₦airaland Forum

madridguy:
Lifeless thread.

We all know who the lifeless one is

tuniski:
Atiku suits the bill nationally.

Atiku does not command the sort of strong following Kwankwaso commands.

That is why PDP must field Kwankwaso, he is by far the most popular politician in the north amongst all the contenders.

Yet her integrity challenged husband claimed that he could not afford to pay for the party nomination form.

Yet her integrity challenged husband claimed he could not afford to pay for the party nomination form.

When is Òtèdólá coming back to rescue Lagos from the claws of Tinubu and the Jagabandits of this world?

Astrosmart:
Oya this is Baba new name..

It's not lifeless.. lmao

It's

Mr recessionist

Nothing new about the name, we have been calling him that for almost two years now.

hucienda:
Okay. Thanks, OP.

No surprises there.

The main surprise is his support in parts of the South.

His support from the south west is by those who have sold their brains to Tinubu for peanuts.

Jokerman:
Lol... we already know that's what it would amount to, and seeing that 80% of the northern electorates are illiterates, they would easily be swayed coupled with the Nigerian fickle mind....

That's why it is necessary to use a popular and influencial northern Muslim like Kwankwaso against him to divide their votes so we can kick the tyrant out once and for all.

Shelumiel:
I shall ask you question: would you vote for Kafir instead?

And you expect the so called kafirs to vote for the retrogressive dullard?

Dr. Farooq Kperogi, one of Buhari's harshest and most consistent critics, wrote the following:

"Now, Islamic clerics in the North preach that Buhari is divinely ordained to be President and that criticism of his policies amounts to blasphemy. That’s why northern Muslim critics of Buhari like me are seen as heretics—or, worse, not even Muslim at all. I recall a northern Nigerian university teacher and foreign-based PhD student exclaiming “SubhaanAllaah!” when I first shared my criticism of Buhari with him during a WhatsApp chat. He was so distraught you would think I committed blasphemy. Given the oversized influence of Islamic clerics in shaping public opinion in Muslim northern Nigeria, no amount of logic, evidence-based reasoning, economic hardship, etc. will make the littlest dent on Buhari’s popularity in the Muslim North.”

I am at a loss for words.

https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2017/04/why-president-buhari-is-wildly-popular.html?m=1
CC lalasticlala mynd44

ALMUSTAQIM:
NIGERIA'S ECONOMY IS THE BEST IN AFRICA NOW.

GOD CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN & BLESS PMB1523

GOD BLESS THE APC

Best economy and we became the poverty capital of the world under his mis-rule? Are you sure you are not high on that Ekiti weed?

