₦airaland Forum

domack99: Please stop posting all these lies, GEJ is not the author and i can bet it that his not even a co-author, the book was written when GEJ was in Govt house.From the article the real author contact is ask4basseyeakpan@yahoo.com. Am very sure the author or school was just looking for govt support.

But for goodness sake what is the big deal in knowing what the Mr President did to bag is Phd, i did my project in school and am proud of it. Mr president should be proud of it if trully he has nothing to hide.

Kid, do you have reading comprehension problems or were you dropped on the head as a toddler?

Do you know what a co-author is? GEJ is the third author on the article. The fact that you think that the person whose email is shown to be contacted on an academic article is the only "real author" of the article shows that you're a complete ignoramus.

That is not a book, but an article. I hope you can tell the difference between a book and an article. Please go back to school.

I was merely answering the OP's question. I didn't think imbeciles who can't distinguish articles from books would fly in from out of nowhere with dumb comments.

Dede1: The bolded in the above post seemed to come from a frustrated Udo Udoma. It is a pity he referred to certain politicians as Independents when there was none. These so-called independents from eastern region, including Udo Udoma, were politicians who got upset with certain NCNC policies. They joined local parties such as NIP and UNP yet ran under the platform of NCNC. Those who ran on the platform of other national parties beside NCNC lost their deposit. It may interest you that Udo Udoma was such politician who later ran under AG and lost to primary school headmaster.

Can you explain this part in bold more clearly please?

I understand the peculiarities of the election may have been complex, so please try and break it down in simpler terms because I can't really follow you right now.

Louis Mbanefo was dissatisfied with a particular NCNC policy, switched to a smaller local party, but was still representing NCNC, while contesting against NCNC's candidate and disagreeing with one of NCNC's policies?

Dede1,

If you have a better understanding of historical facts, I want you to verify something for me. In an article called "Revisiting Nigeria's Political History", a writer named Ben Lawrence made the following claim:

"Even then in 1951, only a few NCNC members won election to the Eastern House of Assembly on their party's ticket. In the old Calabar Province, for instance, the NCNC won two out of 13 seats. The two went to Professor Eyo Ita and an ally in Calabar Division,

the famous Mazi Mbonu Ojike, NCNC top brass and deputy mayor of Lagos, was beaten by Chief Ezerioha, an Independent, to whom with Chief Kingsley O, Mbadiwe (alias K. O.) tactically tagged to win a seat in Orlu Division. Reuben J. Uzoma, an Independent, also won from Orlu Division. So no NCNC man was elected from there, although they all later cast their lot with the party. [/b]In Onitsha, the hometown of Zik, the NCNC was floored. [b]Justice Louis Mbanefo, an Independent defeated NCNC candidate to the Eastern House and subsequently to the Central House of Assembly. Most of the Eastern victors swung to the NCNC to form the government because of the respect they had for Professor Eyo Ita, founder of the West African People's Institute (WAPI) Calabar, in the East. The Western Region was more politically organised on party basis and general franchise. The NCNC and its supposed allies thought they had 51 seats and that the Action Group and allies had 29 seats. But on that day of judgement at the inauguration of the Western House, the Action Group had 45 seats and the NCNC 35."

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/rarticles/revisiting%20nigerias%20political%20history.htm

I only want your analysis of the parts in bold and to confirm whether they're true. I don't care about whether Mr. Lawrence got the details right in the rest of this quote because it won't be relevant to my point.

In the part in bold he claims that independents defeated NCNC challengers and then later went with the NCNC when the government was formed.

You referenced the majority of Otu Edo going NCNC as if it were an indication that there was some preexisting agreement between all Otu Edo members and between the Otu Edo and the NCNC that all Otu Edo members would opt for the NCNC when the government was formed.

The issue here is, for the Eastern region, did these particular independents (Chief Ezerioha or Louis Mbanefo) have some preexisting agreement with the NCNC to swing to the NCNC upon successful election? And if there was some preexisting alliance with the NCNC before being elected, why compete directly against the NCNC's candidate for election? Wouldn't it make more sense to just contest directly as an NCNC man or to not run in order to cede the position to the NCNC's actual candidate?

