does not even seem to have a political party of which he is a full member as he has not attended any convention of APGA and he is not a member of the National Executive of APGA or any of the APGA splinters. Therefore, he cannot be said to have the authority to speak for APGA except for himself or maybe for one or two political cronies.

We understand that he is the chairman of a group canvassing for Governor Rochas Okorocha to become the presidential candidate of the APC through a splinter group of APGA that will merge with APC. This, of course, is very unrealistic. At the moment, the South-East is heavily leaning towards the PDP the same way the South-South comprising six states is also heavily leaning towards the PDP, and not the ACN.

Why would south-easterners not join the APC merger?

South-easterners at the moment do not want to join the ACN or its new offshoot, the APC. Senator Tinubu cannot canvass in the East when in a place like Lagos with millions of easterners he has denied them fair representation even at the local government level in the party primaries in Lagos under the Alliance for Democracy, AD, or later ACN. It is even worse for Buhari who did not extend the infrastructural developments of the Abacha Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under his control to the South-East which remained deplorable until the recent amelioration by the federal and state governments.

Many Nigerians have forgotten that Buhari, as Head of State, desperately wanted to Islamize Nigeria through the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). Even his then federal cabinet with General Tunde Idiagbon, a fellow Muslim and northerner, as his deputy was almost 90 per cent Moslem, forgetting that Nigeria is neither an Islamic or a Christian country, but has a non-sectarian constitution.

Buhari only corrected the gesture recently when he adopted Pastor Tunde Bakare a former Muslim now a Christian, as his vice presidential candidate. His CPC has a following in only some northern states in the whole country. He had dumped the ANPP where he had a lot of enemies to establish his own party, the CPC, in ordre to vie for the presidency. For these and other reasons, the easterners and south-southerners and middle-belters will not join the APC. In fact, only about half of the south-westerners will eventually join the APC merger.

What do you make of the crises in APGA, the role in the APC merger and its chances in the coming election in Anambra State?

It would be recalled that APGA, as a political party, was founded under the leadership of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. It won state Assembly and House of Representatives seats in the South-East and South-South states. It also had some representation in many other states in the West and the North. However, it was only in Anambra State that APGA was able to control the executive with the election of Mr. Peter Obi as the Governor of Anambra State in recent times.

Another governor of APGA was elected in Imo in the person of Chief Rochas Okorocha, a former PDP member. APGA also had the first female governor in the country, Mrs. Virginia Etiaba. It could, therefore, be said that APGA had its strongest following in Anambra State where Dim O. Ojukwu hailed from and Governor. P. Obi has been the governor for seven years.

At the moment, Governor Peter Obi is the oldest executive governor in office in the South-East and has been the chairman of the South-East Governors Forum even though his party has only two out of the five governorship seats in the South-East. Governor Peter Obi seems to realize that the South-East is predominantly PDP by virtue of the PDP membership at the local government, state legislature and national legislature positions.

It has, therefore, been realistic on his part not to unduly antagonize the PDP by trying to foist APGA positions on the PDP in order to avoid a rift which will easily lead to his being dethroned. Instead, Governor Obi has tried to use his chairmanship position to aggregate issues of common interests to the whole South-East in the areas of marginalization, infrastructure, security, health, education, environment, power generation, oil and gas and aviation to mention a few.

He has been able, over the years, to earn the trust of not only his party leader, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, but also the PDP
president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. He was able, therefore, to lead APGA into supporting the PDP presidential candidacy in the person of Dr Jonathan in the hope that the next president of the country will emerge from the South-East zone in 2015 or thereabouts as may be decided.

It should be said, without fear or favour, that Governor Obi has been able to transform Anambra State in the last five years by his style of governance and executive intervention in the affairs of the people of Anambra State. When he found that his predecessor, Dr. Chris Ngige, was able to develop more roads in Anambra State than the former PDP Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju, he emulated Ngige by embarking on further developments of roads across the three senatorial zones in the state, but, unlike Ngige, Governor Peter Obi has dramatically changed the educational and health facilities in Anambra State to make them nationally accredited and of very improved quality.

