engrchykae:
the way Nigeria is modeled to favor the northerners,the vp which must by default be a southern lot if a northerner is the president cannot be allowed to control an important instrument of power as the senate.
remember when zik was president,the the office of the president was just ceremonial but when he left ,the office was overloaded with functions and duties.
it's a broaddaylight robbery for the north to control both the legislature and presidency.
we southerners are educated fools and cowards especially those at the West of Nigeria.

As per your last statement: biko what stops the other part of the 'South' from not becoming "fools and cowards"?

Everytime the South has manage to hold on to power in this country it is the same 'coward' West who has made it happened. Biko what is stopping the other part of the south from taking on the North? Why must it be the West who must do it?

It's funny that those who want to turn this thread into a tribal dick comparing contest have somehow forgotten that both the current Vice President and Senate President are from the same tribe. What's more, if there is anybody that can be truly described as 'Afonja' it is Saraki.

As for who has more influence: as it is currently it's the Senate President. Although the constitution says it's the Vice President, it is obvious even to the blind that the vp is eternally in the shadow of the President and serves at his pleasure which is what you get everywhere else in the world.

divinehand2003:
All those satellites that we've shot into space, what benefits have Nigerians gained from it?

I taya oo. This minister needs to update himself. What happens to building our own satellite if truly we need it? Abi we no get the man power and know-how no? Why plunge the country into another debt just to shoot something that will soon 'get missing' in the next two years into the sky?

MrsPhyno:
If this man can make someone else a billionaire, and say it (supposedly).

You can only imagine how much of a "gazillionaire" he made himself and his family.

And yet in some people's imagination, although I hate to bring this up, GEJ was the most corrupt president that Africa has ever seen. Some people's herd mentality is astounding. Open ur eyes my people.

We have opened our eyes yet one man's corruption does not wipe the slate of another. That Obasanjo is corrupt does not mean Nigerians should keep mum about the corruption of Jonathan. That's silliness. Rather ask for Obasanjo to also get his day in the court of public opinion.

Here we go again....

Same old same old.

KingOfAmebo:


I have come to realize that major characteristics found on all Atheists is: Anger, Frustration and Rejection at one point in their life which made them conclude that God doesn't exist...true or false?

False. Very false.

I've never at any point been angry, frustrated or feel any rejection. Maybe you need to draw a distinction between atheism and other beliefs.

An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings. An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine. Infidel means an unbeliever, especially a nonbeliever in Islam or Christianity. A skeptic doubts and is critical of all accepted doctrines and creeds.

If indeed salvation is a personal thing then atheism is a personal thing too. What made one man become an atheist could be very different from what made another.

MrPRevailer:


oluamid.

It's the cause for some athiests. Not all.
Some willingly killed the conscience because they felt restrained or bad when they wanted to execute a behaviour but it was noted as a sin.

They felt it hindered them from being the drug or immoral kingpin they desired. So their only solution was to kill the conscience. And because this tortured conscience has not totally died, they battle it on Nairaland Religous section everyday.

Lol.

Like you said, "some", not all. And definitely not me.

KingOfAmebo:


Keep looking for fault and you won't be disappointed but it would be more productive if you look for truth rather that waste your time and energy in looking for faults. Did you read the part I said "Salvation is personal" and "If you seek God earnestly he will reveal himself to you"?

Point of correction, I don't believe in the Bible but rather i believe in our Lord Jesus Christ who came to save the world, died on the cross for our sins, resurrected the third day and is now sitting on the right hand of the throne with God Almighty. To say one believed in the Bible is like saying one is worshipping the Bible...the Bible is just a guide written by people who are filled with the Holy Spirit to relay God's message...mind you you cannot read the Bible like you read a novel to fully understand every message in it, you need to pray before reading and God will reveal passages to you and you will feel like God is speaking to you directly. So, my friend...don't compare the Bible with other books, history alone should be enough to tell you the difference.

The biggest problem and challenge an Atheist has is that he thinks he knows God well enough to condemn him but in reality he continues to display his ignorance of the knowledge of God.

