dis one wey una wan hijack femo thread, d guy no go find am funny o. or maybe na una him go come carry last last. una know say e get as e dey do am to dey 'carry' people.

folks, no need for the digressions and personal attacks pls.

this sets a very dangerous precedence for prospective well-meaning anti-corruption officials. you have an agf that has successfully stymied most if not all prosecution cases against corrupt ex-govs and a president that mimes 'rule of no law  at all' at every opportunity. it's absolutely sickening.

cre8tivity:

jimbo
if the oldman himself jumps inside the basket, may be it would seal up the holes. don't you think so?

i think i'm missing the point. are you saying we should let the 'free-for-all to loot as you please' system run wild? someone has got to fix it alright. we were made to believe it started in 2001. but that we all know only scratched the surface. endemic corruption, which has eaten deep into the fabrics of the nation, will take more than a few good men to checkmate.

this confirms what we've been saying all along. 'corruption is here to stayeeee!!!' first they sell us a fraction of anti-corruption and then embark on full-scale anti-anti-corruption campaign. it's a pity ribadu can't win this fight now. not when the likes of the corrupt ex-govs are exercising their prowess on YA.

make e do end sef. this na life? too many things not right in the country. we need a break. ref! time out!

femo, ur pidgin dey sound like ghana pidgin, na wa o. i fear my head o.

but anyhow kanda na meat.

as u say u chappy tear u slap. u go don fall ya hand beyond jankara repair. u never tell us wetin u do.

catalytic kporakpoism!!!! nice one.

lsf cowboy reporting for duty. le pour 1 of ilya du porta square. on d day of my kegation i was not there. but ask pacesetter xyz he knows d quoliti of my titration. wok and stomble not fellow comrados. u r karid.

elder igodo migodo! repping d supremost comradium, chiefo u r karid. let d infidels languish in their shamblified domains as it were. d kponkponski wowoski is saturated with the fluidity of ur verbosity. wok and stumble for ur dayz will be as long as those of king methuselah +1. nothing did.

can someone explain why that agf's name keeps popping up for the wrong reasons? if i catch am! if i catch am! e no go easy o. i've never heard of him prosecuting any cases against corrupt officials having limited the anti-corruption agencies from doing so.

i blame d journalist wey give this clown air time. all d damage him cause for him selection process tribunal never undo am finish. d journalist come make mistake carry recorder go give am interview, wetin him expect na? prof. ewu no let himself down one bit. d guy just spew out another bag of crap. d best thing na to ignore am make him dey doodle away for him small corner since dem no go gree sack am.

Kobojunkie:

Are you sure that claiming the people at NIGCOMSAT were not aware of the fact that a Satellite that costs about $333 million will not function at the same level as one that costs several billions would, will work in your favour here? You mean to tell me that in the age of information, so called professionals claiming ignorance does not fly? You mean the GENIUSES at NIGCOMSAT who supposedly did years of research before deciding Nigeria needed a satellite, did not know that buying cheap means buying less quality? come on!! even a baby knows that.

i agree with you say dem no do there research complete. if not dem for know say no be satellite be our problem. how can they explain the cost-benefit ratio to country man. na weather we wan chop? abi na cable tv? if dem tell us something more interesting like population density mapping e for try better sef so we go know where dem suppose channel resources. but then i'm still of the belief that these chinese guys don do us strong thing.

Kobojunkie:

Abeg make we hear word. What did you expect to get for 40 billion naira ($ 333 million). Isn't this like to expecting a rolls royce for $20,000. In this case, I am guessing they got what they paid for. Why blame the chinese?

here. this has nothing to do with car dealerships and their sleazy tricks. we know those folks cannot be trusted.

going by your argument, are you telling me it's fair game to underprice a project and deliver a substandard service? i hope not but if that's the case, i know a word for it. FRAUD!

how convenient for the chinese to package and sell us this bull. una don see am na. where our sharpness end na there another man sharpness start. if leba fit scam us e don be already.

my gut tells me we should get whatever we can recover from the insurance and invest on d ground. we never reach critical mass yet to dey fund 'white elephant' projects.

man pikin never see gari chop and them dey talk say satellite don lost. only in naija na. we too like big tins

omola!!! darkness cover. no time! thou shall not see anything again with clear eye, u betcha.