He has returned schools to their former owners, the Christian missionaries, and discovered that the state has less than 20 per cent of the educational institutions in Anambra State. Very importantly, he is funding the schools directly to their owners the missionary institutions rather than through the ministries and civil servants.

The missions utilize their resources cheaper and beneficially. The quality of education in Anambra State has risen beyond what it was a few years ago. Some of us, who have spoken to Governor Peter Obi directly and investigated his style of governance, agree that he is running the state in all the various sectors as a shrewd businessman who is interested in result rather than propaganda.

For instance, Governor Obi does not waste government fund in chartering planes for his travels within and outside Nigeria. Governor Peter Obi does not reside in hotels in Lagos or Abuja where the government pays on his behalf a hundred or three hundred thousand naira per night.

Governor Peter Obi has not launched a loan scheme of 10 to hundred billion naira by way of bonds or bank loans or external foreign debt which will later be paid by future Anambra State generations. However, Governor Peter Obi believes that more educated and intellectually equipped and experienced Anambraians ought to be interested in the affairs of APGA than as at the moment.

He even states that the PDP in Anambra State is similarly devoid of experience and qualitative people who would have helped immensely in the development and governance of the state. About the leadership of APGA, it can be said without controversy that Governor Peter Obi is the most experienced leader in APGA and who should in all honesty be regarded as the new leader of APGA especially as he will retire from executive governance of the state this year.

When he quits as Governor of Anambra State, he will have more time and resources and experience to lead others in the development of APGA as a veritable political institution for the development of our people in the South-East, South-South and other zones of this country.

The recent publication in the Nigerian newspapers of the international and public debt profile of Nigeria shows clearly that Anambra State ranks more than 33 other states in this country. In other to determine the sustainability or otherwise of the state’s total public debt, a recent analysis of the state solvency and liquidity position was undertaken for the periods up to June 2012.

A critical ratio in the determination of the debt sustainability of each state is the total public debt stock to total revenue ratio as this shows the solvency level of the state government and its capacity to meet the state future debt obligations.
[/b]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/how-yoruba-leaders-scuttled-awolowos-presidential-ambition-ikokwu/

Akpan107: I systematically love this Tinubu of a man... I want him to use that system again in 2015 and support GEJ. Atiku will never be elected as a chairman in Nigeria, talkless of President. Let Tinubu do to Buhari what he knows how to do best!!!!

THANK GOD APC lost my state we love our LP party

deport them they will BE BACK IN FEW WEEKS

ogochukwunasa1: speak for urself eediot.
Sad day for u n ur family, not for me.
I hate dat man, he is a bigot!!!

but is sad that my yoruba people dont hate him we adore him go to facebook and see most comments are yorubas

I WISH AM IBO I SWEAR BBC NEWS,ALJAZEERA NEWS,THEY MAKE IT AS THEIR HEADLINE NEWS THEY KEEP SHOWING IT ON BBC NEWS..

BRITISH Member of Parliament MOURNS ACHEBE.

A Member of British Parliament (House of Common), MP Chuka Umunna has expressed sadness over the death of Nigerian Literacy Icon, Prof Chinua Achebe.

...


https://www.facebook.com/pages/House-Of-Commons-Parliament/428486723830530?ref=stream

RIP PROF ACHEBE AN AFRICAN ICON..

eing destroyed every day.
**We must sound it clear to our brother, Jonathan, that if he fails to revoke them, we shall take our destiny on our own hands.
**Can you now see what we have been fighting for? We own the oil and we are suffering for it.

The revelation by Senator Ita Enang, representing Akwa-Ibom North that over 80% of the oil blocs in the country are owned by Northerners, ex- militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately revoke the licences.
“We must sound it clear to our brother, Jonathan, that if he fails to do something about it, we shall take our destiny on our own hands,” he said.
“It’s not a threat, but a warning to our brother to act fast.” According to the leader of the Niger/Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, the revelation has justified the reason behind the restiveness in the Niger Delta.
Asari said: “Can you now see what we have been fighting for? We own the oil and we are suffering for it. Is it a curse to have oil in our land?

