He is using his  freedom of speech.

Has he incited any one?......NO. He just voiced out his regret.
Treason??.... Certainly not. He has not been caught planning to remove the president.

In any case, who really put the current Government in power. The people?? Or did they comit a treason against the people by installing themselves in power against our wishes??

Ideologies reign and are adhered to when food, clothing and shelter have been sorted out.
Since the 1940's when Zikism caught the minds of the young men in Lagos, ideologies have been hard to sell.

The Nigerian society is at the most basic of levels. In addition to the corruption that pervades the fabric of soceity, ethnic alliances, cleavages and bonds give access to rights that are supposed to be guaranteed for all. When electricity supply, urban water supply, waste management , educational stability are still not guaranteed.

In a bid to ensure their survival, a good number of the educated minds find their way to other countries ( a minimum of 5m which is roughly equal to the population of Israel).  This alone contributes a great deal to the perpetuation of old and useless ways of thinking hence inhibiting the process of nurturing an ideology.

In summary, because Nigerians are basically divided along ethno-religious lines, political ideologies do not survive and there is no middle class (now or in the making) to sustain any ideology that is propounded.

I confess that I read ninety percent of the confessions on this thread

I confess that confession is good business

I confess that I will recommend it to some souls that desperately need to confess

I confess that the 'king' of NL should also make his confessions

I confess that confession is a fundamental 'human right' and should be enforced

@ Ono... only the blind and willingly ignorant do not understand the issues and the possible solutions.

@ Mariory : Your statements and answers to the the fundamental questions and issues presented by Isaac Boro leaves much to be desired.

These statements confirm that you actively support/aid the dehumanisation that is taking place in the Niger Delta.

It is also our understanding that the men who are directing these plundering and utterly despicable rape of a people and their resources are acting out a script that is supported by supposedly sane and 'civilised' men/women.

That you do not see the link between the current violent disposition of the inhabitants of the Delta and the cheating / oppression and stealing of the Delta's men / resources is unfortunate and calls for a thorough re-evaluation of your sense of justice, fairness and human kindness.

Up to 1992, I had frequent ( about twice a week) bouts of migrain. My academic pursuits suffered as a result. After praying one day, I had an assurance in my heart that it will never come again. Till date it has not showed up again, no, not even the slightest hint of it.

In 1987, my younger brother slumped, struggled with his neck and died, I mean dead (we have more than our fair share of medical practitioners in my family)..as in cold and stretched.
My mum's younger Sister prayed and cried and prayed for this boy until he came back to life. The boy is in the University as I write.

I do not know whether what happened to other people is true/real or not, but I am sure that there is God who hears prayers, answers them and performs things that nobody on earth can do.

demmy:

Yet its only in one area throughout the Niger Delta all these troubles are brewing from. Bayelsa state and mainly the Ijaws. Bayelsa state according to the Federal Ministry of Finance is recieving more federal allocation than any other state in the country yet nothing to show for it but guns and sponsored kidnappers and other trouble makers while their elites are building houses all over the world. Heard the ogonis make trouble lately?

The others are 'waiting' for the Bayelsans to finish.

You have just created a stereotype for Bayelsans without solving the issues that led to this present state of affairs. Hoping you can defend your stand.

So if they choose to spend their money that way, what is your case?

So Ogonis are trouble makers while those that impoverished them and raped their land /environment are peacemakers. Wonders will not cease to happen?

ono:

Until the Niger Delta question is resolved, Nigeria sits on a carton of explosives and turns its face towards fire.

A great truth, this is.

What more can mere mortals say.

omon:

How can they provide such infastructures when workers are being abducted, work equipments vandalised and dynamites planted everywhere?

How can infrastructures be provided? By providing the infrastructures.
If you still do not understand, ask me.

After 50 years of oppresion, killing, discrimination and no desire to provide these things, it is today that they will start providing it.

When you live or stay in other parts of this country, then it becomes clear that the hypes is not too much.

Tourist destinations grow on hypes...because people will always talk and add salt and pepper towhat they have heard or seen.

But that Cross River is the best place to be in Niigeria is an incontrovertible fact

What's wrong with Etim Edem, Urua Watt etc

Every large city has such areas and as such their presence does not define the city.

What defines a city is the direction it is headed, the postive strides it has made and above all, the spirit and attitude of its citizens

Calabar is really one heaven of a place.