The Nigerian Economy under the watch of PMB.
Security and welfare of the people remain the most basic function of the any government and to ensure the welfare of the people, the government must ensure that through its policy and actions that it stimulates economic growth and enhance the quality of life of the citizens.
Whilst it’s true that the Buhari administration inherited an economy that was declining, it did practically nothing to arrest the decline or improve the economy until we went into full fledge recession 15 months after his government took over. We will all recall that it took him six months to appoint his cabinet that was at best mediocre and based on political patronage instead of seeking out sound technocrats to help him revive the hailing economy. The delay in appointing his cabinet also pointed out the fact that he was unprepared for the job and the sense of urgency to fix the depressed economy was just not there.
One would have expected that with all the problems with the economy the country was having when Buhari took over, he would immediately constitute a high powered economic team and given them a marching order to immediately address the problems bedeviling the economy but not only did he fail to do that, he did not deem it fit to appoint a special adviser on the economy like his predecessors did whilst he appointed six advisers/assistants on media and publicity pointing to the fact that he was more interested in media and propaganda than addressing the problems of the economy.
It was no surprise that by the third quarter of 2016, fifteen months after Buhari took over the government, the country slid into recession due to a lack of attention given to the economy by the Buhari administration. To close watchers of the economy and buhari’s countenance regarding the issue, he simply was not interested in the economy. However due to the political back lash he received as a result of his poor performance with the economy, his government was quick to blame the previous administration for the recession whilst ignoring the fact that for fifteen months nothing was done to mitigate against the effects of the dwindling economy. It was then that the government now finally appointed an economic adviser reporting to the office of the vice president and not even the president further proving that the president did not consider the economy a priority. The government further released a poorly written document which they claimed was their economic plan which they christened Economic Renewal and Growth Plan (ERGP). This plan failed to address several issues that were depressing the economy and at best just glossed over the obvious issues without any concrete strategy on the way forward for the economy.
Thankfully after about a year in recession, due to recovering oil prices the country was able to pull out of recession and the government was quick to claim credit for it even though it was not of their own doing. Since then highest our economy has grown under this government is an abysmally low 1.9% in the first quarter of this year which slid to 1.5% during the second quarter indicating that we might be on our way back into a recession despite the fact that oil prices have been relatively high for the past one year.
The most damning verdict of the Buhari’s government stewardship of our economy was delivered in June this year when the Brookings Institute based on research conducted by them declared Nigeria with 87 million people living in abject poverty as the poverty capital of the world having overtaken India in this ignoble index. The report further stated that whilst poverty was reducing in India and most countries all over the world, it was on the increase in Nigeria with six people falling into poverty every minute, 8,640 every day and over 3 million people per annum. Another damning report was recently revealed by Bill Gates stating that going by the current trends, by 2050 Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo will have 40% of the world’s extremely poor population.
One now wonders how Nigeria got itself into this mess when just a decade ago Nigeria had the second fastest growing economy in the whole world after china and Nigeria’s economic growth rate was even being projected to overtake that of china to become the fastest growing economy in the world. Nigeria a few years ago also became the biggest economy in Africa ahead of South Africa and Egypt that had always had bigger economies. Why has Nigeria not been able to sustain its high economic growth rate it was able to achieve shortly before the current administration came into power? The simple answer is gross incompetence, ineptitude and even a lack of interest in developing the economy by the present administration. The compilation below by Chidi Cali details how badly the economy has fallen under this inept administration.
Top 10 Fastest Growing Economies in Africa in 2018 (World Bank, IMF....)
[1] Ghana >>>>>>8.3%
[2] Ethiopia >>>>>8.2%
[3] Cote d'Ivoire>>7.2%
[4] Djibouti >>>>> 7.0%
[5] Senegal >>>>>6.9%
[6] Tanzania >>>> 6.8%
[7] Sierra Leone>>6.3%
[8] Burkina Faso>6.0%
[8] Benin Rep>>>>6.0%
[9] Rwanda>>>>>>5.9%
[10] Niger Rep>>>5.2%
------------------
[41] NIGERIA>>>>1.9%,
Note Nigeria was Number [1] in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
In 2015 Nigeria was the 3rd Fastest growing Economy in the World but now, the 88th.
SOURCES| World Bank, Brookings Institution, IMF, Chidi Cali and the African Development Bank.
© Chidi Cali
Whichever way you want to spin it, the economic performance of this government has been nothing short of disastrous and as we approach another election year, it’s time for Nigerians to wake up and demand better leadership. We should put sentiments aside and collectively vote out a failed leadership. It is our collective future, that of our children and even the unborn generation that is at stake. A government that can turn an economy that was one of the fastest growing in the world to not only one of the slowest growing but also the poverty capital of the world and the highest growing poverty rate in the world certainly doesn’t deserve our vote again. God bless us all.
#NigeriaDeservesBetter

CC lalasticlala mynd44

TheOdd1sOut:
Buhari didn't make anything worse

He actually showed us what would happen if the looting and squanderings continued.

He brought us out of recession, didn't he??