“Now, you see why these Northerners want to die in power. The oil we have is being controlled by them. Is that not funny?”See, let me tell you, if Jonathan fails to revoke the licences, we will take our destiny in our hands. We will not sleep any more for people to take what belongs to us. Nigerians must stand to resist a set of cabals that turned our country to their personal empire.

“One single person is richer than Nigeria. They are sucking our blood. Our land is being destroyed every day. No water, we can’t fish anymore; the land is polluted. Yet, none of our people in the Niger/Delta controls an oil bloc” he fumed.

nigerian embassy portrays how nigerian govt in nigeria handle important issues

ambassador is lucky to escape biafrans lynching

Just heard that FG revoke dana air contract is it true?

true

[b]We have waited for 100 years for justice to be done. Do you think we should wait another 100 years without social justice? If they don’t want to do social justice to us, it will be foolish of any Yoruba person to start preaching or dreaming Nigeria. It can still be done. But like I said, time is a cruel element. Today, political appointment is negatively skewed against the Yoruba people. The list of major political appointment is as follows: Presidency (South-South), Vice President (North West), Senate President (North Central), Speaker of the House of Representatives (North West), Chief Justice of Nigeria (North East). In fact, there is no Yoruba in the Chief Justice succession for the next 10 years. Deputy Senate President (South East), Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives (South East), President of the Court of Appeal (North West), Secretary to the Government of the Federation (South East), Head of Service (North East), Chief of Staff to the President (South-South), National Security Adviser (North West), Minister of Finance (South East), Minister of Petroleum Resources (South-South), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (North Central), Clerk of the National Assembly (North Central), Inspector General of Police (North West), Chairman INEC (North West), Chairman ICPC (South South) and so on. It is as if the South West does not exist. Nobody recognises her as part of the federation.Injustice[/b]