Certainly it will (change is constant).... but the direction?... God knows.

However, if past and unfolding realities are to be taken into consideration, then.....it is certainly headed in the negative direction.

The consequence of positive investments were clearly stated as the quote below shows

owo:


Invested wealth always multiplies and grows itself. squandered wealth ends up in the 'rest' room. Therefore Oil wealth would have been enough to ensure a decent standard of living if it was invested and nurtured, but alas, it was stolen and still being stolen.
The real wealth of a soceity of country is its people. It then beats the imagination why and how men/women/children are being killed, maimed and incapacitated just because there is oil under their houses/farms and settlements.

Nigeria's undoing is this gross misplacement of focus/attention.

But that is talking about possibilities that would have been if the monies of yesterday were positively invested. Even today, there is still no positive investment.

In tomorrow's terms... Nigeria may be classified as potentially 'rich' (after all since the early seventies, its potentials have never been in doubt). It would smack of denying today's reality to build hopes and draw conclusions on what Nigeria could possibly become tomomrow.

In any case, all the economic projections/predictions concerning the outcome of our 'investments' over the last 35 years have failed. What then is the basis on which the supposed 'future' wealth of Nigeria is built?

Therefore, if today's wealth (and not future possibilities) is the index to judge/determine wealth then, Nigeria is grossly poor. Indeed, very poor as previously shown. Projections and possiblities have been with humans from ancient times, but it has never been the basis of judging current realities.

Declaring wealth based on tomorrows possibilities would amount to making the same mistake that our forbears made - that of assuming that we can always have an economic miracle when we want it. No nation has ever had an overnight economic miracle. It has always been the result of constant, steadfast positive investment in people (first), social infrastructure, harmony and people politics. Even this is not being done in today's Nigeria

In all of today's terms, Oil 'rich' Nigeria is desperately poor.

Part of the voodoo in the economics is that with the best of intentions Nigeria's revenue base, sources and level is precarious.

