₦airaland Forum

Oga Ken

''Actions speak louder than words – that’s common wisdom. And for those who try to suggest that there has been no overt action by the president before, during, and after the Oyo State crisis, I can only respond that there are times when inaction, speaks even louder than both action and words'' - Prof. Wole Soyinka, Speaking on Oyo State government crisis.

Taking a cue from the above, I'll want to believe that OBJ is not sincere with this third term thing. He should just come out plainly and openly to tell everyone that he's not coming for third term. I don't believe in telling close confidants what's one's intention, especially someone who's a public figure like OBJ. Besides, he was asked thesame question on third term on NTA the other day, but he decided to play abracadabra and Ota farm tactics on the question. He evaded it. So why do you want me to believe one Donald Duke, who's sold out to him on this matter?

Anyway sha, I know that he cannot make it for a third term, even if he wants to come. The odds are too much for him to handle.

bolaoni:
This is not definitely about Ladoja because we all know it is a case of "Dog eat Dog" but we all have to STAND for something! or else...

You hit the nail on the head there, Bola. That's just it. We've got to stand for something.

But a lot of my people are illiterates. The average Nigerian does not know his right from the left. They are follofollo folks. And even the enlightened ones are the ones causing problems in the country. I just throw up my hands in despair everytime I discuss with the average man on the street about the political situation in the country. These people have been boxed into a corner. They are hungry. They have relations to cater for in the face of harsh, excruciating and brutal economic conditions. The people at the top are like angelic beings to them - the untouchables. I used to think that leaders are supposed to be servants. Not in Nigeria. Leaders here are Lords!

How I wish my people can muster enough courage to take this bull called bad leadership by the horn and get done with it. Only time will tell.

What's the lot of Alams now? Who knows where he is?

I heard there's a website for our school. Could you please send it to me? - that's if you have it.

Cheers.

gentleaura, I was just wondering if there are no JOGSOBA folks on this forum. Up JOGS!

I'm JOGS 93.

The identity of those who carried out the dastardly act at Agip is yet to be ascertained. But did you read that Yahoo News very well? Did you read something like this in that story?

''An e-mail to The Associated Press that claimed to be from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said Nigeria had not met the demand to release two of the region's leaders from jail.

"Be assured therefore that the hostages in return, will remain our guests," said the statement, whose authors' identity could not be verified. The kidnappers' demands and news about the oil workers, who are from the United States, Bulgaria, Britain and Honduras, have been sent from the same e-mail address.

The hostages "are in good health and have adapted fairly well to the conditions under which the people of the Niger Delta have been kept," the statement said.''

I bet you did not read it at all.  And Odeku, would you mind coming from Chicago to the Niger Delta? Y'know, just to have a feel of how pleasant it is to live in here. It's worth it. Just throw a few dollars around and you're here, pronto! Damn!

Mikun, you should be having a swell time at home. I'm sure you are like that virtuous woman described in Proverbs 30. The Lord bless you and your home. Your husband must be a happy man.

Omon[b]'Oba[/b], you for just finish that Warri gist now, ehn. Let me help you:

Warri is a war zone, abi? There are human skulls and bones and skeletons of the dead all over the place - sounds nice, ehn......All the buildings in the town have been ravaged and burnt down by rampaging youths etc etc. But the Warri refinery, which supplies refined products to Benin depot at Ikpoba Hill and other parts of the country is well secured. Because of the problems in the area, there's no employment, no investments, no port activities, in short, NOTHING in the place.

Omon, that should sound very sweet to your ears. I believe you'd be thinking: If only Warri and Benin could just swap locations. Y'know, Bini people should come here and Warri people should just go over to the dry and arid Benin. So that you can have a bite of the oil booty! abi? O.Y.O to you.

Now, back to the issue at hand:

I did not know that some people will still have the mind to reply in the negative to the incisive, thought provoking, emotionally charged and revealing analysis of the Niger Delta problem by Mr. Reuben Abati.

Owo, Conscience, other people of goodwill on this forum, wetin we fit do again?

The people of the Niger Delta have been told time and again to be patient, to dialogue, to become 'mumu' in their own land, while thieves from other places rape their lands. The FG and her collaborators wants to milk the lands dry and then leave with their booty when they are done. Since 1958 to date - some 48 years ago, with the attendant billions and zillions of barrels of crude taken from our lands, we only have poverty, as in, abject poverty to show for such huge volumes. No good roads, no potable water, stereotype development commissions, arrangee governments, polluted waters, lands and air etc etc for 48 years. And some people still want us to dialogue!

