₦airaland Forum

PhiliptheArab:
So when you get into politics would you be willing to charge heavy taxes to pay for the good roads you want?

Our budget for thos year is 26 billion dollars. South africa spent 23 billion dollars on education alone last year.

London's budget is 2 billion dollars this year.Lagos budget is 3 milllion dollars. ( for the state not the town) ( figures not correct. Error regretted )

Our oil revenue is not enough to feed everyone for a month self.

How do you raise the money.?

You raise the money by restructuring the country.

Raydos:
Bro I am contemplating on joining politics, wanna try my best to get my state to look at least close to this!!

I wish you luck. But if the shit hole is not restructured, Nigeria can never improve.

Yenefer:
Due to PDP stolen almost everything and doing nothing to develop the country

Zombie is talking.

ethicallyright:
The over hyped car assembler, loan defaulter and tax fraud disguising as an automobile manufacturer needs to begin an overhaul in his moving coffins packaging company.

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He may begin by employing a brain filled cone head individual and intelligent innovator like myself to champion electric cars production which is clearly the future.
He should also stop dashing Big Brother Naija's women of easy virtue vehicles they keep as furniture at home and instead drive the Mercedes their "fans " gift them and invest more in Corporate Social Responsibilities like sponsoring brilliant minds to Universities in Europe , China and North America to aid technology transfer that will help his firm grow.

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Jokes aside, local automobile manufacturers should target individuals with low income who would most likely purchase vehicles for full time or part time transportation business to increase their income. In a country where people laugh at you for using a brand new current Infinix instead of a second hand iPhone 6 in 2020, it is funny to think that middle income or high income earners would buy a locally produced car for the price they can get a decent Toyota, Mercedes or Lexus.

Produce more fine tricycles , mini buses and partner with hire purchase companies to sell and distribute them to your target consumers who do not drive vehicles for clout. There is a huge potential here. Lagos State and every other State yet to ban commercial motorcycles completely have waiting consumers for such vehicles.

What do you produce Probably nothing. You are probably unemployed.

IamFINESSE:
Two useful ediots are fighting up there

Exactly.

Ekpekaycee:
I don't get it. I thought they said the CCTV ware switched off. Which other CCTV are they talking about. Also Fashola discovered a hidden camera, how come nobody is talking about that. How come the panel is not asking If that discovery is meant to help, distract, distort, divert, destroy facts and evidences. If that discovery is swept under the carpet, then they wouldn't have done a thorough job.

The CCTVs were switched off just before the shooting started. But they captured the moments before the shooting.

bolaayenimo:
I dont support the invitation of soldiers but how can soldiers shoot into a crowd and only two people died??

Who told you only two people died So you believe the lies from the Governor?

helinues:
Nobody is disputing the presence of military that day, 7 trucks or 15 trucks?

The shooting at the protesters, the acclaimed massacre is what we are disputing.

How many people were shot at? How many were wounded?

If the soldiers shot at protesters? Do you know how many casualties that will be recorded if that's the case.

Really The Army initially denied being anywhere close to the area and claimed it was fake news. The Governor also initially feigned ignorance.

brainpulse:
By the time they spend 25 years minimum at the Max prisons for attempted murder they will know the gravity of the charges against them whether guilty or not

Calm down. They are not spending any 25 years in prison. You should know these are trumped up, bogus charges. That is why the young ladies were laughing. They were probably exercising their constitutional right to protest.

Okoroawusa:
You will live long. They also culled some reports from the local media and garnished them to look like it's their exclusive report.

I went through this report with a fine brush and I am sorry to say that CNN could have done better.

Why don't you produce your own better report? Too many knuckleheads.

The victims' families should contact good American and European Lawyers to sue the FG and the LASG abroad.

Kekereekun123:
The land alone is about 700m. Over valued

Exactly.

lekki1444:
without the north we are dead. the south is overrated. north is the supplier of food

Benue State is not in the 'North'.

salbis:
Nigeria is blessed, save it is been run by useless and wicked people.