Sammy After Knacking Maskaev

Samuel Peter became the first Nigerian to win a heavyweight championship belt after stopping Oleg Maskaev in the sixth round of their WBC title fight.
The 27-year-old unleashed a flurry of punches to finish the Russian off in Saturday's first ever heavyweight title fight to be held in Mexico.

Peter was the more powerful and poised throughout - although the pair rocked each other in the third round.

"I'm the best heavyweight in the world. I'm undisputed," Peter said.

"I can beat anyone. All of them are going down."

Peter improved his record to 30 wins (23 KOs) with one defeat by IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko.

And he is already eyeing up a rematch with Klitschko to avenge his loss.

"I'm going to get him," Peter said. "I'm going to beat his brother (Vitali). I'm going to tell him that I'm coming. I've got two belts. He doesn't need the IBF. He needs this one.

"He's going to come for this, and he'll get stopped."

Klitschko won a unanimous decision over Peter in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator in September 2005.

so much for running ur mouth like a bullyish school kid. darn right u got what u deserve mate.

oh dear. oh dear. see pounding. d fight was technically over after round 3. fat sam had no boxing strategy whatsoever. klitchsko boxed him all around the ring. both defense and offense he was superior. a night to forget for sammy. he can only get better though (apparently).

amazing stuff. too many conspiracy theories. but what resonates overall is that mr. ribadu stepped real hard on some precious toes. the sequence of events and rapidity outclasses any anticipation one can get from nollywood movies.

it's naija.

i'm guessing the next set of job posts will have as part of description - ". . . must be cool with officiating gay weddings. . .".amazing stuff.

countercultures, movements and rebellion spring up as a result of perceived injustices to a people. what YA has not yet owned up is the fact that the situation in the ND is not a problem that developed overnight. the ND people have been marginalised for many decades. YA should know that to solve this problem requires finding a middle ground where all parties involved voice out their concerns. if he demonizes the movement he is only digging himself deep into the puddle. no army in the world has ever successfully defeated a guerrilla army. the best case scenario is that an agreement is reached in which the rebel group becomes the de facto security outfit. YA should know this and also realise the civil cost of an all-out military action, not only in terms of lives but reprisal attacks that could end up grounding the nation's economy to a halt.

Big B1:

Sometimes it simply takes braveness to beat one at his own game, but of course, it is damn too cloudy for us to see this fact.
Nigeria today would have been in better circumstances with IBB as the president.

not today and not in time to come. he would be better off limiting the damage he's caused by doing charity work and reconciling broken relationships, which would take him a lifetime anyway. the last person we need as president to 'better the circumstances' is ibb.

self extolment on the one hand and hypocrisy on the other. beat that.

kissing in naija movies = french kiss meets sister act. i no fit shout!!!

seconded!! who's better talking about 'failure' than mr. poster?

1 nackdown = 1 kpai.
nothing did!!

the dynamics of the race has set the tone that billary cannot be on the same ticket as obama. there are very massive odds against the proposed 'dream ticket'. the one and most obvious i'd point out here is the mrs clinton's ego. it could result in the doom of the 'fairy tale' candidacy of obama. to put this in context, obama would ask rush, who recently endorsed him anyway, to be his running mate before sen. clinton. and we all know what the answer is. not this time!!!!

this is the same woman that forcefully took her child from her ex-hubby's custody, was involved in the siemens scandal, involved in awarding sham contracts, and many more, and now running from the law. she basically has no respect for the rule of law and it's implications. she should be disposed off as a senator, simply because she ain't doing her day job representing her district. iyabo-gate i hope she knows is not helping the old man's 'legacies', if he ever had any, lol

i have always seen challenges as a means to put oneself above the fray. the global food crisis isn't an exception. this exposes a fundamental incompetence in the agric. ministry. i must commend YA for his understanding of the economics of the system. the million dollar question is whether the trickling down effect will ever occur. some of our uncles and aunts will see this as an avenue to further plunge us into mire. it's naija!!!

a statement of fact and mild humour has been interpreted as 'abuse'. in case we haven't noticed, regardless of the fact that we've beaten this issue on its head time and yet again, our international image has been defined pretty much by 'scam-gate'. i can't take issue with the dude for what he said, but the truth of the matter is the ball is in the hands of our government to turn this villainous practice around and make nigeria work for us all and not ring-fence monies to themselves and policies that hamper national growth.