The other day I went to Abeokuta to see my sisters. I had to drive through the lonely Abeokuta-Sagamu road to get to my destination. I was surprised to see that the lonely road had been dualised, and not just that, there's this lush green trees and lights planted and installed respectively, from the Sagamu end, all the way to Abeokuta. I watched in awe at the splendor of it all.

But the only road linking the three important states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta - the East-West road, is an eyesore even as I write this posting. The road is littered with potholes, death traps and gullies. What's worst, it's a single carriageway! A very busy road like that is a single carriageway in this day and age. This is the road that links all the states where the national cake is being baked. And someone wants my people to dialogue. What are we going to discuss again that have not been discussed?, ehn, what?? Dialogue my foot!!

If we do not act now, our children will ask us one day what we did in the face of this rape on our future. What do Omon and his ilks wants us to tell them? That we went to a round table and we were given roasted chickens and pork from Ota farms to eat and then dialogue? Definitely an emphatic NO! is my answer.

That chap looks like a police constable . And it's like he's got a score to settle with Erubami. Wow!

Otito, I hear you. But what do we do? The government of the day will not tell us anything about this debt relief thing. All I want is a monthly situation report published at the Finance Ministry's website (if they have any). Debt matters are not issues that should be treated with kid-gloves. The future of the citizenry is tied to it.

The house of rep. and even the Senate, as I have been made to understand, have called on Okonjo and her team to tell them what's going on in there. But the woman just comes around and read out rhetorics to them.

The other day, she was taken up at the NA on this debt thing by Senators. The Senators heard something about the finance ministry taking a certain fraction of the proceeds from excess crude oil sales to service debts and she was called upon to explain why she did not consult the NA before going ahead to do such a thing. But she dazzled everyone with MIT thesis on debt financing and all the jargons about economics and what the President said that I personally got fed up with the whole thing. I was watching the whole show on NTA. The senators could not do much, other than to cut her short at intervals and ask some mumbo jumbo questions!

Now, with all these shows on debt servicing, how do I know now that some people in Abuja have not sold my people as 21st century slaves to the Americans and Europeans? Just read Phoenix's entry and understand that nothing good comes easy. Every good country wants to see their people liberated financially and to help empower them to contribute to national growth. But our leaders here will rather pull the veil over our eyes and deceive us to sell us out. God help us o.

''Worried by the play-out of events in Oyo and elsewhere, Soyinka asked if this was what the President wanted. He asked:
"Is this the crowning glory of the politics of your second term in office?"''.source: www.ngrguardiannews.com

Kola, Kola, Kola, How much contract did this man award to you? He's an old man. His son even said so. I won't doubt if he's in his early eighties! He's got nothing to lose if he gets killed today. He will live a 'fulfilled' man - in a sense, though.

Now, what do you stand to gain by siding an old farmer who said his chickens and pigs are missing him badly? Amend your path Kola, so that it will be well with you. Just an advice.

Reuben Abati, erudite scholar, mentor, and prolific writer is one person I don't joke with his views. He has aired his views again on the contentious issue of the Niger Delta Question. It is a balanced view. I recommend this write up to all those peace loving people on this forum.

If you are the type who hates long postings, please stay clear. And don't start throwing stones at me.

Fresh wounds in the Niger Delta
By Reuben Abati
THE current crisis in the Niger Delta in form of the transformation of that region into a mini-Iraq with aggrieved citizens taking oil workers hostage, and demanding ransom as if they were disciples of Osama Bin Laden is the inevitable outcome of the failure of the Nigerian state and the professional political class to address the politics of oil. It can only get worse and it will. It would appear that the youths of the Niger Delta have finally discovered how best to treat and beat the Nigerian state. In the past week, they have kidnapped four oil workers: a Briton, a Honduran, an American, and a Bulgarian. They have seized two vessels, and attacked three flow stations. They are threatening to move from one oil major to the other. They call themselves Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Each time radical militants of the Niger Delta seize oil flow stations, kidnap oil workers and inflict punishment on Nigerian security forces, the international price of crude oil shoots up. The daily production output of the oil companies in the Delta drops, and so Nigeria loses revenue. Oil theft is made easier, and perhaps more important for the purpose of the militias, the international community focuses afresh on the problems of the Niger Delta. Their action is dramatic. The effect is even more so. Shell which depends on the Niger Delta for ten per cent of its global oil production, as well as the other oil majors are already used to crises of this nature. There can be no doubt that they consider violent attacks on their processes and installations, part of the price to be paid for doing business in Nigeria. Shell has evacuated over 300 of its staff. Chevron has suspended some of its operations. But they will return either as partners of the Nigerian state or of the commanders of the Niger Delta, depending on how the coming showdown is resolved.

