But come to think of it, so people actually think that a southerner can rule Nigeria without shaking up the security structures of this country?
Wonders shall never end.

So, folks think that it was mere chance that Obasanjo was chosen from western Nigeria to rule Nigeria instead of Olu Falae or any other real southerner from the west?

When I look at the military map of Nigeria, I just shake my head at how we could have allowed our country to be so HEAVILLY tilted against the south in terms military installations. Well, even a northern "trusted ally" Obasanjo couldn't rule without touching certain things, which is how General Ogomudia became the COAS after long years of core Northern dominance of that position.

How I wish the OP is not smoking crack.

DerideGull:

Shymexx,

The northerners, especially the Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri and Nupe, have always set a record pace in preparing for another war since the end of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. It is a mere coincidence that northern region of Nigeria has been littered with unusable airports during the peace time.

hehehe. Cold truth.

Demdem:

Even the devil spoke the truth and agreed with God that Job was righteous.
The truth has come out from obj mouth.

NO!
The devil is INCAPABLE of speaking the truth. Even in your comment you note that the devil was only AGREEING with God. He had no choice.


John 8:44

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

niceeric:
hmmm...so there are really humans who think like Jonathan true true??so wat happens after u send d whole of national assembly home?u put ijaw people ehn?reminds me of d lecturers sack threat...hmm...so u would channel d military strength to terrorising ur enemies avi?while Boko Haram keeps bombing rightcool...now I know Jonathan isn't alone in his 'dumbness'...there are others like him

What I gave was a STRATEGY not a tactic. If he is 10% as intelligent as the ape of Ota, he should be able to pull it off easily.
The way Nigeria is currently constituted makes it EXTREMELY HARD for someone from SE or SS to lead Nigeria.

Right now, the only "crime" Jonathan has committed is to dream of ruling beyond 2015.
Obasanjo ruled Nigeria like a military dictator (like I said he had to because of how the North shaped the 1999 constitution). Yar adua continued in the same tradition. Jonathan will be the biggest fool to think he can rule the way he is ruling, allowing every oaf to insult him and Nigerians.

Now you know that you are the dumb one here. lol

ocelot2006:

How in God's precious name is Nigeria getting worse under GEJ? Our economy is growing at a rate of 6% and more, and is getting more diversified, the country is now a top destination for foreign investors, the middleclass is booming witg increased purchasing power, power generation has doubled from initial values of the OBJ years, critical infrastructures are being fixed at a fast rate, elections have been free and fair compared to OBJ's do or die years. YET YOU SAY NIGERIA'S GETTING WORSE?! What sort of reasoning is this?

It is called TRIBAL LOGIC.
Welcome to the real Nigeria bro!

The only thing this letter tells me is that Jonathan should remember the country he is leading - a place where gentleness is seen as weakness.
He needs to show his fangs fast, else I see a plot thickening against him.
Every rogue is crawling out of the woodwork to insult him and the rest of Nigerians with all types of sanctimonious CRAP.

If I were him, I would quickly have a chat with my TOP security personnel (military,intelligence, etc).
What he faces is not political opposition; what he faces is a SECURITY THREAT.
If I were him, I would IMMEDIATELY declare marshal law, first send those thieves in the national assembly home. They would be lucky if I don't jail some of them for grand theft using a military tribunal!

Next I would convene an internationally supervised conference on Nigeria's future.

Some people feel that they own Nigeria, and that only they can determine Nigeria's future. They see themselves as the gods of Nigeria, while others are hewers of wood and drawers of water. It started with Tambuwal, next CBN governor, next this never-do-well that sold Nigeria to the highest bigger during his two terms, and even schemed for a third term.

Jonathan should not pussyfoot around anymore, else Ironsi would be better than him.

Is Nigeria still a member of OPEC?

Agrika: What is all this pretence about, it is more or less like an open secret that a typical hausa/fulani is aggresive and violent by nature..is not as if we dont welcome thier presence in the east, we do, it signifies more bussiness activities and all but we all know what these people are capable of....and by the way how do you think the families of victims of religious riots in the north who have been forced to abandon thier properties will feel when they see this people..and by the way hausa man no dey carry eye see igbo woman, they feel ALL igbo women are prostitutes and thus this may lead to an increased rate of rape..as has been witnessed in some parts of Imo state by fulani herdsmen.