And mostly populated by the same kind of people as the leaders.

wellmax:
Some many people are happy with this report.

Tell them tomorrow that the Nigerian armed forces has rescued some kidnapped victims or killed kidnapers, they will say it is a lie and ask you for the video of the operation.
Enemies of Nigeria.

It is Buhari supporters like you that are the real enemies of Nigeria.

Stupid man.

Trump2020:
Supreme Court already ruled that Nwosu is the right candidate of APC but the court disqualified him for running under two party.

APC doesn't have candidate in the last election.

Flawless victory

Exactly. No chance for APC.

Clowns everywhere.

Stalwert:
Any fool would have known that fraud was involved but because it is Buhari and pigdiots are involved, the story of using a previous line belong to PMB daughter was used to manipulate the intellectual weak and emotional wrecks.

If fraud was involved, why is he not being charged to court? And why did they release the sim to him? Some of you stupid Nigerians never look at issues objectively without being tribalistic.

Bunch of liars. How come the so called fraudster was not charged and even released with the said phone number?

This is coming from an educated man? So El-Rufai is the Court. And this is the tyrant some clowns are proposing for 2023 Presidency or VP.

Gwilym:
N.B I am not here to argue for or against Biafra or to label Gowon a good or bad leader....just to correct some mistakes...

Gowon and Bakassi
By Dr. Nowa Omoigui
To the Editor, Guardian Newspapers, Lagos, Nigeria
Sir
In a recent article titled "Gowon, the Queen and the stolen bronze", Reuben Abati raised
interesting questions about the alleged expropriation of an original piece of Benin
artwork from the National museum by General Gowon enroute to Britain in 1973 for a
State trip.
I understand the sentiment he projected and agree with the moral outrage over the
museum matter.
However, I was bothered by his attempt to link the issue of the Benin Bronze gift to the
Bakassi question. A journalist of Abati's stature ought to be much more familiar with the
truth about the Bakassi issue. The media should refrain from sensational publications
which can smear people unnecessarily and/or push government into an untenable
domestic political corner in dealing with complex external affairs issues.
Again and again, over the years (since the July 1975 coup) this false story has been
peddled around that Gowon gave away Bakassi to Cameroun as a gift. It is one of the
bigger lies of the modern Nigerian generation - a lie which has affected Nigeria's
approach over the years to the Bakassi dispute and has even unnecessarily cost the lives
of Nigerian soldiers.
Briefly, let me point out that:

1. Treaties between Britain and Germany dating back to 1913, official Nigerian regional
border delineation (eg The Legal Notice No. 126 of 1954), as well as British-Nigerian
and Nigerian-Cameroun exchange of diplomatic notes (1960-2) all clarified the matter
LONG BEFORE Gowon ever came to power in 1966.

2. Administrative maps of Nigeria have continued to reflect these realities, showing
Bakassi inside Cameroun, except the few that were reprinted in 1991 (during the
Babangida/Aikhomu regime) to try to reinvent the wheel. A courtesy visit to most
Government ministries in Nigeria, which often pin Nigerian maps up on walls, will
confirm this observation. Pay particular attention to the South-east corner and notice
where the maps claim Bakassi is.

3. During the Cameroon/Nigeria plebiscite of 1961, 21 polling stations were physically
located in the Bakassi peninsula. UN records clearly show that approximately 73% of the
people living there AT THAT TIME voted NOT to be administered under independent
Nigeria. This is fairly easy to confirm either from the UN itself or Ambassador BA Clark
who was Deputy Permanent Secretary External Affairs in 1970/71. The precise number
of polling booths and their exact locations is a matter of public record. It is fair to assume
that the vote was binding on future generations in the area. The question of whether it
could have been different - as was the case with Northern Cameroons - is one of the more
fascinating but unexamined aspects of Nigeria's history from that period. Whether the
vote meant that the people of Southern Cameroons should form their own country or be
fused with French Cameroun is another curious angle that has recently surfaced.