PDP would squander and loot our treasury and use loans to cover their asses.

when buhari entered, the NDM showed that we were under heavy debt

think, my guy... think

It was Buhari that plunge us into recession in the first instance and we only came out of it due to rising oil prices. Even at that we are sliding back into recession as the GDP growth rate reduced to 1.5% last quarter.

TheOdd1sOut:
let nobody accuse buhari for putting the development of Nigeria on a standstill. When he got into office, he inherited the man made problems made by the Poverty Development Party(PDP). PDP has fouled the air and abused our country for 16 good years. Let nobody blame buhari

Stop talking rubbish, he was voted in to solve a problem and not make it worse, under Buhari everything in this country has gone from bad to worse.

Top 10 Fastest Growing Economies in Africa in 2018 (World Bank, IMF....)

[1] Ghana >>>>>>8.3%
[2] Ethiopia >>>>>8.2%
[3] Cote d'Ivoire>>7.2%
[4] Djibouti >>>>> 7.0%
[5] Senegal >>>>>6.9%
[6] Tanzania >>>> 6.8%
[7] Sierra Leone>>6.3%
[8] Burkina Faso>6.0%
[8] Benin Rep>>>>6.0%
[9] Rwanda>>>>>>5.9%
[10] Niger Rep>>>5.2%
------------------
[41] NIGERIA>>>>1.9%,

Note Nigeria was Number [1] in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

In 2015 Nigeria was the 3rd Fastest growing Economy in the World but now, the 88th.

SOURCES| World Bank, Brookings Institution, IMF, Chidi Cali and the African Development Bank.

© Chidi Cali

CC: lalasticlala mynd44

thesicilian:
There's only one Ronaldo and his name is Cristiano. One day he's going to buy up Barcelona and sell off Messi to China.

Ronaldo de Lima is the original Ronaldo, I guess you were too young to know when he was performing exploits.

Yet the tyrannical sectionalist bigot has refused to go after the even far more dangerous killer herdsmen just because they are not attacking his own people and he is their grand patron. God is watching him in 5D