Below is a list of the so called fortune 500 companies with their accompanying revenues and profits for year 2005
                                                               Revenue m$             Profit  m$
1 Wal-Mart Stores                288,189.00 10,267.00
2 Exxon Mobil                270,772.00 25,330.00
3 General Motors                193,517.00 2,805.00
4 Ford Motor                172,233.00 3,487.00
5 General Electric                152,363.00 16,593.00
6 ChevronTexaco                147,967.00 13,328.00
7 ConocoPhillips                121,663.00 8,129.00
8 Citigroup                                108,276.00 17,046.00
9 American Intl. Group 98,610.00 11,050.00
10 Intl. Business Machines 96,293.00 8,430.00
11 Hewlett-Packard                79,905.00 3,497.00
12 Berkshire Hathaway                74,382.00 7,308.00
13 Home Depot                73,094.00 5,001.00
14 Verizon Communications 71,563.30 7,830.70
15 McKesson                                69,506.10 646.5
16 Cardinal Health                65,130.60 1,474.50
17 Altria Group                64,440.00 9,416.00
18 Bank of America Corp. 63,324.00 14,143.00
19 State Farm Insurance Cos 58,818.90 5,308.60
20 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 56,931.00 4,466.00
21 Kroger                                56,434.40 -128
22 Valero Energy                53,918.60 1,803.80
23 AmerisourceBergen                53,179.00 468.4
24 Pfizer                                52,921.00 11,361.00
25 Boeing                                52,553.00 1,872.00
26 Procter & Gamble                51,407.00 6,481.00
27 Target                                49,934.00 3,198.00
28 Dell                                49,205.00 3,043.00
29 Costco Wholesale                48,107.00 882.4
30 Johnson & Johnson                47,348.00 8,509.00
31 Marathon Oil                45,444.00 1,261.00
32 Time Warner                42,869.00 3,364.00
33 SBC Communications 41,098.00 5,887.00
34 Dow Chemical                40,161.00 2,797.00
35 Albertson's                40,052.00 444
36 Morgan Stanley                39,549.00 4,486.00
37 MetLife                                39,535.00 2,758.00
38 Walgreen                                37,508.20 1,360.20
39 United Technologies                37,445.00 2,788.00
40 UnitedHealth Group                37,218.00 2,587.00
41 Microsoft                                36,835.00 8,168.00
42 United Parcel Service 36,582.00 3,333.00
43 Lowe's                                36,464.00 2,176.00
44 Archer Daniels Midland 36,151.40 494.7
45 Sears Roebuck                36,099.00 -507
46 Safeway                                35,822.90 560.2
47 Lockheed Martin                35,526.00 1,266.00
48 Medco Health Solutions 35,351.90 481.6
49 Motorola                                35,349.00 1,532.00
50 Intel                                34,209.00 7,516.00
51 Allstate                                33,936.00 3,181.00
52 Wells Fargo                33,876.00 7,014.00
53 Merrill Lynch                32,467.00 4,436.00
54 Walt Disney                30,752.00 2,345.00
55 CVS                                30,594.30 918.8
56 AT&T                                30,537.00 -6,469.00
57 Caterpillar                30,251.00 2,035.00
58 Northrop Grumman                29,868.00 1,084.00
59 Goldman Sachs Group 29,839.00 4,553.00
60 Sysco                                29,335.40 907.2
61 PepsiCo                                29,261.00 4,212.00
62 American Express                29,115.00 3,445.00
63 Delphi                                28,700.00 -36
64 Prudential Financial                28,348.00 2,256.00
65 Wachovia Corp.                28,067.00 5,214.00
66 DuPont                                27,995.00 1,780.00
67 Sprint                                27,428.00 -1,012.00
68 New York Life Insurance 27,175.50 1,213.30
69 Viacom                                27,054.80 -17,462.20
70 International Paper                26,722.00 -35
71 Johnson Controls                26,553.40 817.5
72 Tyson Foods                26,441.00 403
73 Caremark Rx                25,801.10 600.3
74 J.C. Penney                25,678.00 524
75 Honeywell Intl.                25,601.00 1,281.00
76 Ingram Micro                25,462.10 219.9
77 Best Buy                                24,901.00 705
78 FedEx                                24,710.00 838
79 Alcoa                                23,960.00 1,310.00
80 HCA                                23,502.00 1,246.00
81 TIAA-CREF                23,411.30 540.5
82 Sunoco                                23,226.00 605
83 Mass. Mutual Life Ins. 23,159.20 677
84 Merck                                22,938.60 5,813.40
85 St. Paul Travelers Cos. 22,934.00 955
86 Duke Energy                22,779.00 1,490.00
87 BellSouth                                22,729.00 4,758.00
88 Hartford Financial Services 22,693.00 2,115.00
89 Weyerhaeuser                22,665.00 1,283.00
90 MCI                                22,615.00 -4,002.00
91 Cisco Systems                22,045.00 4,401.00
92 Coca-Cola                21,962.00 4,847.00
93 Bristol-Myers Squibb 21,886.00 2,388.00
94 Lehman Brothers Hldgs. 21,250.00 2,369.00
95 Electronic Data Systems 21,033.00 158
96 Plains All Amer. Pipeline 20,975.50 130
97 Wellpoint                                20,815.10 960.1
98 News Corp.                20,802.00 1,533.00
99 Nationwide                20,558.00 1,010.00
100 Abbott Laboratories                20,473.10 3,235.90


NIGERIA     (population  - 130m)         22,000.00                          

Taiwan       (population -   23m)          49,000.00      

With a population less than one fifth (1/5) of Nigeria, Taiwan with no oil or abundant 'Natural resources' has a revenue that is more than double that of Nigeria with 'all' the oil, ores and others.
The secret.... It developed its human resources...eg .It makes more computer motherboards than any other country on earth, its research and development efforts are top of the range.

In addition to the voodoo, consider the american military budget.
American military budget estimate(2006)          $441,000.00m

It easy to fall into the temptation of giving historical and  social reasons/excuses as to why there are disparities in the income level..... If so, then consider south korea, taiwan and malaysia that started out with us in the 60's. This place can be the best place in the world.....It can.

Can Nigeria grow and move on from here?.... Yes
Will it grow?.... No.... unless it is restructured, realigned, reorganised or broken into growth based units. Its current constitution/organisation/set-up is aimed at systematically underdeveloping all its contituent units. That explains why it has over a million of its best brains in the US alone and an innumerable multitude scattered accross the globe.

The companies listed above make their money from harnessing the power of the human brain within its fold.....No organisation can grow beyond the intellectual capability of its men/women.same for any soceity.