The main challenge lies in how six, seven years into civilian democracy, the Nigerian government has not been able to make any progress in the Niger Delta. The situation in that region worsened during military rule especially under General Sani Abacha who unleashed a regime of terror and repression on the people, killing Ken Saro-Wiwa, the MOSOP activist and eight others. Abacha turned the people against one another and sacked communities. There was some respite under General Abdusalami Abubakar whose main contribution was to organise fresh elections and hand over to civilians. But with the return to civilian rule in 1999, it was expected that there would be ample opportunities for addressing the injustice, the abuse of human rights, the repression and the exploitation which had driven the people of the Niger Delta to the wall. Unfortunately, the response of the Obasanjo administration has been characterised by a disconnect between form and substance.

Take the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set up by Obasanjo administration in 1999 to replace the ineffective Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (1992). This is the ad-hoc structure which is supposed to facilitate development in the Niger Delta by identifying and addressing the urgent needs of the people as a complement to the efforts of the state governments and the Corporate Social Responsibility contributions of the oil majors. There is a lot that the NDDC has been able to achieve: schools that have been built, bridges and other social infrastructure, chairs that have been taken to schools, new access roads, but all these do not amount to much. Years of neglect, inequity and deep-seated contempt make whatever is done for the people of the Niger Delta appear too little too late, and coming from the same Obasanjo that has not shown much sympathy, mere sop.

Besides, the NDDC is grossly under-funded. It is saddled with an assignment that covers about nine states, over 300 communities, each with its own peculiar and costly needs, lack of adequate funding limits its capacity. And because its commissioners are political appointees representing different states and interests, NDDC is further hobbled by the placement of politics before the development agenda. The oil companies are not helping to fund the NDDC adequately since in any case they have their own community development projects or so they claim. The state governments are of no help either. In the last six years, states of the Niger Delta have received more money than at any other time in Nigerian history, but this has not translated into any concrete difference. The youths of the Delta are aware of the existence of the NDDC, but when they see a road there or a school there, and they place that beside the amount of oil that has been taken from the Delta since 1956, they are not impressed. They want more. When they are snubbed or asked to go and ask their state Governors for greater accountability, they get angry.

Take also the government's peace-making strategies: Each time the people revolted either as aggrieved farmers or housewives, both the oil companies and government were wont to negotiate with and make peace with the local elite in the persons of traditional rulers, or youth leaders for whom something is packaged either in form of contracts or cash inducements. Thus, a self-seeking kleptocratic elite has since emerged in the Niger Delta which does not in any way represent the interests of the people. It is even a cheated elite.

The angry youths who have since formed themselves into formidable militias have exposed the limitations of that rent-collecting elite and its manipulation by the state. The other year, one traditional ruler was chased out of town by aggrieved youths who accused him of stealing money meant for the community. Youth leaders have also been sanctioned in many communities. Unlike the rent-collectors, the angry youths of the militias see themselves as revolutionaries. They are the ones now dictating the pace of the politics of the mangrove forest. No one should be surprised that there is no Niger Delta elite who can confidently condemn what these angry youths are doing. Such a leader may find it difficult to return home. So, in that sense, the strategy by the Nigerian state of using selected Niger Delta leaders against the people has failed.

A third grand strategy against the Niger Delta has been the use of violence, and the harassment of the rebels. The scope of repression in the Niger Delta is enormous. Even in ordinarily peaceful circumstances, soldiers are stationed in the region. Ordinary persons going about their businesses are searched. In their own environment, the people are subjected to constant harassment by agents of the state. Human rights abuse in terms of the despoliation of the environment, killings and the pauperisation of the people over the years have combined to create in the average Niger Deltan a feeling of discomfort and resentment towards Nigeria. Between 1996 and 2000 for example, more than five military Task Forces were set up to keep the people of the Niger Delta in check. These include the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force, Operation Salvage, Operation Flush, Operation Storm, Operation Sweep, and Operation Restore Hope. What the militias of the Niger Delta have now advertised is the limits of the use of repression as a tool of state engineering. The militias in the current confrontation are obviously as equipped if not better equipped than the Nigerian army. They are turning their guns and rockets on Nigerian soldiers.