A common trait of all Atheists is that they speak with bitterness and anger, they feel abandoned and as such direct their anger to God and denying his existence to satisfy their assumption. This action further makes them rebellious to God but God in his infinite mercy is always there to accept and forgive them only if they go down on their knees and pray for forgiveness and seek that God reveal himself to them...once this is done there will be an instant peace of mind an undescribable experience. You will experience God's touch for the first time in your life and never again have any doubts of his existence.

First, I didn't speak with anything near anger or frustration. I only pointed out that the Bible was written by someone too just to buttress your point about there being no new knowledge that everything known has already been written by someone else.

Second, stop making assumptions that you know atheists, how they think, or what made them arrive at their atheistic beliefs. You don't. No one does except the atheist himself.

Third, atheists have no need to 'know' god. Why want to know what does not exist? The only prove anyone had/has of god has always been faith. Sorry, that doesn't work for me.

Fourth, I personally do not care one way or the other what the next man choose to believe in. I will however take offence when he tries to tell me what to believe in like you and a lot of other theists I know are constantly doing.

Lastly, the worst thing you could do is to preach at me. Don't. It's a complete waste of time. If you want to have a conversation, no problem, but please don't preach at me. It's so so condescending. Stop trying to fix what is not broken.

Have a great one please!

KingOfAmebo:


After reading your post I came to conclusion that you and many other souls like you feel so intelligent that you forget you were created. Salvation is personal. Did you notice all you typed up there were stuffs you read from someone too...so if that's the case how are you sure you are not rewriting same trash like the original author? Seek God earnestly with your heart and he will reveal himself to you...don't really on your wisdom, knowledge or understanding.

Just to point one thing out. The Bible you believe so much in that tells you about god was written by someone too.

kazyhm:


when someone from nowhere shouted vegetable hawker ...................and your response is this quoted piece,

I hope you'll understand ?

He most probably still won't get it.

It is only in Nigeria that one speech makes a Presidential candidate.

HurtgenForest:


What sacrifice has the yoruba made to free them from slavery to the hausa/fulani in Nigeria? None because of cowardice.

yorubas are eternal slaves to the fulani-Olu Falae.

Stop trying to feel among by tagging yorubas along with the hausa fulani because yorubas are their slaves. The fulanis have taken ilorin from yorubas and have threatened to take Offa as well should Nigeria break today. The fulani recently also told the whole world that they need Lagos more than they need the Niger Delta and this is simple; Lagos is their access to the sea.

Honestly I would like to see how things play out if this much talked about war breaks out because I am sure that lagos will be forcefully plucked out from the hands of the yorubas who will all flee into Cotonou as refugees.

Don't feel for our children, feel for your own children that will continue to service the hausa/fulani.

awolowo was a betrayer and back stabber and ended up committing suicide by taking rat poison when his northern master were about to send him to prison again.

After dealing with awolowo, they gave special tea to your aere onakakanfo to drink as well and also sent his wife to the afterlife.

northerners used benjamin adekunle and after that disgraced him from the army and the guy was struggling to survive, begging for contracts to feed. His children were begging for money to send him to Ghana for medical treatment, ordinary Ghana here not even USA, Germany or UK.

awolowo was used during the war only to be denied presidency and was about to be imprisoned by the same northerners for a second time before he committed suicide.

selah.

Exactly the same reason nobody takes you guys serious. Freedom for you and your ilk means abuse of other tribes and half-truths.

Keep it up. The same people you want to help 'grant' you your so-called 'freedom' is the same people you abuse their heroes? Goodluck with that.

The real people who feel cheated and want a better life know how to get it the right way. Continue your divide and rule tactics.

Ghost447:
How much did Obasanjo inherited from Abdulsalam & how much was a barrel of crude oil sold in 1999?

I can't remember how much Obasanjo met in the reserves or how much crude sold for in 1999 but I do know that it sold for around 9 dollars per barrel for the most part of Obasanjo's reign.