I find this example (Chief Ezerioha's example, Louis Mbanefo's example) hard to reconcile with your insistence that those who eventually swung mostly to the NCNC in the west automatically had a real and acknowledged pre-existing agreement with the NCNC to opt for the NCNC upon election merely because of their political party - since we can see that some independents in the east that swung to the NCNC blocked and even defeated NCNC candidates in certain instances.

Dede1: I do believe that tribalism is better than distortion of historical facts for cheap political reasons. Did it occur to you that Humphrey Omo-Osagie was not a member of NCNC? Have you pressured yourself to inquire why majority of Otu Edo representatives ended up in NCNC fold in Ibadan?

Having read and researched deeply the political history of the cesspit called Nigeria, the most humanistic thing to do about sorry state of Nigeria is disintegration. I guess some truth will surface if all or most ethnic groups in Nigeria go their different ways for a new beginning.

Where did I claim that Omo Osagie was an NCNC member? It's not relevant to my point which is that there is no evidence that Ighodaro had any preexisting agreement to go over to the NCNC upon election merely because he was an Otu Edo member.

Interesting interview posted above by rhymz. Read the whole thing. It's a shame how politics tore the military apart.

Barack Obama's Columbia thesis has never been released although excerpts of a fake/hoax thesis have been released which some have mistaken for the real thing. GEJ's dissertation is obviously being held in some dusty storage room in uniport somewhere because university officials never thought it would need to be digitized.

@ the OP, this is a link to the abstract of an article on which GEJ was a co author since you said you wanted to see if he had any publications:

http://www.actazool.org/paperdetail.asp?id=4912&volume=52&number=4&bgpage=null&endpage=null&year=2006&month=8

This a thread profiling him by oyb:

https://www.nairaland.com/837150/goodluck-johnathans-achievements#9880060

Dede1: Did the book actually inform you about the modalities of the elections in 1951?

Dede1, it's an obscure book and I couldn't be bothered to scan it much less try to memorize its contents but what I remember was being surprised that there was even any debate over carpet crossing after reading Ofeimun's article.

S.O. Ighodaro was never an NCNC member and he had denied any membership of the NCNC before the election so I don't see what point you could have. He didn't say he was an AG member by the way, just that he leaned more towards their school of thought.

You seem convinced that S.O. Ighodaro carpet crossed because people said he did. Wouldn't it make more sense to show that he actually had some pre-existing arrangement to contest as an NCNC member than to just continually assert that he carpet crossed because people said he did?

If he said he was not an NCNC member before the election, which he did, I don't see what point you have.

Dede1: Please do not go there with you slide show. I read about on Benin dude or Edo man who was also involved in the carpet-crossing incident. Due to the Chief’s selfish indulgence, the people Benin declared him and his family politically persona non grata in Benin till today.

Do you actually know what S.O. Ighodaro's political views were prior to the 1951 election and whether he leaned toward the NCNC or the AG?

Get that book and find out. If he stated that he leaned towards the AG before the election, which he did, and denied being a member of the NCNC, which he did, then I don't see what the issue is as far as him "carpet crossing". The only issue seems to be that he didn't tell the two other representatives (Humphrey Omo-Osagie and Chike Ekwuyasi) of Otu Edo contesting alongside him that he was for the AG, but he did state that he was not an NCNC member before the election.

Ighodaro was the Iyase of Benin for a long time after serving in the Western Region's government, so I don't know what you mean by persona non-grata.