Jonathan Agreed To Be One-Term President – Obasanjo
Obasanjo speech during the campaign 2011 grand finale of the Jonathan/ Namadi Sambo ticket:
’Mr President, we are here because we believe in what I call Nigerian dream. Mr President, we from the South West we were the first to collectively stick out our head to say this is the way, and what is the way? ‘’The way of Goodluck Jonathan for Nigeria. A Nigerian dream entails collective aspiration, collective hope, collective objective, collective target and collective fulfilment. It also entails our communality. And what is our communality in Nigeria? What is the communality between me and my brother from Sokoto? What is the communality between me and even my brother from Yenagoa? What is the communality between me and my brother from Maiduguri? What is the communality between me and my brother from Badagry, or even from Ekiti? It is Nigerian identity. Nigerian Identity! That is our communality.
“If you say the communality is that we belong to the human race, so do the Europeans, so the Americans, so the Asians. But we are one communality, one identity, Nigerian identity. If we have a common identity, then we can have a common Nigerian dream.
”For me, I see a Nigeria dream of land of unity in diversity. For me, I see the Nigerian dream in equal opportunities for all Nigerians; land of freedom and choices; land of prosperity, fairness, peace and justice; land of love, care, harmony among its people; land respected internationally and playing its rightful role within the comity of nations and land where no one is oppressed, discriminated against, enslaved or disadvantaged.
‘’For instance, let me go to an element of one of the aspects of the dream. When I was a young man, leaving secondary school, there was only one university in Nigeria. The opportunity for young men to go to university in Nigeria was then limited. Today, there are 117 universities in Nigeria, expanded and enhanced opportunities. We have to match that with opportunity to access to employment and to good living standard. Your Excellencies, this I believe is attainable and as a political party, we in PDP have dreams.
“We have set about actualising our Nigerian dream. You will see this in the formation of PDP. The history of the PDP speaks for its self. The constitution of PDP, the manifesto of our party and the performance of our party so far. We have set our hands on the plough and there is no looking back for PDP.
‘’Drawing from our national Constitution which upholds Federal Character, we are the only political party that enshrines Federal Character in our Constitution through zoning and rotation.
”And we should be proud of that. For us and for the foreseeable future that remains sacrosanct, I am an apostle of Federal Character under Murtala/Obasanjo administration and I cannot now preach anything different. The accident of history of the recent past must be understood for what it is, an unexpected situation and PDP as a party has addressed that issue.
‘’At the last meeting of BoT of our party last Saturday, the issue was tabled by the president as it was raised by three distinguished members of our party a day before that BoT meeting with the President. I was mandated to take up the position of the party with the three distinguished members of our party who raised the issue. They are General Ibrahim Babangida, General Aliyu Muhammed and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
“The following day, that was last Sunday, I took up the matter with General Ibrahim Babangida, who expressed to me that the issue is not the accident of history, but rather it is the issue of perception in some quarters that Federal Character, zoning and rotation, as established and practised by PDP, have been jettisoned and permanently cancelled.
‘’I, on behalf of the BoT, allay the fear and I promised a public report while he briefs the other two party members with whom we saw the president on the eve of the BoT meeting.
‘’What am I saying? What am saying simply is that Federal Character, zoning and rotation in our party is alive and kicking. I personally see the practice of Federal Character, zoning and rotation of key political and governmental positions and offices by the PDP, if it will continue to be the ruling party in Nigeria, I see that position beyond my life time. It will only happen when unity, stability and democracy have been established with full confidence and trust by everybody in the system and within the polity and among the participants for factors of competence, performance and track record to become predominant. PDP should be praised for being the only party that enshrined Federal Character, zoning and rotation in its constitution and also practicing it.
‘’PDP has brought stability and substantial predictability to the polity and to the system. I do not know who will be the President of Nigeria after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. That is in the hand of God. But with the PDP policy and practice, I can reasonably guess from where in terms of section of the country from where the successor to President Goodluck Jonathan will come and no internal democracy or competition will be hereby destroyed.
‘’The recent resort to sentiments and emotions of religion and regionalism is self-serving, unpatriotic and mischievous to say the least. It is also playing on dangerous emotive issues that ignite uncontrollable passion and can destabilise if not destroy our country. It is oblivious of the sacrifices others have made in the past for unity stability and democracy in Nigeria in giving out their lives, shedding their blood and in going to prison. I personally have done two out of these three sacrifices and I am ready to do the third if it will serve the best interest of Nigerian dream.
‘’Let me appeal to those who have embarked on those dangerous roles to desist from taking us on a perishable journey. A common identity as Nigerians there is more that binds us than separate us.
‘’I am a Nigerian born a Yoruba man and I am proud of those identities, as they are for me complimentary. Our duties, responsibilities and obligations to our country and citizens and indeed as leaders must go side by side in our likes and demands. There must be certain values and virtues that would go concomitantly with our dream.
‘’Thomas Payne said and I quote: “My country is a world.” For me my country I hold dear. On two occasions, I have had the opportunity, thanks to God and thanks to the people of Nigeria, to work for my successors in the government of Nigeria. On both occasions, I never took the easy and destabilising route of ethnic, regional or religious consideration. Rather, I took the enduring route of national, uniting and stabilising route. I worked for both President Shagari and President Yar’Adua to succeed me. Not just because they are Muslims, northerners or Hausa/Fulani, but because they could strengthen the unity, stability and democracy of Nigeria. We, of course, with all the displeasure of ethnic chauvinists, for doing what is right for our country; that is in the nature of the burden of leadership. A leader must lead, no matter whose ox is gored.
‘’In the present circumstance, let me reiterate what I have said on a number of occasions. Electing Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in his own right and on its own merit, which is there to be seen as the President of Nigeria, will enhance and strengthen our unity, stability and democracy and it will lead us towards achievement of the Nigerian dream.
‘’We are impressed with the report that Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has already taken a unique and unprecedented step of declaring that he would only want to be a one term President. If so, whether he knows it or not, that is a sacrifice and it is statesmanly. Rather than vilify him and pull him down, we, as a party, should applaud and commend him and Nigerians should reward and venerate him. He has taken the first good step. Let us encourage him to take more good steps to achieve what we need to achieve for this country by voting for him in landslide victory as the first elected President of Nigeria on basis of our common Nigerian identity and for the purpose of actualising the Nigerian dream. God bless you all.’’

“On top of these, says YUF [Yoruba Unity Forum] some Ministers such as that of Aviation have specialized in sacking the Yoruba from agencies under their control and replacing them with favourites from their preferred ethnic groups”. Idowu Akinlotan, in PALLADIUM, Sunday, February 17, 2013.