My question if Buhari was selling fuel was asked because the OP made it sound like Nigeria is making a gain of N57 for every litre sold and Buhari was sitting on the proceeds when nothing can be further from the truth.

First, if there would be any profit made it would be oil marketers making it. They are the ones who import and sell petrol. Second, Nigeria before now has been subsidising petrol but the price still stood at a very high N87 considering we produce oil. Yet, the marketers despite subsidy hoard the product arbitrarily to jackup price. What the government simply did was to stop subsidising the product effectively making sure that the subsidy money can be spent elsewhere. There was no provision for subsidy in the 2016 budget so the government couldn't have be making any gain. And mind you, oil marketers have again started asking that the benchmark price of petrol be reviewed upwards despite it being pegged at an all-time high of N145 per litre.

Now I'm not absolving Buhari from any blame. Has he failed with some of his policies since he assumed office? Largely. But is he to blame for the depleted reserves and price of petrol? No.

My point is that Jonathan didn't fare any better. He was only able to mask the true state of things because there was a lot of money in the reserves and we were in a oil boom during his administration. But the money we made from the boom was squandered, the reserves was depleted, and savings was at an all time low yet the administration still owed salaries. The profligacy of the Jonathan government is one of the reasons Nigeria is in a recession today.

But does this absolve Buhari from any blame? Hell No! He knew what he was coming to face before campaigning to win the elections. And while ordinary citizens like me have the luxury to blame the previous administration for its profligacy, the current govt's only priority should be fixing the economy and not trading blames.

Many people just don't want to be reasoned with. Once you don't accept what they believe is true hook, line and sinker, they immediately start abusing you or they label you with derogatory terms like 'wailer'or 'zombie'. No wonder our politicians keep riding rough shod over us when majority can't even argue intelligently without resorting to abuse.

The real enemies are in the corridors of power riding jeeps with tinted glasses bought with stolen public funds but my country people will rather focus their anger on someone who is suffering the same thing they are suffering while ready to protect the real thief with their lives just because he is of the same tribe or religion.

Donpressman:
Your question "Is it buhari selling fuel" shows how inept and ignorant you are in matters relating to commerce. So people just import fuel and go to the market to sell abi? And the government is also busy increasing fuel price in Nigeria for them since the government is father xmas abi? An SS2 student of Economics won't ask such a question. You could use a research bro. Geez.... how old are you sef

The fact that you are quick to call someone 'inept and ignorant' over a random online post where he expressed his opinion like he's entitled to shows you are the one who really needs to be described by those unsavoury adjectives.

Can't you just make your point without abuse? Sometimes, I wonder if this platform is not filled with 16-year-olds. How ironic could it be that you are the one asking for someone's age when you've not shown that your decorum is higher than that of a SS2 student. Once someone does not join you in abusing Buhari you guys immediately resort to using expletives.

Now I've spent so much time responding to your abuse that I feel no need to explain my question in the former post. Please move on.

johnero353:
mtchwww... shut up there, if no be for your last statement ehhh... I for call you zombie. Wetin Jonathan fail?

If you can't have a conversation without becoming foul mouthed please try someone else. I don't need you to validate my statement. Thank you.

Millerz:
Some dull person above confuses primitivity for simplicity. What's the use in having chairs if you wouldn't sit on them? So the chairs are meant to accommodate thrash and filth but not a human's ass?

And who eats on the floor nowadays... Even poorer people have dining tables. He knew he was expecting international guests but couldn't even put his house in order. Just look at such disorderliness.

No wonder the north is still in the stone age. Smh!!