ACM10,

The 1951 tribally motivated "carpet-crossing" myth was debunked in long detail in an article called "In Defence of History" by Odia Ofeimun decades ago. It is included as an appendix to the book Awo & Nigeria (1984) by Ebenezer Babatope. Get that book from a library somewhere and read the article in its entirety at the end.

emöfine2: I feel honoured that PhysicsQED graced my thread...I know I’m gonna learn something new by the time I finish reading your post lol.

lol, thanks

I understand and I agree with your suggestions in analyzing the traditional beliefs although perhaps I wanted to address and counter the so called “inferiority” of the continent’s religions.
However I would say the biggest advantage to any religion is if it is indeed adaptable (which fortunately many African religions may qualify as at least to an extent).
I also believe studying African religions in a comparative context may also assist in its understanding.

Benin Republic would be an appropriate nation to review in this regards.

I don't think the continent's religions were inferior - I just think that the religions that came with the colonizers (Christianity) and with trade (Islam) - had a vigorous propaganda machine that we lacked because we were cut off from all writing systems other than those we could create (which we may have only used sparingly or secretly or for specific events), unlike most other peoples of the Middle East and Mediterranean who basically adopted one very popular writing system (even the entire Indian subcontinent adopted this writing system and they used it to write tomes upon tomes of their religious ideas in their version of this script which they called Sanskrit) - the Phoenician alphabet (which actually had an Egyptian origin). When a religion has been around nearly 2000 or 1400 years or more and there are whole libraries full of writing built around it and it's embedded in so many nations' cultures, those nations are not going to admit so easily that ultimately these religions are not really on a higher pedestal than those religions that don't have the centuries of written analysis, glorification, and other forms of direct or indirect promotion to back them up. It's not in their nations' interest to do so.

With different religions there’s different ideologies and it may just be dependent on how beneficial certain ideology is at a particular period but the presence of any religion in a certain region would partly be judged by its trajectory not only its contents (especially if the spread contradicts it) or even the seeming improvements it may have offered.

So you're saying if the way the religion is brought to new converts is in a manner that's inherently not beneficially and even in a manner that's antithetical to the very ideas and nature of the religion itself then it's not necessarily an improvement for the lives the converts even if the contents of the religion are morally or socially enlightening? If that's what you're getting at then I think I can agree with that to some extent. If Buddhism were imposed on a people after violent conquest and indigenous cultural suppression by a group of imperialists it kind of defeats the purpose of the religion itself and also leaves a permanent sour taste attached to that religion among the people being converted.

These religions have posed as divine articles when it’s not so much divorced from the culture it was conceived in...in fact serving to reflect that culture and its people’s human experience so how then should the experience, emotions, philosophy of African people be made redundant through the demotion of their beliefs because it does not on the surface mirror these Abrahamic faiths. I find it highly preposterous and a rip-off that as Africans our value is only attached to our conformity (conversion) unlike a Jew who is automatically relevant if we are to adhere to these imported faiths.

As regards to your final sentence I am of the same opinion. It’s not also about conserving but constructing African identities in a contemporary society. One may notice even that some converted Africans syncretize their traditional beliefs with their adopted imported faith; inviting old elements within the new models. I guess there are elements that some may still find valuable.

No doubt the intimidation of hell seems to have worked in favour of the Abrahamic faiths population and their unique fashion in proselytizing unlike African religions which do not follow that pattern of preaching (even the orthodox Christians in the North/Eastern tip of the continent). It’s actually interesting that it’s usually in these proselytizing faiths that these fearful conditions are attached.

However my OP is not so much a call to revert more so a reflection. If African beliefs were disqualified because they were found to be apparently false (mainly by exaggerated claims so I suspect it was more based on appearances)...could they have been made “right” instead of discarding them completely...


However I do believe we should debunk the presumption of Africa’s so called spiritual inferiority and the idea that Africa was in dire need of a foreign saviour (similar to USAID). Africa was not spiritually deficient so it’s ironic that Africa was urgently prescribed some spiritual medicine or was it drugs.

I definitely think that in the vast majority of cases African religions could have been made "right" by simply eliminating only those practices that involved bloodshed or the social subjugation/degradation of certain classes or groups of people (but this second feature is also present in some other religions outside of Africa, and in some cases was never updated or fixed until modern sensibilities or "political correctness" kicked in in the last several decades). Other than that, there was in my opinion, nothing fundamentally wrong with the social ideas, moral ideas, mystical beliefs, or spirituality in any of the African religious systems I have read about. This idea that Africans needed foreign religions for spiritual "saving" is just due to religious and Western imperialist propaganda if you ask me.