Limits to strategic re-empowerment of the Igbo
By Orji Kalu (Kalu Leadership Series)
Saturday November 17, 2007
In “A Journey Through Time” I stated as follows: While the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s witnessed the emergence of two institutional platforms – the NCNC and the Igbo state Union- that aggregated Igbo group interest on the political, social and cultural frontiers, and provided coherence, order, logic and direction to Igbo political quest… the contemporary epoch is devoid of any platform recognized, accepted and adopted by the generality of the people as their own.
Continuing, I also stressed that: Rent by internecine and fratricidal political infighting and over burdened by lack of clear sighted grand political strategy, vision and ideals commonly accepted by all the people, and not the factions of the various political elite, Igbo society currently drifts, buffeted by clashing political winds that scatter the people in several directions.

Without a doubt, there is an evolving national political consensus, which underpins the contestation for power, influence and space by the various ethno-national and geo-political coalitions and formations. Geo-strategic capacity determines the ability of each federating unit to buy into and help in driving emerging national scenarios and, consequently, in negotiating political and other national conditions favourable to their people. A few examples will suffice here. Since the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, the Yoruba nation developed a grand political strategy that seemingly sublimated the quest for ethnic survival under a grandiose pro-democracy package.

Through this, they expanded the reach and range of agitation to encompass other progressive political formations in the East and the North. Propelled by a visible desire to restore electoral mandates and democratize society, but equally mindful of the fact that the terms of this negotiations will be favourable to them, Nigeria emerged at mid-1998 to the realization that a Nigerian presidency of a Yoruba extraction had become inevitable.

Interestingly, the fact that the PDP eventually produced Olusegun Obasanjo as its presidential flag bearer (the least of acceptable Yoruba choice) and the AD-APP alliance threw up Olu Falae as its presidential candidate (a more acceptable Yoruba choice) showed the geo-strategic capacity of the Yoruba nation in determining the direction of the Nigerian state favourable to them.

When Nigerians thus went to the pools in February 1999, they had a limited choice: to elect one out of two Yoruba candidates. Ultimately, the mainstream Yoruba political tendency got what they demanded; a Yoruba president, but not the candidate of their choice. This, of course, is realistic in the context of every political negotiation: the sense of accommodation, the striking of balance, the building of consensus, etc.

Another example that readily comes to my mind is the patience of the Northern, mainstream political establishment who endured the 8 years of Obasanjo’s insufferable mischief, highhandedness and a far-reaching strategic agenda of de-constructing Northern political power structure and base, a process that reached its high water mark in the perfidious Third Term, Life Presidency project.

Their ability to withstand Obasanjo’s “Shock and awe” political tactics, to attenuate personality differences and ego in favour of group interest, and to finally compel Obasanjo to abdicate power in favour of a president of Northern extraction is a testimony to their staying power, the corrections of their political vision and the relative success of their grand power strategy. Yet, as in the case of the 1999 political transition; and given the complications of the April 2007 general elections, the North may not have got all that they demanded, but they have secured the space to operate, to manoeuvre, and to begin the urgent task of re-constructing and re-constituting their political base which Obasanjo dealt a harsh, 8- year blow. Thus, without a clear political strategy, without a well-developed political programme, and without a commensurate level of intellectual and strategic thinking they wouldn’t have achieved the much they did.

The third and last example I will give pertains to the grand political strategy of the Southern minorities who inhabit the South-South geo-political zone. This grand strategy nearly delivered the Nigerian presidency to the zone, has made the Niger Delta region the hottest national topic and the international security concerns of the Big western powers in Africa; and delivered the nation’s Vice President to them virtually on a platter of gold. The far- reaching implication of this last political set up is that it has successfully negated and deconstructed the prevalent historical power – sharing arrangement in Nigeria given the examples of the 1960 post-colonial arrangement and the 1979 post-military political arrangement.