They are mowing down these soldiers and collecting oil company workers as hostages. They are speaking up for all marginalised minorities who are not recognised in Section 55 of the Constitution. They have even given an ultimatum. They want their leader, Asari Dokubo released or by February 1, they would hit at the soft underbelly of the Nigerian state and halt all oil exploration activities in the Niger Delta. If President Obasanjo had thought that by arresting and charging Asari Dokubo to court, the militias of the Niger Delta would be cowed, he is now mistaken. The Niger Delta militias are waging a kind of Holy War against Nigeria. It is a war of nerves. It is a costly war. For every Asari Dokubo that is arrested, there are many more in the creeks who are willing to take up arms. When Asari Dokubo is taken to court, he wears an Isaac Adaka Boro T-shirt. He abuses the judge that is hearing his case. His T-shirt is a symbolic statement. His attack on the judge is an attack on the Nigerian state. So what would the President do? Will he declare war against the Niger Delta? Or a state of emergency? Or will he eat the humble pie?

Now we know: no one has a monopoly of madness. This is the answer to the crazy failure of the Nigerian state to give the people of the Niger Delta an opportunity to articulate and canvass their aspirations. Under civilian rule, the psychological assault has been particularly intense. At the National Conference, delegates from the South -South had to stage a walk-out because the North bluntly refused to entertain their demand for resource control. The 19 states of the North even went to court to challenge the derivation formula. South-South leaders are insisting that the President of Nigeria must come from the South-South in 2007, the Northern elite have more or less told them to shut up.

When the people of the Niger Delta further remind the Nigerian state of their contributions to the Nigerian economy through their ownership of crude oil, which accounts for 90 per cent of national revenue, they are told that the oil belongs to the North. This was mouthed by Northern leaders at the National Conference but it is given an intellectual coverage in a booklet by Yusufu Bala Usman and Alkasum Abba: The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: The Facts and the Figures (May 2000) under what the authors call "the geological and hydrological realities of Nigeria" and "the formation of the Niger Delta". The young men in the creeks hear all these, and they are convinced that the only language that Nigeria can understand is that of violence.

Where now are those loud mouths, those arm-chair geologists who always claim that the oil in the delta is no more than sedimentary deposits flowing from the North to the South. Where are those oligarchs who push the view that the Presidency is too good for the South-South? The Niger Delta is the most vulnerable part of the Nigerian fabric. The present drift requires more creative thinking on the part of the state. Who are the sponsors of the militias in the Delta? How did they manage to smuggle their sophisticated arms into the country? Do they keep any bank accounts? If so, who is their banker? Are there fifth columnists involved? Is the conflict stage-managed? President Obasanjo in six years has succeeded in offending so many stakeholders, should any one or group feel determined enough to ambush and sabotage his government, the easiest battlefield is the Niger Delta where the hunted is now the hunter. If anyone wants to disrupt Nigeria and make it ungovernable, all he needs to do is to rent the militias in the Niger Delta and stop the oil pipelines from flowing. Armed robbers, saboteurs and professional terrorists can also take advantage of the situation. By refusing to allow dialogue on the issues of resource allocation and power sharing, the Nigerian state has created war within its own borders. Until the Niger Delta question is resolved, Nigeria sits on a carton of explosives and turns its face towards fire.

And this is what my wife said about the whole thing, just now.


''Most of the folks that are against it are either not married or married to the wrong guy. In as much as they plan together, I see no reason why they should not save together. Take for example in our case, I notice that most time you always want the bulk of the money to be with me because you know I will not spend it anyhow on frivolous things, so all it takes is just understanding between both parties. They should take their time to study each other very well.
With love''

You can call her Mrs. Ono. She's not joined this forum yet.

Unconditional Love by Donna Summer! Gosh! great song. I hear Donna is into gospel songs now.

Snazzy, you've got good memory.