4. General Gowon was guided in his approach to the Nigeria-Cameroun border question
by a formal legal opinion prepared in 1970 by the late Teslim Elias, Nigeria's former
Attorney General and, incidentally, later a Judge of the ICJ. Elias prepared a well thought
out formal brief for then Commissioner for External Affairs, Okoi Arikpo, (who was of
South Eastern State origin), in which he clearly stated that Nigeria had no legal claim to
the Bakassi peninsula. Elias also advised that given the legal and historical precedents, as
well as the good relations between both countries, and the role Cameroun played during
the civil war, it was not wise, fair nor right for Nigeria to press the issue. This document
is available.


5. In 1969, even before the Elias opinion - and long before Gowon ever met with Ahidjo
to discuss the border, the office of the Geographer, US State Department, came to the
same conclusion about the Nigeria-Cameroun border. This document is also available.

6. Although some indigenes of the area, local politicians and misguided national
commentators have raised dust over the years, the real dispute between Nigeria and
Cameroun was not originally about the shrimp rich Bakassi peninsula per se. As a
consequence of language in the original Anglo-German Treaty, the dispute was about the
OFFSHORE border and precise delineation of the APPROACH CHANNEL to the
Calabar Port. Why? Because the treaty stated that the NAVIGABLE portion of the
channel was to lie wholly within Nigeria while the peninsula itself was to lie wholly
within Cameroun - even if the Akpa Yafe river was to change its course and flow into the
Rio del Rey. The issue, therefore, was to define the navigable channel. This became more
sensitive when oil was discovered offshore.

7. General Gowon relied on experts from the Federal Survey Department in the Ministry
of Works on what the offshore delineation of the approach channel to the Calabar Estuary
should be - up to the 3-mile limit. The Nigerian civil servant (not Gowon) who actually
decided the offshore eastern border of the navigable channel - which formed the basis of
what became known as the Coker-Ngo line - was Chief R. Oluwole Coker, Director of
Federal Surveys. Accompanied by a group of civil servants from then South Eastern
(later Cross-River) State, including SJ King who had previously served as Consul
General in the Nigerian mission at Buea, the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary
for Justice of the South Eastern State (Mr. Ukot) at that time was party to it and cosigned
the declaration. It is not, however, clear whether the Permanent Secretary of the Federal
Ministry of Works, Gray Longe, or the Federal Commissioner, Femi Okunnu, were aware
of the details. The Governor of the South Eastern State, Col. UJ Esuene was certainly in
the delegation, as was Colonel Musa Usman of the North Eastern State. Mr. U Ekaette,
now Secretary to the Obasanjo government, was also there as one of Gowon's key
assistants. Surveyor Adeleye was in attendance.


What Gowon and Ahidjo did was to sign on either side of the Coker-Ngo line. When
Ahidjo asked Gowon to draw the line, Gowon in turn turned to Chief Coker and asked
him to define it. Gowon did not order anyone to give anything away to Cameroun, nor
did he do so himself. The specifics of this line were certainly previously fiercely debated
internally within the Survey Department at a technical level, and there were some who
felt it ought to have been further toward the Cameroun side, but it is wrong to suggest
that General Yakubu Gowon "gave away Bakassi". The issue of Bakassi itself was sealed
by the Ministry of Justice legal opinion, supported by Okoi Arikpo of External Affairs,
based on decades of legal and political precedent. If the people of the Bakassi peninsula
had either boycotted the Cameroon plebiscite altogether or had voted along with the rest
of Southern Cameroons to stay in Nigeria, the matter would have been much less
complicated - although it could still have been an internal border problem between states.
To compound issues, the late Alhaji Malabu, one time Nigerian Ambassador to
Cameroun used to say some people in the area often paid taxes to both countries. There
are unconfirmed reports that some of the local residents also kept taking part in voter
registration and elections in Nigeria AFTER voting overwelmingly to leave!