Yes, the Niger Delta still bristles with poverty, ecological and environmental disaster, militancy and seemingly intractable conflicts, yet it is, again a testimony to their sacrifice, steady political course, resolute will and a clear sighted strategic power agenda that have enhanced the region’s profile and made it the centre piece of virtually all national political and economic dialogues and discourses.

What about the Igbo nation? How far has it fared in the course of Nigeria’s contemporary history and democratic transition? Answers to these posers are not far fetched. In 1960 the Igbo-dominated NCNC shared political power with the NPC, a situation that produced a ceremonial Igbo president, a deep Igbo presence in the Federal Cabinet and Strategic Igbo placements in the civil service. In 1979, barely 9 years after the civil war which the Igbo-led Biafra lost, they also produced the nation’s Vice President, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and choice cabinet appointment, essentially because of the alliance between the Igbo dominated NPP and the ruling NPN.

Yet, in 1999, a clear 8 years after the relatively golden moment in Igbo political history they failed in their charge to produce the nation’s President, they also lost the Vice Presidential slot; they had to beg for accommodation at the strategic sectors of the federal cabinet, and even when eventually the President of the Senate became the only visible political bargain they could muster, it became over time a symbol of group failure and an illustration of the deep penetration of Igbo politics by outside forces, aided, I would say, by the dominant position occupied by the clientele class on Igbo politics.

It was therefore not surprising that between 1999 and 2007, Igbo land had produced 5 Senate Presidents, one for each core Igbo states, not as matter of group choice but a consequence of group vulnerability[b]. This clearly absurd scenario became an eloquent testament of the disdain a number of people held for the Igbo elite, and a clear demonstration of the Igbo lack of a credible political platform, abiding Igbo state socio-cultural union capable of mobilization progressive forces in Igbo land and an absence of strategic thinking and intellectual depth in Igbo political calculation.[/b]
Today, Igbo land has been downgraded one step back from the Senate Presidency to the Deputy Senate Presidency, while the group that produced the nation’s Presidency for 8 years is today still rewarded with the Speakership of the House of Representatives and a very powerful Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling PDP. The chance to produce the chairman of the ruling party is scant consolation given the power dynamics of the Nigerian state, and the location of real, concrete and effectual power in the polity.

Igbo political power base is in urgent and dire need of re-construction and re-constitution. I have tried to present the limit situations that make this process a difficult one. Yet it is, as the saying goes, a task that must be accomplished.

To achieve it will demand time, tact, strategic thinking and profound intellectual ability. This agenda must balance the interests and needs of the Igbo with the interests and needs of the other groups that constitute Nigeria. It also requires capacity in the area of strategic networking, consensus building and multi-layered dialogues across the ethnic and geo-political lines.

But most importantly, it will require rooting out the clientele Igbo political elite from the Igbo political space, so that the people can re-discover themselves, breath fresh political air, and begin the task of their re-humanization.

omg! this is very nice work. i can't help but feel some high level poetic control of grammar and technique ability in this piece - makes me wonder if this was written by an understudy to prof. soyinka. therefore, casting doubts over the credibility of the writer (i.e kalu  )

no doubt kalu can spell, but i strongly disagree his vocabulary is as good as what the articles suggest. the action of the elders is to checkmate him flossing himself with articles like these. but damn are there some massive words in 'his' articles  whew!

Thus the call by these African leaders on the international community to establish a fair and equitable trading system through the elimination of tariff and trade distorting subsidies is mere shadow-chasing and sheer waste of time.
Our so called leaders should begin to think again, by confronting issues of government accountability, combating corruption, halting conflicts and the respect for human rights before convoking all the over-bloated conferences where the tax-payers money of their different countries is wasted.

this kalu guy must be joking. if he did write this bollocks of a column then he's nothing but a bloody hyprocrite.

@romeo, yes you saw him on hardtalk make a complete fool of himself, right? shouting all over the studio contradicting himself on all the issues discussed. i even saw him on haney's show running his mouth talking trash about policies. he dunno nothing about policies and neither can he write too.