The point here is ... Without corruption, Nigeria with all the oil money does not have enough money to invest or feed itself. Even the small peanuts is poorly invested dues to crass ignorance and illiteracy
In any case, there will be no domino effect when siting infrastructure depends on where the presidents hails from. Go and check Minna Airport that has near zero traffic and compare it with Port Harcourt Airport that handles the 'oil money' traffic. Consider the economic relevance of the state of both roads. It will tell you the story

As important as tourism is, it must not be a first line source of income. If it was so good, how come the carribeans economies are still in their doldrums. Accurate statistics do not lie. France that receives the highest no. of tourists does not rely on it as a first line source of income. Rather they they ensured that they have some of the best brains in the world. The Eiffel tower for instance has the name of the great scientists (Largrange, Bernouli, marie- Curie, and the like) that worked in paris

Whether it is per-capita or what ever name..... this soceity is desperately poor and in need of an urgent revamp. The young at heart, will keep quiet at their (and children's) own peril.

Starting with your brother, uncle, village-man, town-man etc , present the facts, data, information and ideas on what needs to be done to move us forward. Their hearts will be stirred and prayers will be answered.

The Ship of state as captained by Mr. OBJ is headed in all but the right direction. These events, including the impeachments are but symptoms of a deeper malaise. A clear ineptitude and lack of understanding of the fundamentals of nationhood.
that the states are expected to be heavens while the federal unitary government is an apology is but a pipe dream.

In May 29 1999, when this administration came to power, the first speech consisted of catch phrases like.... 'it will not be business as usual'...'there is a new dawn' etc. Seven years on.... we know they were all lies equal to or worse than the 'fellow Nigerians' were accustomed to hearing. Indeed it was similar to the IBB era speeches, when we used to stay glued to the TV until we knew better

Time and space would fail to allow a chronicle of the events, actions and inactions as they have unfolded.
1. First four years of waste....
2. Insistence on second term for himself and all but few of the PDP governors. Note there was selection in the 2003 polls. I challenge anybody that claims that his vote counted to prove it. There is enough prove that the figures do not even add up. The supreme court said so.
Including organising the largescale out-rigging of the AD in the western states.
3. Numerous murders and counter murders, oppression, burning villages and towns. At least 4,700, at the last count.
4. Uncountable accidents and innumerable number of dead Nigerians on roads for which over 300bn has been released for. Those that were at the head of the ministry of works are yet to be called to account and are yet to answer. The airport in port harcourt, an eye witness recounted, lacked water or foam during the last aircrash... that is why those kids died.
5. The creation and abetting of a 'foreign' maritime company's monopoly..... the company charges in dollars (even for food) on Nigerian soil.
6. The national ID card scam for which $242m is yet unaccounted while we are yet to have the cards.
7. Using over a billion naira to organise a mock national conference in order to divert attention from the genuine desire by well- meaning people to re-negotiate the basis of the current 'marriage'.

The current problem in this town..(Ibadan) is only one of the issues and it raises so many questions
1. Is it true that the president was/is unaware that Mr Adedibu organised the 'victory' of PDP in oyo state? (He claimed ignorance of Uba until the Audu Ogbe letter saga)
2. Is the constitution which he swore to protect on the side of those that kill for politcal reasons? - If not, then who organised the killing of two people during the standoff some weeks ago in Ibadan?
3. Was it too late to 'save' Ladoja the 'puppet'?... If yes, then who called for a 'peace' meeting  three weeks ago during which the president of africas most populous country (1/5 of the black race's population) publicly begged Mr Adedibu and Mr Ladoja to consider his 4 keys to peace.
4. Is it true that the excesses of Mr Adedibu is totally unknown to the president.... including the toll they collect from market women/men in this town (Ibadan) or the way local government chairmen are harrased (monthly) when allocations are released. If so, who was the mastermind of the 2003 rigging scheme

Suffice it to say that not much was or is expected from this system.  But it hurts and adds lots of salt to the injury when these things happen and lies are added upon lies as is being done in the current events.
If this Government undertood the fundamentals of nation building... then it would have considered the following as its urgent tasks
1. Totally changin the face of public infrastructure. - roads, rails, water, electricity.
2. Making the education of tomorrows leaders a clear goal

If the lead song that was used by MKO for his campaign in 1993 is more relevant today 2006.... then we all know what manner of leader we have had these 7 years.