They have chairs for visitors who are not accustomed to sitting on the floor mat. You don't because of civilisation do away with your own way of life. You can't be more civilised than the Japanese or Chinese, yet they hold their culture dearly.

fratermathy:
The Dearth of Urhobo and Other Niger Deltan Languages

By Mathias Orhero

It's a pity that I have to code-mix English, Pidgin and my native Urhobo language as well as code-switch between them in any lengthy conversation with a kinsman. I am a product of the "wasted" generation, and my case is far better than what obtains for 90% of my peers. One of the things that I admire about Igbos, Yorubas and Hausas is their commitment to speaking their mother tongue. Sadly, for those of us in the Niger Delta, multi-ethnicity is our undoing. We have developed a very negative attitude towards our native Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Isoko, Okpe (Urhobo dialect), Uvwie (Urhobo dialect), Bini, Esan, etc. We prefer to converse in Pidgin, which most of us have adopted as our first language. Some would rather speak English when they encounter people of their ethnic extraction instead of conversing in Urhobo for fear of being perceived as local.

Typical Urhobo interlocutors begin conversations with "Guy, how far na?" instead of "Oshare, mavor?". When the latter is said, they will call you an "Ogburhobo". This negative attitude is killing our language. The linguist, Macaulay Mowarin, has predicted the dearth of Urhobo language. Already, Okpe and Uvwie have less than a thousand speakers. Urhobo is in free fall and in about 30 years times, native speakers will be too insignificant for Urhobo to be called an ethnic group. Urhobos pride themselves as the 5th largest ethnic group in Nigeria. The irony is that only a little above 50% of Urhobos can speak the language fluently. Same goes for Isoko, our sister language.

One of the primary sources of this trend is that the colonial masters wanted to anglicise all of us. They knew our languages were diverse and unintelligible to them and one another. They reckoned that if they anglicised us, we would all merge into one people. However good their plans were, it was to our detriment. The Nigerian Pidgin evolved and filled the void between English and our native languages, and the Europeans hailed and encouraged it. The people of the Niger Delta took English a little bit too far when we began to see those who speak English as successful people. We associated aristocracy with the English language, and our native languages started dying...

Today, I am a product of the culminating effects of the preceding. However, I have been able to remedy my situation before it snowballed into a personal disaster and an existential crisis. Others still have the negative attitude and will prefer to learn Spanish, French, German, and worse, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. Many of the "wasted generation" individuals grew up in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and other cities in Nigeria, as well as other countries, and instead of showing interest in and learning their mother tongue, they'll actively learn the language of others who WILL NOT even acknowledge their language. I often encounter individuals of the two Nigerian largest tribes who believe all Niger Deltans are Igbos. They don't even recognise that most of these tribes are not linguistically similar to Igbo! Even with their bad attitude towards the minority languages, you still find the brainwashed individuals of the lost generation learning the languages of the big three and developing positive attitudes towards them while the negative attitude towards their mother tongue persists. It is not bad to be a polyglot or to speak many languages. However, charity must begin at home. I cannot learn Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba unless I have thoroughly mastered Urhobo. We must learn to put ours first. This microcosmic issue is what influences the "Cain-Abel" effect. This effect manifests when Nigerians believe anything Nigerian is bad and fake and everything European is perfect and right. We betray ourselves to keep capitalist societies that don't add to our economy running.

Having observed the trend, I decided to devote my scholarship to the documentation of Urhobo language, literature and culture. I may not be able to do much in changing our negative attitudes towards our native languages, but I'll be able to preserve our cherished language and culture, in case we snowball into extinction. God forbids it ever gets to that point!

Mathias Orhero writes from Okpara-Inland, Nigeria. He is a literary scholar and writer. Reach him on literarymathy[at]gmail.com.

I love this article. I really hope your drop of water will one day make a mighty ocean. I can relate because I'm always pained that I'm not fluent in my local Akoko dialect (I understand but can't speak) so I wonder what it feels like not to understand the mother language.

Parents must as a matter of urgency start teaching their children our languages and dialects and not this modern trend of speaking English (usually half baked) to them right from when they are still babies. Otherwise, even the so-called big languages bar Hausa will soon be lost.

blueto:
I wonder why people hold and disseminating the spurious impression that Jonathan did not save for the rainy day, The notion that President Buhari met an empty treasury when he took over is false because President Jonathan handed over $30 billion in Foreign Reserves, $5 billion in accrued Liquefied Natural Gas dividends, $3 billion in the Excess Crude Account, and around $2.4 billion in the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Buhari was handed over a budget of about N4.5 trillion passed by Jonathan, few weeks before handover.