8. In reaching an agreement with Ahidjo about the Coker-Ngo "navigable channel"
border, the question of whether Gowon had the authority to do so without subsequent
ratification by the SMC was also the subject of another legal opinion by the Nigerian
Ministry of Justice of that era. Gowon's authority (as confirmed by the Justice Ministry)
derived from a decree originally promulgated by the Ironsi regime. It will be recalled that
the Supreme Military Council - under this decree - was only an advisory body to the
Head of State. Neither Ironsi nor Gowon after him required legal ratification for anything
from the SMC. This is why, for example, Ironsi was able to promulgate the unification
decree of 1966 without formal SMC approval.
Gowon's powers after July 29, 1966, (in continuation of Ironsi's powers) were the subject
of discussions at Aburi in January 1967, and led to the controversial Decree No. 8 of
1967. This decree was never, however, formally codified because Ojukwu rejected it in
the run down to the outbreak of the civil war in July 1967. It will be recalled that in late
May 1967 Gowon declared a State of Emergency and assumed full powers after the


Ojukwu-appointed Eastern Regional Assembly mandated Ojukwu to declare secession. In
1969, after Colonel Obasanjo refused to cooperate with Colonel Muhammed to delay the
end of the civil war in order to force Gowon to "share power" with other officers, there
was no further opportunity (or interest) after the war to change the powers assumed in the
original Ironsi decree. The decree and Gowon's "supreme commander" like legal status
was thus in effect when the Nigerian-Cameroun Boundary commission was doing its
work in the early seventies.

9. When Brigadier Muhammed came to power in July 1975 he initially wanted to retain
this "sole power" arrangement but was overruled by the middle ranking officers
(Yar'Adua, Garba, Abdul Mohammed, Taiwo etc) who carried out the coup. This is why
he had to agree to share power with Brigadiers Obasanjo and Danjuma in a trioka. This is
also why the new decree reconstituting the new SMC in 1975 (after Gowon was
overthrown) enhanced the authority of the SMC and made it more than an advisory
council. It was in the context of this newly enhanced power for the post-July 1975 SMC
that questions were raised (retrospectively) about Gowon's authority to sign the Coker-
Ngo line. However, AT THE TIME he did, Gowon was well within his legal powers no
matter what we may feel today. However, whether the civil servants who advised him to
accept the precise location of the Coker-Ngo line, advised appropriately, is a different
issue. Whether ANY military government can sign ANY agreement whatsoever for the
country is another. The latter is a fundamental point that affects many laws, agreements
and treaties signed by Nigerian governments during the long period of military rule.


10. The sensitive question of arbitrary colonial borders in Africa affects many countries.
There are Yoruba speaking communities which are split between Nigerian and Benin
republic. There are Ewe speaking communities split between Ghana and Togo. The
question of communities split between Nigeria and Cameroun is unfortunate but not
unique. Nigeria, in ratifying instruments which established the OAU in 1963, agreed to
respect the inviolability of colonial borders. This was reflected in the 1964 OAU Cairo
Declaration on Border Disputes among African States.

11. Very interestingly, it came to light during the Buhari regime that several years
AFTER Gowon left office the precise location of the Coker-Ngo line and the navigation
beacons for approaching the Calabar Estuary were shifted even further westwards toward
Nigeria making our case worse. This shift (which was done either during the Obasanjo or
Shagari regimes) may have been done without authority or proper research by the
Nigerian Ports Authority - another consequence of the frequent turn-overs of
governments in Nigeria and lack of collaboration between various pre and post-coup
regimes. Or perhaps it was done to create a reason to award a contract to dredge the area.
Who knows?

12. I humbly advise Reuben Abati (and others) to review original documents or talk
directly to those civil servants WHO WERE THERE AT THAT TIME before he (and
others) write further on the Bakassi matter, confusing Nigerian policy makers and the
public and potentially exposing our soldiers to unnecessary risk. Some of those in the
know are dead but there are others who are not.