Do I know the solution ?..... oh yes.

Bros.... 56 * 2,000,000 is $112m. and not $1.2 bn

that comes to about $40.88bn per annum.

the revenue is therefore 40bn
- less the annual JV funding of about $4bn
- less about 42.5% that goes to the JV partners


the revenue comes to about $19,5 bn for a year or about $53 milliion per day or
or $0.407/day/person
That is pittance because if the oil industry were to crumble today, then about 40% of customs revue would be wiped out in addtion to over 70% of the revenue due to the maritime authorities.

Summary: In monetary terms, Nigeria is an extremely poor country.... indeed one of the poorest in the world. In human terms, one of the richest. As written earlier, it baffles the mind ones best resources are trampled upon, in an attempt to chase the least of resources.
It reminds one of those people that chase beautiful butterflies in a gold mine while others are busy bringing out the precious gold from the same area.

In concurring with what Ono has said (ACTION), I recommend that
a. The sanctity of human life be respected and placed above all else.
b. That those that defend and support inhuman ideas and policies be lumped together and treated like their mentors

Worthy of note is the fact that good and great solutions may not be supported by all because the majority is not always right. May right thinking prevail

Right from day one, I always been having the feelings that this Sowore of a person has some hatred for Obasanjo's family. I have always found most of his reports fake and malicious

Sowore is Obasanjos enemy right from day one. A colleague made me to understand that he has always been a bad person. I hope he will not go with Year 2006 campaign. - Quotes from kenflavor's comments.

Oga kenflavor Please tell us what you know about this matter.
Are you ObJ's son?
Is he your Godfather?
Are you his in-law?
Are you his fan?
what is year 2006 campaign?
What is the cause of this family hatred that you exhibit against Sowore?

Publishing those revelations, however they were obtained, has done more good to the the system than whatever would have been gained by concealing them. Please define your position.

The growth and development of Barcelona as an alternative / rival to Madrid in 'everything' seems to indicate that this is a 'popular- people supported' cause.

The Catalans have paid their dues and deserve a right to determine the basis of their union with the greater spanish entity. In my Opinion, they will be better off as a sem-independent region.
Taking the wind out of the Basques separatists' sail may have been one of the motivations for the proposed law.

We hope the army would respect itself and stay in their 'barrack'.

Hoping Nigeria would learn some lessons from the spanish parliament.

From time 'imo -river' this information and 'grimmier' ones have been known by all discerning minds.
It was the basis on which Nigeria went on a borrowing spree in the early eightees... in an attempt to diversify the economy.
It was the basis on which the national rolling plan of the late seventies was made.

Operation feed the nation, Green revolution, etc were targetted at ensuring that dependence on an 'already insufficient amount of oil money' is reduced to the barest minumum.

Invested wealth always multiplies and grows itself. squandered wealth ends up in the 'rest' room. Therefore Oil wealth would have been enough to ensure a decent standard of living if it was invested and nurtured, but alas, it was stolen and still being stolen.

The real wealth of a soceity of country is its people. It then beats the imagination why and how men/women/children are being killed, maimed and incapacitated just because there is oil under their houses/farms and settlements.

Nigeria's undoing is this gross misplacement of focus/attention.

Human beings are the real wealth (or source of wealth) in any system or society. The failure of leadership and followership in Nigeria has been the failure to fully grasp this fact, its import and to fully implement the issues that arise therefrom.

chase away those who are masquerading as our 'leaders'.... because they rigged themselves into office.
chase away those looting our resources.
chase away the oppressors... who value money more than human life
chase away those that brandish ethnicity to score cheap political or economic goals
chase away those that have returned our children to the 17th century because they ate and aided the looting of the money meant to enhance our educational system (some of our best brains died in a plane crash because they had to go to a good school located in Abuja while others have been pursed to far lands because of instability)
chase away those that have ruled us since they were 30 (some are above 70 now)and yet they still think that they have ideas (for our betterment) when it is evident that they are the source of many of our problems
chase away the sycophants who see evil and call it good because the perpetrator is from his ethnic group.


Need i say more?

I wish immediate help could be offered... but alas... we must allow some time.
May our bones remain hot with the passion againt these imposters. may we pass the fire to our friends, brothers, neighbours and colleagues so that sooner than later we will chase them away.