Martian: .......Buddhism is just more magical thinking. It would have done as much good as the Abrahamic myths. Instead of following MOGs or Imams, they would probably be chanting in front of some fat bastard preacher/temple priest who would claim he is a descendant of Buddha.

If the foreigners had come with the Avesta instead of the bible and the other crazy book, most of them would be pledging fealty to Zoroaster and there would still be economic disparity because of the imperialism that took place and the refusal to change society to a more progressive one. And they would laugh when the "death and ressurrection" of jesus is taken as the infallible truth by some just like the muslims now laugh at the trinity while the christians are forever condemning the "religion of peace". Hell, they'll probably call Jesus a "false prophet" or a "demon of death" and they wouldn't be running around defending their prophet's "honor" violently.

Well Buddhism is quite different from the Abrahamic religions and it's not nearly as "magical" in my opinion - more mystical and philosophical than magical from my point of view. And the only thing one would need to worry about as far as fake preachers/priests is charlatans claiming to be the "Maitreya". But there's a famous Zen Buddhist koan that goes "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" which can mean either that anyone claiming to be the Buddha is a charlatan and not really the Buddha or to seek enlightenment through your inner self, not through adulation towards some figurehead (the Buddha). Or it could have some other meaning entirely that's deeper than that although those two interpretations are what I get from it.

Zoroastrianism is similar to the Abrahamic religions in several significant ways and even seems to have influenced some of them so that's a non-starter for me. If Zoroastrianism had been imposed on us somehow I would have the same general complaints/opposition as I do toward the Abrahamic religions except that Persia would take the place of the Middle east/Mesopotamia.

I have no outright desire to see Africans embrace Buddhism, by the way. I would still prefer a resurgence of updated versions of African traditional religion. I just see it as better in some ways than the Abrahamic religions so I think there would have been some societal improvement rather than stagnation or regression in some places in Africa if it had been adopted and I think there is also less cultural subservience in it since the originators (Indians) do not seem to set themselves apart as superiors in the religion over the converts (like Chinese, Tibetans, etc.)

shymmex: @PhysicsQED

Thanks for your comment.. I agree with everything you posted, but I still think lack of education and knowledge about our traditional African religions are some of the reasons why most people don't want to be associated with them... I think if people are educated about the African religions, it will grow - just as atheism (which I find very redundant) is growing... Heck, many foreigners are now converting to traditional African belief system, yet we Africans are still stuck in the colonial mentality, and enslaving our minds to anything foreign... The rise of atheism among people of African descent is something that will be as problematic in future as what Abrahamic religions are right now... The future looks very bleak!!

I'll also like to know what you think about Ifa... I've been trying to study, and doing some research about it (because that's probably the only African belief system I can relate to, and practice easily by myself IMO).

1. On Ifa, I don't know enough about it to give an endorsement or even a really strong opinion. I think by Ifa maybe you might mean Yoruba traditional religion because my understanding of the word Ifa is that it's one of several forms of a word which refers to a 16 bit divination system in which random values are generated using simple objects and then interpreted (after making spiritual invocations) to predict what will happen next in an individual's life based on beliefs about the mystical/supernatural significance of certain combinations of values. I'm not an expert on the either the divination system Ifa or Yoruba religion so I think maybe you should search for actual practitioners of either and books outlining the basics.

2. I honestly wouldn't know how to go about revitalizing interest in traditional African religions completely among actual Africans, though like you I have heard of some non-Africans in the West embracing traditional religions of various groups including certain African traditional religious beliefs. One positive step would be to try and decolonize the cultures themselves starting with things such as clothing and the use of indigenous languages in writing in schools and government. African music could possibly also be used as a tool to promote indigenous religious beliefs, since music is one area where a distinctly African element has persisted and survived colonialism without being overwhelmed.