In almost twenty years of writing this column, I have never written any article in support of anyone because he is “my brother”; neither have I written one against anyone because he is not “my brother”. OBJ received the same treatment as Babangida, Abacha, Yar’Adua and, now, Jonathan.

Segun Aganga and, now, Adewunmi are undergoing the same interrogation as Alison Madueke and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The current Minister of Aviation is the first Minister to ever attract my attention in this regard because of mounting evidence of her deliberate tribal hostility. She has started the war; she will not determine when it will end and how.


Stella Oduah, Aviation Minister
Until recently, I had taken very little interest in the matter of Yoruba marginalization as alleged by the Yoruba Unity Forum, the original Afenifere group, and, now, Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG. To my mind, the marginalisation of Yoruba by Jonathan’s administration and specifically some Ministers was caused to a large extent by the Yoruba leaders themselves – and that includes all the leaders without exception.

Unlike, Doyin Okupe’s and Chief Richard Akinjide’s views, my grouse is simple. Yoruba people can now be easily marginalized and persecuted because divisive politics had made it impossible for us to unite to fight our common causes irrespective of political affiliation. An organization, AGBAJO YORUBA AGBAYE, AYA, formed for that purpose, was allowed to die by some of those now shedding crocodile tears.

For a start, how can anyone explain the idiocy, no apologies for that, of Yoruba trooping to the polls in 2011 to vote Action Congress of Nigeria in every election only to turn around and vote PDP for the presidential? Everyone, who must have “voted for Jonathan not PDP” can now accept responsibility for this situation in which we find ourselves.

[b]The leaders of the ACN who brokered the deal for the switch to PDP have allowed Okupe, who will say anything, to make his nonsensical claim. Had the South West stood firmly behind Ribadu, the outcome might have been different. So, let’s be done with the crocodile tears of those who dug our graves. However, there is a Yoruba proverb which applies here. It says, “Ki a le akata lo na, ki a to f’abo si odo adie”; meaning, “chase away the fox first, then attend to the wayward chicken”.

Of all the Ministries in the Federal Government, one, above all others, is headed by a Minister who has virtually declared war on Yoruba people in every area of her Ministry. That is the Minister for Aviation. The reason for singling her out of the several MDAs in the Federal Government is again simple. It is strategic to focus our energies on the worst offender, fight her to a standstill as an example to others that Yoruba people will not be pushed around by any transient holder of power. And she will not be the last holder of the Ministry. She will go, sooner or later. But, the war will continue.

As an aside, let me point out to the Minister that the Yoruba can defend themselves in this war. She might be the Minister of Aviation or anything; she might even be waging an ethnic war – for reasons known to herself. But, one thing she must know is this. The Southwest is host to every other ethnic group in Nigeria – far more than any other zone. Even the airports and other Aviation Ministry agencies are surrounded by Yoruba territory. We hold the nation’s assets.

The first question anyone will ask is: why pick on her? The answer is simple, there is increasing evidence that she is being deliberately antagonistic to us – that includes me. The Yoruba Unity Forum in a recent publication, set out the number of Yoruba people who had been sacked from the Ministry and its agencies – almost invariably to be replaced by other ethnic groups. One or two might be justified by claiming incompetence, old age, diminishing productivity, corruption, etc. But, when only people from one ethnic group suffer such dismissals, it becomes highly suspicious.[/b]

That, however, is small potatoes compared to the main issue; the one that has left no doubt in my mind that, ethnic cleansing and persecution of Yoruba is a deliberate policy, is in connection with the problems of Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN, who I never met. This issue, in my view, should demonstrate the resolve of all Yoruba people to fight a battle declared against one of us by someone else for fairly clear motives.

And, it is a struggle that must be non-partisan. This is no PDP versus ACN affair. It is Yoruba versus the Minister of Aviation. Incidentally, the Minister of Aviation, I now believe has an ally in the Asset Management Corporation, AMCON, Mr Mustapha Chike Obi. Together, they want to reduce Babalakin to zero. Let me present the case as documented.