I will come down to earth here. I am a LIVING example. My wife earns more than I do. It wasn't like that before now. I used to earn more than herself, and at that time, I was PLAIN enough to let her know how much I was earning and sit with her and plan our lives together. Sounds like unusual for Nigerian men ehn? But that was the case with me.

So, when she got this fantastic job, I DID NOT ask her to show me her payslip, or submit her paycheck before she came smiling and telling me that the Lord has done it for US with the TWO for the first month. Because we've been very plain to each other over the years up to that level that no one need hide anything from the other, her response was, kind of, done without any feeling of someone coming to reap where he did not sow - golddigger is it?

I'll chip in here that this question will not crop up in the first place if there's MUTUAL understanding and LOVE between husband and wife.

Geez, de thing don generate to the level so tay na to begin fire bullets using Yoruba slangs. If no be say man pikin do Yoruba from Primary to Secondary school levels, man for don lost.

Just passing by. Have fun

Snazzy, abeg, let them reminisce. It's good for their health. That Pendergrass song's a hit. I can't forget.

Folks, more news from the Delta:

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=38413

http://www.independentng.com/news/nnjan180603.htm

http://www.punchng.com/main/article02

Sorry, I'm no girl.

Well, here in Warri, you'd have to be a daft not 'understand' when a lady is talking
I've never thought of doing the job of an interpreter..............I must be a multi-skilled, multi-talented guy at that.

Apology to Agu, no harm intended.

Mizkay is surely attractive. Two thumbs up!!

I'll try to understand what mizkay's saying:

I guess she meant to say there's no age limit to erm, 'sugar mummism' - never heard anything like that. But I understand. She doesn't strike me like one, after taking a look at her pix. Mizkay, just tell them you are not a sugar mummy.

She ain't inviting anybody to see anything!!! Gosh, How guys can go wild at times. She's like, throwing her hands up in exasperation at how Agu can react to what she's said. Mizkay, I hope I'm right o!

Men, I guess I've been missing a lot. I hardly come to this 'side' of this forum. Those of you who know me very well will see most of my posts at the Politics section.......I guess this is a cool place to chill out after a hard days work.

Cheers.

I hope that loud mouthed, silly girl.....(Free something?) have been banned from this forum. Gosh! She said she's a bitch!!!


Seun, abeg don't allow bitches and demented people on this forum.

http://www.elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=33

Please read above url for full details. Need we tell people again that PDP is a party meant for the Hawks? There's a crack on their fence. And very soon, the ''house'' whose foundation has been eaten by ''termites''  will FALL like a pack of cards.

Mai bros, abeg, tell Omon o!

http://www.elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=33

Folks at Elendu have done a bit of scouting for answers. Just read the report from Jonathan. The findings have shown that no one really know what our leaders are up to about this ''debt relief'' thing. Personally, I do not believe in this ''debt relief by sympathy'' from our creditors. And even if we're relieved of this debt, I think it will be a Greek Gift of a sort. And future generations will pay dearly for it.

The whole scenario reminds me of the early slave trade era, where the so-called influential and greedy blacks, traps their kinsmen and sells them to the white folks for gin and mirrors. I will not be surprised to know in future that we are being sold by Okonjo and OBJ as 21st century slaves to our creditors.

They will not give any answer to all those questions. Those facts cannot be disclosed to the public. I hear OBJ does not like certain of his policy objectives and PDP family affair things disclosed to the public.

If that's the case then, do you think they will tell you about that kind of drainpipe in the finance ministry?

I have said it before now that Mrs. Okonjo Iweala should be closely monitored. I will not be surprised if OBJ does not know that his govt. is paying so much to finance the payments for some shoddy jobs in the finance ministry. He's too old to be bothered by such things. I bet he's more concerned with how to feed the chickens and pigs at Ota farms than paying close attention to what goes on in the finance ministry. OBJ strikes me as one who likes to be surrounded by experts, even though he has his own personal agenda and workscope for them. Those experts are just there to dance to his tune. But the intellectual folks will praise him for putting those experts there, thinking they will help him do the right thing.


I kept telling folks on this forum that evil begets evil. If you mix evil and good, you'd get EVIL and nothing else. OBJ is setting a precedence that future leaders might follow. Everyday, our rulers devise new strategy (ways and means) of how to pull a veil over our eyes to deceive us. They tell us that they care for us and the next minute, they are killing us. I just want my peace of mind in this country. Peace for everyone.