13. Like other Nigerians, I hope the judgement of the ICJ helps to settle this issue or
create a framework for bilateral and trilateral discussions to resolve the dispute - for the
sake of those who live there and for the sake of the rest of us. I am also eager to see how
the ICJ reacts to the interesting arguments put forward by Chief Richard Akinjide and his
legal team.


14. However, in the meantime, journalists should stop repeating the lie that Gowon gave
away the Bakassi peninsula. He may have given away an original piece of Benin Bronze
to the Queen of England. But he did not give away Bakassi to Cameroun.
Nowa Omoigui
Columbia, South Carolina


The truth of the matter is, Bakassi never did belong to Nigeria, or Biafra, nor did Gowon give it away. Enough of partial truths.
https://www.nairaland.com/161768/did-gowon-give-bakassi-cameroon

To OP...we cannot get Bakassi back. It's gone. Except by war.

Armed with this information, the Obasanjo administration should not have agreed to go to the ICJ. They should have known Nigeria did not stand a chance of winning the case at the Court. OBJ was probably trying to do 'eye service' to the international community that he is a peace maker.

sulasa07:
Dont worry,when I am the Supreme Leader of this country,,I will retrieve it.

Yeah right. France will depose you then.

Switinthemiddle:
. what could they have done
the world sided with Cameroon

They had the option of not agreeing to go to the Court. It was optional. They should have known they did not stand a chance.

tsdarkside:
bakassi doesnt matter....

did you africans drew the mapy of africa....??
maps in africa is nonesense....

Bakassi doesn't matter Really? Do you realize that there are Nigerians who are from Bakassi who are now under the government of Cameroon, against their wish? If a Neighboring country took over your village, would you agree that your village doesn't matter?

Blue3k:
Not by any legal means. If Nigeria wants they'll have to copy Russia's example in taking Crimea. The population has to succeed and be annexed. Also Nigeria will need to be ready to fund ambazonian terrorist groups. Then be ready for inevitable blowback being them funding boko haram.

France is already funding Boko Haram.

No chance of that, except through war. After all, Russia annexed the Crimea. But Nigeria cannot successfully wage war against France (Cameroon).

Nigsrdumb:
You have no idea, things have changed and it's going to get worse.

Leave the Europeans alone and focus on Nigeria. It is also getting worse here in Nigeria. Right now you have a President that has armed his ethnic Fulani militants from outside Nigeria to come in and take over the country. There is increased insecurity because of FG sponsored violence. And Nigerians are being discriminated against in their own country because of tribalism.

There is a rise in White nationalism because of the influx of foreigners from Africa and the Arab region. This is understandable. The people see it as an invasion. The flow of migrants to Europe should be reduced.

anago40:
We need to focus on the problems of the nation. We need to focus on the problem of federalism; we need to focus on the problem of resources. For a nation of about 200 million people, we just passed a budget of $29b, a bit more than the budget of Harvard University for one year. Egypt with only about a hundred million people passed a budget of about $90b. South Africa with only about 34 million people, that is about 17 percent of the population of Nigeria passed a budget of about of $130b. We are in a mess. We are pathetically poor and Nigerian politicians are acting as if things are honky-dory. They are not!
Dayo Adeyeye

Wow. South Africa's budget $130b, Nigeria's $29b. And some clowns like to pretend that Nigeria is a rich country. Nigeria is potentially rich. We need to unlock that potential by restructuring Nigeria. Nigerians made a big mistake by giving Buhari a second term. Terrible mistake.

FirePower1:
Are there not homeless Nigerian citizens in Nigeria? Some have been sleeping under the bridges for more than 21yrs. The man weighed his options and made his choice and he has been living with the consequence of his choice, I wonder why that should be anyone's headache. I thank God for him that his story has changed eventually, because he could also have continued sleeping in the buses till his death. It is a testimony!

Exactly.

adonainana:
As seen in evidence of 21 years of homelessness sleeping on public transport

Well, as you can see, the homelessness was temporary. Now he can legally get a decent job or train for one.