The dominant religions on the African continent are Abrahamic religions and Abrahamic religions either threaten hellfire or are basically apocalyptic. As I said earlier, when a person believes his or her relatives and friends are at risk of experiencing hell or not being guaranteed a spot in paradise before the world ends, that's an extremely strong motivation to spread one's religious beliefs.

Now my belief is that one of the consequences of this is that outside of Asia - where Buddhism and Hinduism and a few other religions have been permanently entrenched into the cultures of those nations for ages - the Abrahamic religions have an advantage over other belief systems in spreading or staying in place (rather than gradually going away and ceding ground to the indigenous belief systems once the colonizers and converters leave).

I currently don't see how to give any African belief system - even an updated, polished version with no cruelties or bad practices and with an elaborate temple/religious building, a clearly outlined hierarchy of priests/teachers, and a main set of ideas or scriptures containing the fundamental truths of that belief system - the sort of edge or advantage enjoyed by a religion that threatens hellfire for nonbelievers and/or promises paradise for all who convert before the apocalypse. I know for certain that there are some African groups that believe/believed in a kind of paradise for human souls, but I am not familiar with any group whose traditional beliefs stressed the urgency of trying to secure a spot in paradise before the world ends. I'm not sure that this idea - which is useful for keeping a religion from dying out - is found in African religions.

So I see a problem here of trying to kill an idea - the idea of the Abrahamic religions of an apocalypse that one needs to escape from and of hellfire that one needs to avoid. Once this idea has been implanted in a people's consciousness, I'm not sure how to remove it without cutting off contact with the outside world (the West and the Middle East in particular are what would have to be cut off) or promoting atheism. Suppressing an idea which strikes fear in people's minds without cutting off the source of that idea and the source of all the propaganda supporting that idea will probably be unsuccessful even if one does begin an initiative to try and decolonize one's culture and society (by writing and speaking primarily in one's native language, only wearing native clothes, living in structures based on traditional architecture or inventing new architecture that reflects the indigenous culture and environment, etc.).

On atheism, I've been locked in a struggle with atheism for a while now - since I was a teenager and basically stopped blindly believing in Christianity. I don't want to be atheist, but I also haven't committed to a religious belief system. I had been flirting with the idea of Buddhism because the basic ideas of it were appealing on the surface, but I never took the time to read beyond the basics and really get into it - probably because I was already a really skeptical person at that point and because deep down I knew it was just as rooted in a totally foreign culture as the Abrahamic religions.

As of right now I guess you could say I'm not atheist, but not really religious. I want to believe there's something more to my existence than physical laws and a series of accidents of nature - but I haven't seen what higher cause or idea I should believe in. Unlike some people, you won't see me spouting atheism at every possible chance and going on and on about God not existing because obviously there's no proof that there is no "God" (of course, there's no proof that there is either). There's no definitive proof that there isn't some eternally silent, far away (maybe in another place in the universe) greater being - not necessarily an anthropomorphic being at all, but maybe some different and unique form of life (or maybe just a fundamental spiritual idea) that's currently difficult if not impossible to conceive of with our current scientific understanding - that was more advanced than us and ultimately responsible for setting in motion the series of events that led to our existence.

But every now and again I have little "outbreaks" of atheistic thinking until I remember that I gain absolutely nothing by placing all my certainty and belief merely in the idea of the non-existence of something without even being 100% certain that I - a mere speck in the universe - am really in a position to assess whether that being is really non existent or to be able to prove definitively that it doesn't exist. I feel that atheism either ends up being just a form of mere nihilism or a consequence of jumping the gun and rushing to conclusions without acknowledging the limitations of one's perspective and information.

So although I'm not currently an adherent of African traditional beliefs and not even religious at the moment (but not an atheist), I do want to see a resurgence of traditional African religion as you do because I want to see people reclaim their identity and drop their ideological subservience to cultural centers in Jerusalem, Rome and Mecca.

Nchara,

Is Professor Nriagu your relative?