My Monday, February 18, 2013, column, in this paper, was titled WHO WANTS WALE BABALAKIN DEAD?, because at the time, I had no clue regarding who could be behind the plot to persecute Babalakin. Now, all the facts at my disposal point to the Minister of Aviation, who has gathered other co-conspirators, from her ethnic enclave, to help her execute the project. They will fail. Other Yoruba people will join Babalakin to ensure they don’t succeed. In fact, the battle will be taken to the door step of the Ministry of Aviation itself – if Madam does not stop fomenting trouble for herself.

Bi-Courteny Aviation Services Limited, whose Chairman is Dr Wale Babalakin SAN, as most air travelers know, was persuaded by the Obasanjo administration to build Murtala Muhammed Airport Two, MM 2; which it did. As part of the agreement, all domestic flights were to originate and land at MM2, once completed and operational. The old domestic, called General Aviation Terminal, GAT, was to be closed down; and become an integral part of MM2.

As usual, with our lawless governments, the Federal Government refused to close down GAT and encouraged some airlines, especially one owned by people from one of the two eastern zones, to operate from there. As far as I am concerned, the airlines operating from GAT are not at fault. Government carries the blame.

In order to enforce the agreement, Bi-Courtney dragged the Federal Government to court for enforcement of the contract and for damages. Bi-Courtney won the case and huge damages were awarded in its favour…




http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/minister-of-aviation-declares-war-on-yoruba-1/

An attempt to rescue abducted seven expatriates working with SETRACO Construction Company in Jama’are local government area of Bauchi State might be under way.
Five British jet bombers yesterday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Media exclusively sighted the bombers which were parked at the international wing of the airport.

The foreign workers, who included five Lebanese, a Briton and an Italian, were abducted last Saturday by unknown gunmen in Bauchi.

Media further gathered that the bombers might be on their way to prepare ground for the eventual rescue of the foreigners.

The jet bombers were said to have arrived in the early hours of yesterday while their colours comprised three ash and two army green. The army green jets were marked “Royal Army”.

Media further observed some foreign soldiers putting on brown camouflage uniforms were entering one of the army green jets in preparation for departure.

It was further gathered that some of the jets had started leaving the airport for certain locations to assist in the rescue of the kidnapped foreigners.

The four grey-coloured jets departed the Abuja airport at about 5.55pm, leaving only the army-green jet at the airport as at press time.

The entry of the jets, the military source said, was to prevent the recent failed rescue operation in Sokoto where the terrorists killed the foreigners before they could be rescued by the security agencies, including foreign officers.

When contacted over the unusual sighting of the jets, the British high commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Rob Fitzpatrick, told Media, “This is routine military-to-military engagement.”

Britain’s Foreign Office had said two men were held by terrorists associated with Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect in Nigeria blamed for more than 300 killings this year alone.
A senior British government official said the kidnappers appeared to be from an al-Qaida-linked cell within Boko Haram, but not within the group’s main faction. - (Naija Pundit)

[quote author=Dudu_Negro]to make a statement like that you must not be a yoruba to begin with, or you do not understand the whole issue under discussion.

abacha arrested and jailed yoruba officers for diya's action. yorubas ought to hold their heads high and probe abacha's response. .....it is more a plot than a coup. abacha had become paranoid after he got in a power tangle with abdulsalam, who ibb had intended as his successor.

diya and bamaiyi know far more than they have revealed and abacha was not killed by cia, the job was done locally.

hamza's trial is coming up in april. in all likelihood he will be assassinated before or he should by all means be hanged afterward. there is nothing the north can do about it.[/quote]you made sense.

Am ashamed of being a yoruba when i watch this vidoe who is frank menka? who told diya that he was being deceived that no yoruba generals was arrested..

I no an anambra person i ask him about this APC merger party winning governorship in anambra state? he said is not possible

*2015 ELECTION**
MERGER: Why We Are Not Part of APC – Accord Party.

“You know that these merger leaders are already old horses, we don’t want to join them and stain our party".