For me the problem I see here is not that there are millions (my own estimation because I've seen them in HUGE numbers in Nnewi) in Igbo land, the problem is their propensity to violence. Also, notice how they live in CLUSTERS & ENCLAVES where they are in LARGE numbers. These people are natural warriors and their entire lives is warlike. Igbo man is yet to "be civilized enough" to understand these types of survival rules, and we will pay a heavy price one day for our lack of understanding. In the North we live sprawled, spread out, in nucleated settlements of single families -easy targets! I welcome Hausas into Igboland with open arms -they have been there for ages, so no big deal here. My my only prayer is that the Igbo man will learn to put his own life ahead of money for once and stop living in ways that make him easy targets.

Sincere 9gerian: @OP..,great post. I wonder why it didn't make front page

Thanks bro. It may still make the front page, it depends on how the Mods see it.

I'm trying my best to fix errors in my posts here.
Una know say English no be our first language.

DerideGull: @OP

I do not think leadership qualities are found in a person who cow-towed to the dictates of more popular and stronger opponents to the tune of divorcing his wife who stood behind him and courageously carried on the wishes of her husband who was incarcerated.

My brother you raised TWO issues with your comment: (1) That he bent to the opponent; (2) That he divorced his wife Winnie

For issue number one, I stated that he taught me COMPROMISE, and that people often see it as a bad thing but it is not.
Deeply embedded in understanding compromise is understanding the philosophy of TIME. There is time for everything under the sun, says the Bible.
When he came out of jail, the South Africa (and the world) he met were remarkably different from the one he left behind when he went to jail.
Remember that he refused to be released conditionally, and also negotiated terms of his release. I believe he would have stayed in jail if conditions remained as they were in 1963.

He had to LISTEN and WATCH -to OBSERVE AND ASSIMILATE new reality on the ground.

To me, that is one of the GENIUS of his leadership. Had he stuck to his old beliefs, he and the nation of South Africa could have lost everything.

On issue of divorce from his wife, it would be unfair to blame him (or his ex-wife Winnie for that matter); their marriage was destroyed by Nelson Mandela's prolonged absence from the life of his wife. Imagine a YOUNG girl having to waste 27 years of her prime sexual life waiting for her husband? Of course she "serviced herself". But where she went wrong was to continue servicing herself even when Nelson had come out of prison.
I believe that the man's life could have been threatened through Winnie's actions, so he like a true soldier saw danger and decided to distance from it. There were constant attempts at his life till he became president. He managed to endure till be could divorce her.

No matter how his life turned out finally, the man lived a very tragic life.

ACM10: Great post.

Front page pls

Thanks bro ACM10.

The Mods can decide what to do with the thread; it is their prerogrative.

Capt. JH Miller:
Enough with the sentiments.. the Sheriff is totally right, he has contributed nothing to the US. No doubt he is a hero, but to the south Africans, and maybe to some extent an icon to africans as a whole.
To the ameriacn, he's really irrelevant. No disreapect, but that just fact..

NO, the sheriff is TOTALLY WRONG.
The office of the President of the United States is an INSTITUTION not an individual. When that office issues a directive (though I must clarify that this is NOT an order, and so can be disagreed with), it binds on ALL American citizens to follow that directive.
When he openly (as is bound to happen in this case anyway) disagreed with the President, he is disagreeing with the institution he represents.
He is indirectly weakening that institution because another person can do the same in the future to another President he disagrees with.
Not good at all.

Brimmie: Jarus would love this. Great post bruhh!

Thanks bro. I hope that Jarus would be drawn to comment here.

Attempts to compare Nelson Mandela with ANY of Nigerian leaders so far will only sound very hollow, and incredible.

I recall that when Obasanjo was freed from prison, many Nigerians DESPERATELY wanted him to be the "Mandela of Nigeria".

Well, even some of the simplest of Mandela's leadership accomplishments like the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" was too much for Obasanjo to pull off in Nigeria.
The Nigerian version quickly became a failure, again, because Obasanjo himself was only using it to consolidate his power.

eGuerrilla: @Onlytruth,

This is a great post.

If there is one quibble, here, it concerns the point you made about the death penalty. Like so many other decisions taken at the time, that was not simply Mandela's doing but, rather, a reflection of the ANC's ideological underpinnings. It is understandable, though, that given his larger-than-life personality, all manner of things will be ascribed to him in death, as was the case while he was alive.

He was, of course, his own man in many respects but, for completeness, it must be understood that he was also a 'party man'.