The first thing which must shock most Nigerians, though not most people in advanced countries, is the fact that Nigeria lacks a comprehensive and coordinated economic policy. The reason for that is clear. Nobody at the top levels of government is an economist. Buhari is not, neither is Osinbajo – the Chairman of the Economic Management Team. Talk about putting a round peg in a square hole or vice versa and the Vice President of Nigeria should be a perfect example of that syndrome. All he knows about economics should fit conveniently into the back of a postage stamp and there might still be some space left to jot a few observations. From the first day he was placed in that role by Buhari, who, by his own admission, knows even less about economics and would make other world leaders “smile”, Nigeria’s top economic managers have appeared to economists worldwide as laughable. A good example of their lack of economic principles was the VP’s futile trip to the USA a few weeks ago to canvass for American investment in the Nigerian economy. Certainly, the last thing anyone should expect from the Tour Report is that it was a mindless waste of scarce foreign exchange. The report submitted to Buhari would highlight promises made by Americans who were only being polite about coming to invest in Nigeria – without giving a timeline for the decision. More informed people know from the historical verdict of investment experience that investors never ever risk their hard-earned funds on countries that are potentially unstable and might erupt without prior warning. Nigeria is just a few steps removed from total breakdown of law and order. And, hasn’t Osinbajo’s own government demonstrated that it is lawless and disregards court rulings? A government which routinely disobeys court orders when made in favour of its own citizens is asking foreigners to risk their funds and suffer the consequences of believing a lawless government? It will never happen. All that has been said earlier serve as prelude to the real problem, now tending towards a catastrophe, confronting our nation. Nigeria is now inexorably heading for another debt trap worse than the one from which we were rescued by Obasanjo/Okonjo Iweala. When Nigeria took its first foreign loan of $2.8bn under the military government of Obasanjo, technocrats, with their gazes firmly fixed on the past when crude oil prices were rising, assured the nation that the loan would easily be repaid. Those of us counseling caution were ignored. Elected governments at the federal and state levels assumed office in 1979 and very quickly went on a borrowing spree. All was well until 1983 when the price of crude oil started sliding downwards. By the time Buhari and Babangida had spent four years in office, crude oil prices had tumbled from $25 per barrel to less then $10 dollars at one point – N9.95 in fact. Suddenly, all those debts accumulated backed by expected oil revenue could no longer be repaid as and when due. Nigeria, then a “beggar nation”, had to plead for forbearance with its external creditors who quickly banded themselves into two “clubs” – the London and Paris clubs of creditors and they treated the giant of Africa with disdain. By the time Obasanjo returned as civilian President in 1999, N2.8bn loan which could be “easily repaid” had exploded into $36bn which would have been impossible to pay back unless another oil bonanza occurred. Fortunately, by 1999, crude price were again on the rise on account of sustained global economic expansion brought about by the Asian Tigers – South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Viet Nam and to some extent India. Even then Nigeria could still not redeem its pledge until a deal was struck under Obasanjo/Okonjo-Iweaia and part of our accumulated debt was written off by our creditors to allow this country to exit the debt trap of twenty one years. None of us who lived through those years of humiliation, the first of its kind, expect to experience another one. “History does not repeat itself; man does”, according to Professor Babara Tuchmann of Harvard University, USA. Exactly forty years after Obasanjo took the plunge into debt financing which proved to be most painful to us, Buhari is diving headlong into another one. Incidentally, Buhari was the Minister of Petroleum Resources under Obasanjo when we first experimented with mortgaging the future of Nigeria to creditors. He is now the main actor in the second economic drama that has shown early that it will end in another tragedy. An explanation is needed based on Nigerian historical experience. In 1997, Chief Ayo Ogunlade, then Minister for National Planning under Abacha, at a lecture at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, NIIA, at a workshop I attended for VANGUARD, stunned the audience by revealing, that close to seventy per cent of the loans that were obtained by governments up to that time were spent on uncompleted projects. Ten per cent of the projects were not executed at all; yet the funds were drawn down. Thirteen per cent went into white elephant projects which could never provide the benefits promised and only two per cent were earning sufficient returns on investment to repay their loans. As far back as the 1980s, it was not only Fela Anikulapo who was aware that foreign loans had become a racket through which government officials defraud the public and left us with the bill to pay. Even then, the external loans sourced in the past were tied to specific projects – water provision, to build Shiroro Dam or Egbin gas station in Lagos State, etc. It was therefore easy to spot when projects financed with loans from abroad have been poorly executed, abandoned or functioning. The first problem with the Buhari administration and its approach to loan acquisition is precisely because most of the loan is not tied to specific projects and programmes which can be assessed by independent observers – or the government itself for that matter. The second problem, and that is what scares everybody knowledgeable, is the quantum of loans taken in just one year without any assurance that it can “easily be repaid” – as governments kept telling us in the 1980s until the lie blew up in everybody’s faces. According to a news report, “the country’s debt stood at N22.38tn on June 30, 2018. That is an increase of N2.57tn representing a 14 per cent jump over the N19.63tn recorded on June 30, 2017. Let us set aside for now the matter of repayment which the current Director General of the Debt Management Office, DMO, ill-advisedly glosses over. Mrs Patience Oniha has a job to keep and cannot ruffle the feathers of her employers. We in the media also have a job to do. We must get the truth out for Nigerians. So, we start with a simple comparison. The only way Ogunlade could provide the summary he did in 1997 was because each loan was attached to a project. By contrast, the N2.57tn which the Federal and state governments have borrowed since last June are frequently not directed at any particular project which is then expected to yield the revenue to repay the debt. Until recently – Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari governments specifically – it was always possible to monitor the disbursement of funds from loans taken to execute projects. That is no longer possible. Under Buhari/Osinbajo/Adeosun and their counterparts at state levels, the Executive branch asks for and forces the lawmakers to approve loans which are not specifically tied – for the most part. When the DG-DMO announced that “If the government didn’t borrow so much in the last three years, it wouldn’t be able to function as a government” she betrays the borrow and spend mentality of this and previous governments. Indeed, what Mrs Oniha just said establishes the difference between Nigeria and Singapore – why one remains a third world country sliding towards being in the fourth world of failed states. The other leapt from Third World to First World in one generation. Let us look briefly at two cardinal points which characterize Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew. First in his world best seller FROM THEIRD WORLD TO FIRST WORLD IN ONE GENERATION, we learnt that shortly after becoming Prime Minister, he told his people that “we cannot live by the begging bowl, p53.” Later he declared that with respect to debt-financed projects “Our aim is to have partial or total cost recovery for the goods and services provided by the state, p 107.” Obviously, going borrowing is the second option for Singapore. But, when it becomes inevitable, then full or partial cost recovery is mandatory. By contrast, Nigeria, under Buhari, has the begging and borrowing bowl out all the time. And, if you take a look at the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, there is no end in sight to borrowing. The DG-DMO has again revealed another frightening aspect of Buharinomics. The FG and the state governments acquiring these loans have given no thought to who will pay in the future since some of those loans will last beyond 2030 – long after they would have been gone. By not including cost recovery into the package the current generation of adult Nigerians is being encouraged to have a “feast” and pass the bills to their children and grandchildren. They have no repayment plan other than to borrow again to repay the old loans with interest. That explains why the debt stock is rising and we must borrow more to redeem old obligations. It is a sure path to economic disaster. The consequences of three years of poor economic management are already apparent even now. Debt servicing increases annually as a percentage of total expenditure. Instead of repairing roads, developing better schools, expanding agriculture and providing water and power for more Nigerians we are shoveling out more dollars to repay loans with interest. Meanwhile, there is next to nothing to show for the N2.75tn borrowed since June 30, 2017. The road to economic hell in Nigeria is paved with Buharinomics!!