Keep us updated on Dr. Nriagu.

The author of this article forgot to mention one of the Heritage Foundation's unsavory affiliations:

"When Joseph Coors established the Heritage Foundation in 1974, he chose Roger Pearson, an outspoken anti-semite and pro-nazi, as co- editor of the Heritage Foundation publication Policy Review. Pearson is the author of a book on Aryan supremacy called "Race and Civilization", and has been the editor or co-editor of several racist and neo-nazi magazines. (National Guardian, May 1, 1985). The Heritage Foundation is a right-wing think tank which seeks to abolish civil rights laws, minimum wage laws, affirmative action, rights for the handicapped, and arms control. "

http://www.corporations.org/coors/ (under #4)

The fact that a supposedly progressive African intellectual voluntarily associated himself with this organization for a paycheck disgusts me. Ayittey remains a dunce.

I really would like to know why Atiku was in Sicily dining with a mafia associate. Maybe he had utilized their "services" before?

If his company owed so much money why did he give that church to the president's hometown for free?

A weak attempt to try to get in good graces with the most powerful politician in the land as his financial and legal situation was deteriorating?

So this is the much touted Italian 'culture of corruption' . . .


Also, how and why exactly did Atiku meet up with a mafia associate? That's what's really interesting here.

How is Ayittey the "real deal"? Name one thing he's done that's actually had a substantial positive impact - just one thing - and I don't mean talking and talking and talking or founding organizations through which he can do more talking or working for a racist right wing American think tank (the Heritage Foundation). And claiming he's humble is ridiculous and just downright false - there exists direct written evidence to the contrary. The man is a consummate dunce dressed up in fancy clothing and I'm surprised people can't see through him.

Obiagu1: I'm wondering the same thing. Often times the big three do get positions but every SS position goes to the Ijaw. Where are the Urhobos, Itsekeris, Ogonis, Efiks, Ibibios, SS Igbos and Edos?

I don't know about the other groups, but Edos have occupied high positions in the NNPC before already. I don't know if Ijaw have before.

Chyz*:
Look forget about all that Egbira nonsense. It is just politics for benefits. That man is a yoruba from kogi and not considered a northerner. The fear of boko haram is real,especially to jonathan.

Chyz the man does really seem to be acknowledged as Ebira though, not Yoruba. Having a Yoruba middle name (Olusegun) in addition to an Ebira middle name (Adeiza) doesn't make him Yoruba rather than Ebira. At most it might mean he has some partial Yoruba ancestry somewhere down the line, if at all.

http://ebiraview..com/2010/07/as-oniwon-comes-on-board.html

He even instituted an Education Trust Fund specifically for Ebira youths.

http://www.pointblanknews.com/News/os3591.html

http://soalonfund.org/pages/about_foundation.html

"It was on one of such days precisely April 1, 1951, that Mrs Alice Ovayewun Shanu Oniwon who was, at Ihima in Kogi State, delivered of a bouncing baby boy that was to be named Augustine (Austen) Adeiza Oniwon, the 17th child of Adai Taru Solomon Ohiaba Oniwon."

"Augustine (Austen) Olusegun Adeiza Oniwon was born 1st April 1951, and attended Sacred Heart School Akure, Ondo State; St. Peters Anglican School, Ikuehi Ihima Okene Kogi State; St. Barnabas Secondary School, Kabba and Titcombe College Egbe both in Kogi State, for his primary, secondary and higher school education respectively."

It would seem he only has "Olusegun" because his parents (who don't have Yoruba names) decided to give him that name.



I do think that it was totally unnecessary to replace him with another Northerner (Yakubu from Kaduna) however. GEJ probably didn't have the guts to just pick anyone without sectional sentiments (although I don't automatically know that Yakubu is necessarily under-qualified or not one of the best available candidates). If a president appears/reappears in Nigeria that starts trying to heavily sideline, reduce or completely ignore federal character - and not just to show favor to his own group - then I think we'll know that that president is serious about changing Nigeria's political atmosphere for the better. But GEJ certainly doesn't seem to be that person.