The national leadership of Accord Party (AP) yesterday gave reasons why it decided to back out of merger of opposition political parties, the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The national secretary of the party, Dr Samson Isibor who spoke with LEADERSHIP in an interview in Benin also expressed fear over the workability of the merger adding that the presidential ambition of the key players in the merger if not handled properly may truncate the their quest to defeat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the 2015 presidential election.

The AP scribe also hinged the decision of the party to back out of the merger on the need to strengthen the party adding that “ Accord Party is new and untainted for the future.”

He said, “My party believes in the idea, we are going solo as far as the merger is concern. To have a viable opposition is good to checkmate the excesses of the PDP, because what we have seen since 1999 is that there is no credible opposition.

“You know that these merger leaders are already old horses, we don’t want to join them and stain our party. We will go ahead and participate in every election in the country just as we are currently doing in the forthcoming local government elections in Edo State.”- Leadership.

T.B Joshua should stop being jealous,is it because Jonathan choose to visit winners instead of church of synagogue?

Nigeria foreign workers abducted in Bauchi state - police

**Italian, Lebanese, British Govt is yet to confirm the British National(s) among those kidnapped.
**Italian foreign ministry have confirmed the abduction of their citizen in Nigeria.

At least six construction workers, some of them foreigners, have been seized by gunmen who attacked a camp in northern Nigeria, officials say.

One of the workers seized was Italian and at least one other was said to be Lebanese.

But UK officials could not confirm a report that another was British.

No-one has admitted the abductions but the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, has staged a series of attacks in northern Nigeria.

A security guard was reportedly killed as the attackers targeted the workers' camp at Jamaare in Bauchi state.

According to an Associated Press report, as many as seven foreign workers were seized.

One local official told AP the workers were from the UK, Italy, Greece and Lebanon.

An Italian foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency that an Italian man was among the workers who had been taken from the site, run by Lebanese-owned firm Setraco.

A UK foreign office spokesman said it was investigating reports of a Briton being kidnapped. - BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21491628

Nigeria gunmen kidnap foreign workers, police claim

Gunmen in northern Nigeria have attacked a camp belonging to a construction company, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy and Lebanon, according to local authorities.

The raid, which resulted in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists, happened on Saturday night in Jama're, a town in a rural part of Bauchi state. Gunmen first attacked a local prison, burning two police trucks, said Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Muhammed.

They then targeted a worker's camp for construction company Setraco, which is in the area building a road, Muhammed said. The gunmen shot dead a guard before kidnapping the foreign workers, he added.

Adamu Aliyu, the chairman of the local government, identified those kidnapped as one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian and four Lebanese.

Britain's Foreign Office said it was looking into reports that a UK national had been kidnapped.

Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north has been under attack by the radical Islamic sect Boko Haram in the past year and a half. The country's weak central government has been unable to stop the group's bloody guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings. The sect is blamed for killing at least 729 people in 2012 alone.

Foreigners, long abducted by militant groups and criminal gangs for ransom in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, have become increasingly targeted in the north of the country as the violence has grown.

In May, gunmen in Kaduna state shot and killed a Lebanese and a Nigerian construction worker, while kidnapping another Lebanese employee. Later that month, kidnappers shot a German hostage dead during a rescue operation. Gunmen who authorities say have links to Boko Haram also kidnapped an Italian and a British man last year in northern Kebbi state who were later killed during a rescue operation by Nigerian soldiers backed up by British special forces. The sect later denied taking part in that abduction.

Chinese construction workers also have been killed by gunmen around Maiduguri, the north-eastern city in Nigeria where Boko Haram first began.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/17/nigeria-gunmen-kidnap-foreign-workers

is very sad,my yoruba people,we should no we need to stop selling ourselves because we are going down politically

inufele2: For exposing Igbo's propaganda?

is rather making us look stupiiiddd

is it the guilty conscience killing my yoruba brothers and sisters? why are we whining more than eboes we are great people we are not known for crying like a baby crying for sweet we cannot be like ibos,ibo are good at it!see the way we cry about football out of 250 ethnic groups in nigeria we are the ones that show more hatred,if we dont like other people in nigeria we should go our own way not bewitching the good name of nigeria, pls we should stop crying like a homeless baby

seunlayi: very nice reception

see money with effects