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/a-future-mortgaged-buharinomics-leading-nigeria-into-another-debt-trap/
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/a-future-mortgaged-buharinomics-leading-nigeria-into-another-debt-trap/

CC: seun lalasticlala mynd44

WHY PDP IS TEN TIMES BETTER THAN APC
Femi Aribisala.

APC is an expired drug. Nigerians now know what it means to vote against good luck.

I have said time and again I am not a member of the PDP. I am saying it again. I have never been and will never be a member of any political party in Nigeria. I have also said I do not know personally, have never met or even ever spoken to President Goodluck Jonathan, although I remain as ardent in his support as I was during the 2015 election.

Before you call me a liar, let me state here for the record that I finally had the privilege of speaking to President Jonathan a few weeks ago. A nice lady named Doris phoned me, pleased she was finally able to reach me. She had a simple message: President Jonathan would like to speak to me. She then gave me his phone-number.

So, I finally had the opportunity to speak to President Jonathan for the very first time. Speaking to him took me back to thinking about the heady days of the 2015 presidential elections. I am of the opinion that history is already beginning to vindicate President Jonathan and to restore his legacy, in spite of incessant APC propaganda.

We have now had three and a half years of APC rule. We have now seen what APC change actually entails. We are no longer under any illusions. Even though the APC has spent the last few years re-litigating what was wrong with the PDP, it should now be clear that the PDP is far better than the APC; at least ten times better.

Stolen ideas

In three and a half years in power, there is no single original idea of note that has emanated from the APC. What it has been doing is to claim PDP ideas as its own. APC claims credit to the TSA when in fact it is of PDP inspiration. It claims credit for the turn-around maintenance of our refineries when it is in fact a Jonathan/PDP legacy. It claims credit for increased rice production in Nigeria, when it was the PDP that achieved this.