Yes, of course it was the position of the party which he led morally. At the heat of the argument then (post elections violence), he often said that had he been executed (rather than serving a jail term), the nation would have lost more, but that was a reason he gave to the "angry mob" in South Africa to help them grasp that death penalty was really a very bad idea.
I often wonder how many countries have thrown themselves into protracted civil wars and strifes just because they wanted to execute some people. Examples abound world wide.
When the first leader of Boko Haram was executed by security forces, I was here lamenting and shouting myself hoarse that it was a VERY BAD IDEA.
Well, here we are today.

I just thought about what a Nelson Mandela would have done in Nigeria in January 1966, or July 1966 (assuming there was a party like ANC in Nigeria then). Maybe the war would not have been fought.

But what strikes me is that at every turn of events between 1960 and 1999, every national leader we've had only tried to swing Nigeria's fortunes towards his own tribe or region.

There are different African tribes in South Africa, but you hardly know this from outside. Mandela was a Xhosa (like Igbo in Nigeria), while the Zulu (like Hausa for argument sake) are the single biggest tribe in South Africa. However, despite the rise of the Inkhata freedom Party (IFP) the Zulu based party (propped by the departing apartheid regime), the ANC was still embraced by Zulus -Mandela helped make this possible. South Africa is a golden example of smooth African tribal coexistence, all thanks to Madiba.

ndu_chucks: @Onlytruth, Eze m, Where did you copy that info from? That is most definitely not your original material is it? dem say make animals wey get horns identify themselves, snail (Onlytruth) sef show up. Wonders shall never end.

Jokes aside, your posts here are quite cool.

They are entirely mine. If you doubt me, go and search google to see if you can come up with anything.
It is easy to see that I espouse most of Nelson Mandela's doctrine. I see myself in the man. As a young man he was a firebrand like me. He changed over time.

BTW Thanks for the compliment; I'd take it.

I forgot to add one more leadership skill I learned: COMPROMISE

This is often seen as a bad thing but it is not. Nigeria would have turned out completely different if all leaders we've had since independence did some of that. Nigeria has been plagued by "winner takes all, win at all cost, do or die" political mindset since independence.

Mandela understood that you sometimess have to cede something in order to gain something.

Lesson learned: Quid pro quo is one of the biggest secrets of life.

eGuerrilla: ^^^Great post.

Thanks bro.

As we mourn Africa's greatest son (so far), I have taken time to reflect on what Mandela meant to me and how he changed me as a person.
I am an ardent student of great leaders of the world; I study them to find out what distinguishes them and how each excelled.
As an African boy, I was closely studying Mandela's first actions as a leader when he came out of jail, and subsequently became the first black president of a multi-racial South Africa. Most politically active Nigerian students may have done same.
So, here we go.

LESSON 1.

For me, the GREATEST moment of Nelson Mandela leadership was on April 10, 1993 when Chris Hani (arguably Nelson Mandela's heir apparent ) was assasinated. This was obviously done by right wing extremists in South Africa to scuttle the march towards democratic change. South Africa tithered on the brink of a civil war precipice. Anger was swelling like a vicious tempest. Then stepped in Nelson Mandela to take charge. I remember watching the speech he gave at Chris Hani's funeral (watched it one of the international channels then), and even as a kid then, I deeply appreciated the mastery of his speech. He spoke in all the major South African languages, and at the end, every anger was doused and the nation moved on to eventual elections in 1994.

Lesson learned: Meekness and focus (he humbled himself, refused to be provoked, deeply understood the end game, and stayed focused on it).


LESSON 2.

After he became president, South Africa was still going through a post-apartheid violence, much of which originated during apartheid. Murder was the order of the day in South Africa (still is but to much lesser extent). South Africa became the murder capital of the world. Then came in advisers of all shades and hues. They recommended DEATH PENALTY for capital offences. Nelson Mandela stood in the way and completely rejected the idea.
He also ensured that death penalty was NOT allowed in the new constitution. On this issue alone, I cannot find ANY LEADER IN AFRICA or even the world that matches Nelson Mandela. He understood that death penalty is not a punishment, but an irrational angry mob reflex which dehumanises ALL participants in it. He taught me that state sanctioned judicial murders (termed capital punishment) does not belong in civilized human culture. He preferred life imprisonment to capital punishment. On this issue, I still struggle to follow and accept, BUT I clearly see the light in his position. No human institution (whether individual or group) should be allowed to take the life of any human being on this earth.
Again, on this issue, there is no Nigerian leader (so far) that can grasp Nelson Mandela's light.

Lesson learned: Truly great leaders seldom follow the crowd. THEY LEAD.