Kobojunkie: I am dishonest for highlighting the message in what you posted? Are you serious at all? You are the one desperately poking the very same lines that helped make Yar adua's Form CCB 1 accessible to the public with a stick.

Again, you are accusing JOnathan Goodluck of lying to the Nation on Sunday, and I ask you what in the world you are trying to achieve when it is on record - - - video and text transcript.

It's amazing that after almost everyone has left this topic and stopped viewing it, you would come in here to post this nonsense just to have the last word as if you didn't already get proven completely wrong.

It's already been explained to you that GEJ interpreted the interviewer's use of the word "declare" in the absolutely correct manner - making a public revelation of one's assets declaration to the CCB just as Yar'Adua did - but that neither you nor the "eminent" professor from Ghana were able to understand something so simple and instead started going on about imaginary constitutional violations that never happened.

The fact that you can't get exactly why and how you were wrong into your peanut sized brain doesn't change reality. Now scram.

brabus: How come you're not on Dana flight? M*ron!
Why did he declared his asset in May 2010 afterall he did so when he was sworn-in with President Yar'adua in 2007. They both did and it wasn't up to 4 years.

Cook up another lie for your master!!! Nigerians are no fool.

You just wished death on me over my debunking of Kobojunkie's bullsh1t?

GEJ declared his assets with the CCB in May of 2010 and also in May of 2011 as president after already declaring them in 2007 as vice president and that is a FACT. Just because animals like you and Kobodruggie are too lazy and dumb to find this information out for yourselves, it doesn't change reality.

The truth is between the two of us, you're probably too dumb to survive past 30. I can't see you not getting beat senseless and left somewhere to die with that obnoxious mouth of yours.

londoner: Ayittey is a respected man and scholar and we should not dispute that, but he had a moment of phrasing his comments like someone in a barbershop would. He should not have called GEJ a madman(knowing the insult of that as an African man) and he for sure should not have called on Nigerians to overthrow him outside of elections, knowing fully well the current disunity and uneasiness we are having in the country.

These are not ideas and suggestions that should be thrown around lightly, especially not by someone who is supposed to be educated and an academic.

Read Ayittey's discussions on those "Yahoo groups" discussions. The man is pretentious as hell and even slightly delusional. My respect for him is limited.

Pukkah: Whereas President Jonathan is not under any legal obligation to publicly declare his assets, I think the stand he has taken is not in sync with his transformation agenda. You cannot achieve transformation by doing business as usual. He must be ready to do things in a different way in order to achieve something different or transformational especially on the much-needed need to battle corruption, achieve transparency in governance and lead by examples. It is not debatable that everything rises and falls on leadership.

Sincerely, the position he took on asset declaration, the accompanying the body language and the belligerent 'I don't give a damn' do not augur well for the need to instal a New Order in Nigeria. These are the issues and not so much on the legality or otherwise of the declaration. Nigeria is hungry for purposeful, transformational and revolutionary leadership.

Or what exactly does our President have against public declaration of assets? Who is afraid of public declaration of assets?

As I've said before, the best thing for GEJ to do to do earn any respect on this issue would be to send a bill to the national assembly requiring every single government official or 'public officer' from the lowest of the low all the way to the very top - himself - to periodically publish their asset declarations for public inspection by citizens in an independent or protected publication devoted specifically to such information. But from what I've seen from GEJ so far I don't think he really has the guts to do that.

This jt2010 guy is a joker.

GEJ declared his assets as president twice - in May of 2010 and in May of 2011.

The CCB can only release declaration of asset information under terms dictated by the National Assembly, which has yet to state under what terms/conditions the CCB can release GEJ's information to the citizenry:

"Specifically, Section 153 of the Constitution establishes a Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure, among other things, that all public officers, as defined in Part II of the Fifth Schedule, declare their assets on assuming office and immediately their terms of office expire. Paragraph Three of Part 1 (A) of the Third Schedule, empowers the Bureau to receive declarations made by all public officers, examine same and keep them in custody. Paragraph 3(C) says the Bureau shall have the power to "retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe."