APC claims credit for the rehabilitation of rail lines in Nigeria, but the truth is that this is essentially a PDP initiative. It claimed PDP stole the money earmarked for buying weapons to fight Boko Haram, then went ahead to use the same weapons it said were non-existent to equip the army to fight Boko Haram. NERC Chairman, Sam Amadi, stressed that improvements in power supply are the result of the efforts made by the Jonathan administration.

If we are now celebrating the end of polio in Nigeria, it has nothing to do with the APC and everything to do with the PDP. If we are indeed well on our way to self-sufficiency in rice production, it is because of the activities of the PDP, and not because of the inactivity of APC. In three and a half years, APC has added precious little to PDP achievements. On the contrary, it has degraded many milestones.

From bad to worse

Bill Gates hailed Nigeria’s fight against polio under Jonathan and the PDP as one of the great world achievements of 2014. However, the same Bill Gates identifies Nigeria under Buhari and the APC as one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate in the old. He also identified the government’s economic policy as dismally ineffectual.

Indeed, everything under this APC government has gone from bad to worse. The economy is worse. The cost of living is worse. The security situation is worse. The naira is worse. The unity of Nigerians is worse. The corruption index is worse. The NEPA situation is worse. The ministers in the presidential cabinet are worse. The liberty of Nigerians is worse. The rule of law is worse. The political climate is toxic.

We are not just saddled with an incompetent government. We are saddled with one that merely watches while we are being murdered in our homes, farms and churches. We are saddled with a government that tells us the choice we have is either to lose our land to carpetbaggers or lose our lives. We are saddled with a government that defines itself as a northern, instead of a national government; with all its security architecture in the hands of northerners.

In 16 years in power, the PDP not only cleared Nigeria’s debts of some $30 billion, it borrowed a total of only 6 trillion naira. However, in only 3 years, the APC has returned Nigeria to debtor status and borrowed a whopping 11 trillion naira. We are yet to see what all this new debt has been spent on.

Lack of integrity

The APC is the party that boasts of integrity but lacks integrity. This ensures it embarrasses itself with one scandal after the other. From the Babachir Lawal’s ‘grasscutter’ scandal, the Abdulrashid Maina’s pension and recall scam, the NHIS scandal, the EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu’s scandal to the recent Kemi Adeosun NYSC certificate forgery scandal; the APC fails to act against corruption while nevertheless fooling itself that it is a champion of anti-corruption.

Unlike the proverbial charity, APC’s anti-corruption does not begin at home in the APC. The party encourages and molly-cuddles the corrupt. Indeed, it has an open-door policy for the corrupt. Once you are in APC or you decamp to APC, you are automatically whitewashed from corruption allegations.

Once you have corruption allegations to answer before the EFCC, all you need to do is defect to the APC and you will be welcome with open arms. Your corruption case will also suddenly disappear. This is the case with Godswill Akpabio. He had a pending case of corruption with the EFCC but has now quickly defected from the PDP to the APC. That singular act is likely to whitewash him and dustbin his case.

Anti-corruption for the APC is declaring Rotimi Amaechi innocent until proven guilty; while declaring Diezani Allison-Madueke guilty until proven innocent.

Whatever anyone may think or say about the PDP, it is a national party. As a matter of fact, it remains the only national party in Nigeria to date in this republic. Its membership and strength stretch from North to South and from East to West.

Not so the APC. The APC is a sectarian party. It is an agglomeration of regional parties that merged together for the sake of capturing the presidency. Once this happened, their sectarianism came back to the fore.

On his inauguration, the president told Nigerians: “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody.” However, the APC has turned out to be essentially a North-west and South-west party that has effectively divided Nigeria along regional lines. On his election, the president went to the U.S. where he declared that: “The constituents (that) gave me 97% cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%.”

That means the president can largely overlook the South-East and the South-South in appointments. It also means Fulani herdsmen from the North can continue to kill innocent farmers all over the country while government sees no evil and hears no evil.