LESSON 3.

For much of the years of the African National Congress existence as a liberation movement, Nelson Mandela played second fiddle to others, even up to the Rivonia trial that landed him in jail for 27 years. He ceded the position of ANC president to Oliver, R Tambo and to all other ANC activists. He understood that he alone could achieve nothing, in fact, he never took a position (even on issue of armed struggle) until other ANC leaders had.
The truth is that he, even as one of the founders of Mkomtho we Ziswe (MK) the armed wing of ANC, he was only a figure head, and that still landed him in jail. When he came out of jail, he waited until the ANC had conducted a convention to elect him president of ANC before exercising the power of that position. In fact ANC stayed together mainly because of his personal sacrifice in that direction. Now, contrast that with what has been happening in ANC since Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma took over the reins of the party. Even today, the ANC is in dire straits of disunity.

Lesson learned: Lead from behind most of the time. Only take frontal lead on issues of deep transformation.


I personally have not seen ANY Nigerian that can even remotely match Nelson Mandela's sagacity, but I'm not saying that there can never be. It all depends on what befalls Nigerian students of Nelson Mandela like myself.
Nairaland rants apart, I deeply appreciate the impact this man made to my life.

Hamba kahle Madiba!

Signed

Onlytruth

Spiritual twins born to different countries.

mad nigerian:

First off, it is sad that you cannot engage with my arguments, which shows two things...

1.You know that I am right, and it pains you.

2.You think of me in terms that would violate Godwin's law(adapted for African perspectives).

I have expressed my view that Nigeria cannot break up peacefully so long as we are all linked to oil. And I think that a HUGE part of the problem is that people like you refuse to vote for the right persons to lead us all to self sufficiency without oil.

You may think of a resource war as frivolous, but I do not.

And I find it amusing that some people who chant separation are the biggest supporters of the corrupt leaders we have.

Look my friend, I am from an oil producing state( exactly where , I won't tell you). And frankly, I am not opposed to a split. But for it to be peaceful, we have to get each and every one of our states off the oil money via industriaisation and ending corruption.

But people like you don't want to do that. You want to split so that when your new leaders have finished looting, you would at least have unrestricted access to some oil money. That is not development.

Take a cue from the UK and the Former Czechoslovakia. Self sufficiency through industrial development first, then we can split, so that we do not have another civil war, ok?

My Igbo people say that when a native doctor runs out of remedies for a difficult ailment, he demands the stomach of the smallest ant in the jungle be brought by the relatives of the dying man.

For most of my life as a student in Nigeria, the North recieved UNPARALELLED support for education, yet they refused to go to school. You name it, they got it: Free education to university level, bursary, nomadic education, etc; while I from SE got zilch and had to pay for my accomodation and books, NO BURSARY for me. We usually looked on in envy each time northern students got bursary. Still the policy failed to make the North embrace western education (I read somewhere that Northern cut off for JAMB these days is even lower than before).
So, how on earth does anyone see a time when Northerners can catch up with Southerners in human development? Mind you industrial development is almost impossible without human development.

So, if we follow your formula we may have to wait for ever, unless of course that is your goal anyway.

Good. I'm particularly happy that Nigerians have come to understand the power of ICC over these mass murderers at home.

I wish I can send some money to this group.

Truckpusher: Why is the South West always fretting each time the ND people talk about a break up?

Why is the North always shouting war whenever the South East wants to secede

Is there anything wrong with a people that wants to go their separate ways and take their own destiny into their own hands no matter how bad you assume it will end ?

I personally think that it is because they see that some people are cowed by the threats in the South, but I have a nagging feeling that they will soon see that no amount of threat will work this time. The year 2014/15 is like a nagging bone in the throats of northerners like ndu_chucks.

Truth can defeat any army no matter how strong the army may be.
I personally believe that Nigeria can (and probably will) disintegrate precipitously without a single shot fired.

The only thing that can keep Nigeria one is that the North OPENLY denounces and distances from the Ahmadu Bello ambitions of using southern Nigeria as a conquered territory. If they do that, and GO TO WESTERN STYLE SCHOOLS, then maybe there is hope for Nigeria, else disintegration is inevitable.

ndu_chucks:

Something tells me that your head is empty as far as solutions to the questions I raised are concerned. Your fist sentence above is so incoherent that I'm starting to worry about you.