The constitution is the highest law of the land and this is what the constitution requires as of right now - the NA's terms and conditions for any release of declarations.

That's all there is to it.

Kobojunkie: a) In not a Single place have I mentioned FOI in my chat with you.

b) If you at least bothered much to read what you posted, you would have seen Paragraph 3(C) says the Bureau shall have the power to "[size=15pt] retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria [/size]on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe."

Notice the LOGICAL AND used there . . . not OR

I said I wouldn't respond again, but you're just so dishonest that it's almost impossible not to comment on your nonsense.

What I posted, and what you re-quoted says very explicitly that the National Assembly determines under what terms declarations of assets are released for inspection by the citizens - meaning the buck stops at the NA as far as withholding Jonathan's information from the citizenry or delaying its release by not stating under what terms the CCB may release it. Are you sure you're mentally okay? I know you have difficulty with interpretations but this is as plain as day. Just drop it. I know you made many posts about this assets declaration issue and were even posting your claims in other threads as if it were fact, but you need to just accept that you were completely wrong and just move on. Bye.

Kobo, you are incorrigible and I wonder why I even bother with you sometimes.

GEJ was against revealing his asset declaration (declaring publicly) in 2007, but went ahead with it because Yar'Adua, his boss, wanted that.

GEJ is against revealing his asset declaration now. The constitution does not require public declarations of one's assets.

The Freedom of Information Act would be useful in forcing the CCB to reveal information on GEJ's assets except that:

"Specifically, Section 153 of the Constitution establishes a Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure, among other things, that all public officers, as defined in Part II of the Fifth Schedule, declare their assets on assuming office and immediately their terms of office expire. Paragraph Three of Part 1 (A) of the Third Schedule, empowers the Bureau to receive declarations made by all public officers, examine same and keep them in custody. Paragraph 3(C) says the Bureau shall have the power to "retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe."

The Constitution trumps the Freedom of Information Act so the CCB people are correct on blaming any withholding of information on the National Assembly's failure to describe under what particular terms and conditions the CCB may release Jonathan's information.

If making it mandatory that asset declarations to the Code of Conduct Bureau are revealed to the public is a good way to fight corruption - it might have some impact - then every government official at every single level of government should make them public. I don't understand why people assume that the president of the country is the only potential thief.

You don't have any point here. You should be asking why the Constitution was written in a way that the National Assembly has to dictate how and under what conditions declarations of assets may be released for inspection by citizens instead of going on about imaginary constitutional violations.

You're just too lazy to dig up information for yourself, like that professor. This is my last response to you on this thread.

Kobo fiend

Read the following and pipe down:

"Yar’Adua: I’m Worth N850m
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja, 06.29.2007

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a sitting president has made his asset declaration public. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in fulfilling a promise he made earlier to the nation, yesterday released for public knowledge details of his assets declaration as contained in Form CCB1 submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau as demanded by the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
This is expected to put a moral obligation on other public officers, especially state governors and ministers, to follow suit, although the Constitution does not make public declaration of assets compulsory."

https://www.nairaland.com/62853/yaradua-declares-assets#1248318


Now find something else to construct flawed arguments around. I'm done with you.

Kobojunkie: Yar adua NEVER PUBLICLY DECLARED his asset in 2007. Jonathan NEVER PUBLICLY DECLARED his asset in 2007. What both however did was DECLARE THEIR ASSETS to the CCB in 2007. That was what happened and that is what still happens.

The CCB made the information available to the PUBLIC as required by the Constitution, with no exceptions made by the National Assembly.

My goodness. This is really becoming a waste of time.

Yar'Adua revealed his declaration of assets to the public. Yar'Adua did that. NOT the CCB. It is not mandated by the constitution. Get that through your head.

If you can't even admit that Yar'Adua made the decision to publish his declaration of assets, you're just in la la land and there's no point discussing anything with you further.