Around N5.3 trillion was received as oil income in 2015, how was this money squandered by Buhari?

With the landing cost of petrol to the country at N89 per litre given the drop in price of crude oil, the Buhari’s federal government still increased fuel price to N145 per litre.

Effectively Buhari is making a profit of N56 per litre of petrol bought by Nigerian. So, why does Buhari keep giving the impression that Nigeria is broke?

With this increased revenue from a new income stream, why hasn’t the Buhari government this new income? Why can’t states get more money from the federation account? Why can’t states pay salaries?

Nigeria is in recession because of Buhari's incompetence and irrational decisions.

Wait, is it Buhari that is selling fuel?

And just so you know, Jonathan inherited about $67 billion in foreign reserve from Yar 'adua where did all that money went when crude was selling for an all time-high of $110 per barrel?

I'm not trying to extricate Buhari, I only want to show that Jonathan failed too.

Ngokafor:



....See how these little-minded urchins (both yorubas and Igbos)just messed up this nice thread ...'Igbo girls beg us to marry them thats why we have abandoned our women to marry them''...'Igbomen cannever marry yoruba women,we just use them for fun blabla'...like seriously


...You brats deserve serious high five on the face...with a plank!! ..

Actually, if you follow the thread from the beginning, you'll notice that the Igbo guys began the taunting before the Yoruba guys joined the fray.

However, who started what is not the issue. It's quite disturbing that Nigeria's youth of today are more concerned about the ethnicity of a couple rather than the fact that they found love. Goes to show that the divisive messages being spread by politicians (FFK etc) are actually having an effect.

When the youth allow such irrelevant things like tribe and ethnicity to determine their relationship with others, how are they supposed to rise up in unison to oppose the status quo?

It's a sad day for the Nigerian youth.

@Mukina2 please give me code. My team name last season was Oluamyd UTD.


Been trying to join the main league but having issues.

Really? People will still tribalise this issue? I weep for our present generation of youth. The seed our parents planted has started bearing fruits. Have you guys ever for one second imagine what Mayowa would be going through reading these kinds of comments?

Anyway, let's leave sentiments and face facts.

A lady is very ill.

Money has been donated.

The question on everyone's lips should be how the money will be used to treat the ill lady or at the least ensure that she's comfortable and feel the least of pain.

I also believe the family deserve their privacy at this point. It's their daughter that is sick after all and no one among us can cry more than the bereaved.

All these social media back and forth will not help, nor will ethnic bigotry.

cold:
Hmmm..if hell does exist then rest assured everybody is going to one hell or the other. Christians will end up in Allah's hell, Muslims will end up in Yahweh's hell, Hindus will end up Sikhs hell, Buddhists will end up in Shinto's hell. And Atheists...well i guess we'll be evenly distributed amongst the various hell departments.
Furthermore, these various 'hells' will be split into different departments. For instance, Adventists and Jehovah Witnesses will be sent to the Roman Catholic department. Baptists and Methodists will be moved to the Anglican department. Pentecostals of all shades will be relocated to Protestant department. And so on and so forth. Same goes for Sunnis burning in Shi'a's hell and vice versa. It will be interesting watching from my vantage point how these various gods allot hell and heaven/paradise candidates amongst themselves

Lol. This is one hell of an argument. Bravo.

crackhouse:
this is another way to make hausas dominate the Nigerian army.
How u can u employ 250 jtf members of Hausa extraction? just like that?
where's federal character in this?.
can't the civilian jtf in the niger Delta be employed too?
.....Nigerians absorbs anything that comes out of this administration without uttering a word.

Actually, since they are from Borno state the probability of any of them being Hausa by tribe is almost nil.

Well, I only have one thing to say:

Nigeria is currently the way it is because most people spend their time praying and having faith that things will get better when they could just roll up their sleeves and actually do the work that would make things better.