I am not assuming that blood must be shed, I am asking you for suggestions which would avoid wars which would lead to bloodshed. The truth is, when its time to work and provide real solutions, you people suddenly become brainless. sanu

Again my question: Why do you ALWAYS assume a violent breakup of Nigeria?Be man enough to own up to your real beliefs. Was a single shot fired when Czechoslovakia disintegrated? Was a shot fired when the Baltic states left the ALMIGHTY Soviet Union?
Were there no shared assets and resources in those countries?

Why do you always assume that we Africans can't achieve similar noble feats?

ndu_chucks:

nwanne m, put you bigotry and hatred aside for a minute and suggest solution to the question I raised. This is what a dialogue is all about - if you are not disciplined enough to converse like a sane person on nairaland, how do you expect the so-called national dialogue to succeed when there are people like you and even worse all over the place?

You cannot hide by calling me names and I refuse to respond by similarly calling you Ewu can beer or some other character. Answer the question, my friend! dolo

Most people would agree that mad persons are wont to call others "mad", and life long career prostitutes usually call others "ashawo" even before saying anything intelligible. It is an old survival trick called "attack as a form of defence". lol

Why do you always assume that blood must be shed before Nigerians agree on how the country can be disintegrated?

ndu_chucks: I will commit my resources towards going 'our seperate ways' as soon as bright minds can proffer viable solutions to these issues:

1) How do we share the assets jointly owned without bloodshed. Assets like seaports, airports, investments in developing natural resources?

I invite brilliant minds to list potential solutions to this problem. I have more but let's start with this.

It is not enough to lazily yell separation without any framework which wouldn't lead to unnecessary violence. I humbly await reasonable contributions.

Much as I would like Nigeria to somehow survive and thrive as the pride of the black man, FACTS ON GROUND, and my Christian faith discourage me.
When people like you always talk as if Africans are sub-humans that can only use violence to solve the same problems others in Europe and Asia have solved peacefully, it puts another nail to the dreams of a shared future; at least it tells me that you and I have no business being in one country.

Currently, people are dying almost constantly (thousands in some years) just because people like you are threatening more violence should Nigeria disintegrate. IMHO, only Satan supports any system that is sustained by constant shedding of human blood.

ndu_chucks, are you Satan?

The Ikemba will be smiling now.

Anambra people should also thank God that APC didn't get the opportunity to steal us blind.

In all things, and at all times, a true Christian should always worship God through sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
That is the PRIME reason for our creation.

We rejoice and thank God with you Dr Obiano.

adepojuot: I will keep on copy and paist life history of prophet Muhammed for every body to know true meaning of ISLAM: Atrocities committed by prophet Muhammed: in the year 623-prophet Muhammed orders raids on meccan caravan,624-battle of Badr, 624-prophet evicted Qaynuqa Jews from Medina, 624-prophet Muhammed orders the assissination of Abu Afak, 624-prophet also orders assissination of Asma bint Marwan,624-Muhammed also orders assassination of Ka;b al-ashraf,625-battle of Uhud, 625-he Evicts Nadir Jews, 627-Battle of the Trench:note:during trench battle: prophet Muhammed murdered 800-900 Jewish men and he took there wives captive.627-Massacre of the Qurayza Jews,628-Muhammed districion and Subjugation of the Khaybar Jews ,629-Muhammed orders first raid into Christians at Muta but he was defeated,630-conquered Mecca by surprise along with other tribes,632-prophet dies of poise,he was unable to detect poise.Muhammed is an Narcissist,a paedophile,a mass murderer,a terrorist,a misogynist,a lecher,a cult leader,a rapist,a torturers,an assassin and looters...compare life style of Muhammed with boko haram members,Na same same.so stop blaming boko,blame Muhammed teachings...Islam is all about violent.

Today, when the Jews vow not to give them the slightest breathing space, some people would be talking trash, always blaming Israel.

Let Boko Haram continue with their nonsense. If they succeed in dividing Nigeria, Biafra will only adopt Israeli philosophy. In fact we may even BAN Islam altogether.

@Topic, why not the FG declare a FULL war against the states affected by Boko Haram? They have not seen ALL the might of the Nigerian military.
I hope that such strength is not only reserved for secessionists in the south.
Nigerian troops can start shooting at things that move and don't move.
Nonsense.

theoctopus:

Did I say anywhere he doesnt have rights? Is he contesting for the presidency? Does his ambition require him to go around insulting GEJ and aligning with bigot who are insisting GEJ must not contest in 2015. I think it is your head that needs serious checking as you obviously are very dumb!

Thank you.