When a substantive INEC chairman was finally approved, the president broke another protocol by choosing a man from his own region, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, continuing the lopsided policy whereby the chief organs of the federal government (the presidency, the legislature and the judiciary) are now all headed by Northerners.

Champions of hypocrisy

Nevertheless, there are certain areas where there is no doubt the APC is ten times better than the PDP. One of these areas is in hypocrisy. The APC is the undisputed champion of hypocrisy. It contradicts its own vaunted values repeatedly without batting an eyelid. In the area of hypocrisy, the PDP is certainly no match for the APC.

Recently, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, shocked Nigerians by launching a so-called National Campaign Against Fake News. What is so amazing about this boldface duplicity is that Lai Mohammed himself is the chief exponent of fake news in Nigeria. Lai Mohammed urged Nigerians to “Say No to Fake News.” However, his very campaign is fake news. Here is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Lai Mohammed is Nigeria’s version of Iraq’s Comical Ali, the sobriquet for Saddam Hussein’s Minister of Information whose job was to give false reports of Iraqi successes during the 1990 war. It was Lai Mohammed who dazzled Nigerians with the fake news that the Boko Haram was responsible for the scarcity of tomatoes. He told Nigerians President Buhari was hale and hearty in London, only for the president himself to return and say he had never felt so sick in his life.

APC would have Nigerians believe the lie that the recent disgraceful storming of the National Assembly by the DSS was orchestrated by Bukola Saraki, the Senate president. That is a load of hogwash. Lai Mohammed also said the gory tales of herdsmen murdering hapless Nigerians is fake news. If you believe this outright falsehood, then you will believe anything.

A newspaper commentator had this to say: “For Lie Mohammed to advise to media not to yield their platform to spread fake news is like the devil advocating to his subject not to tell lies.”

Buyers’ remorse

It is not surprising, therefore, that quite a number of those who left the PDP for the APC four years ago have become so disgusted with the APC that, like prodigal sons, they have returned to the PDP. They include Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president of Nigeria; Bukola Saraki, Senate President; Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano; Senator Bernabas Gemade and Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State.

Many who waxed lyrical about the virtues of the APC four years ago now hate the APC. They include President Obasanjo, Wole Soyinka and Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka.

Nevertheless, we cannot insist APC did not bring change. It brought change but it was change that pauperized Nigeria. APC brought change from peace to restiveness; it brought change from gainful employment to job insecurity and massive unemployment; it brought change from national unity to sectarianism; it brought change from good health to medical check-ups; it brought change from life to death by herdsmen.

It brought change from 1 dollar exchanging for 190 naira to one dollar exchanging for 360 naira; it brought change from 87-naira fuel to 145-naira fuel; it brought change from 20 tomatoes selling for 50 naira to one tomato selling for 100 naira; it brought change from hope to despair; it brought change from light to darkness. Now that is change we can certainly do without.

APC is an expired drug. Nigerians now know what it means to vote against good luck.

Femi Aribisala

We really need to get this tragedy of buhari's misrule behind us if we are to move forward as a country. We need to actively start seeking out and supporting leaders with brains to lead us.

The Rise and Fall of Buhari.

This write up coming from the London Economist, a magazine that endorsed Buhari for President in 2015, is perhaps the most significant, objective, unbiased, unsentimental and deeply incisive analysis of the policies and actions of this president so far. The facts are unimpeachable by any objective mind.

The Unprecedented Level of Patience Shown to Buhari---the ECONOMIST

Nigerians have never shown such level of patience and tolerance towards any of their past leaders for his record and strange policies as that shown to their current leader, Muhammadu Buhari – a former military dictator now self-confessed democrat who said he came to fight corruption.

Buhari, 75, is being plagued with failures across every single sector in the economy, the like as has never been seen before. Less than a year into office, the economy plummeted into recession, an economy which had till then grown at an average rate of 7% in previous years (2011-2014). The nation’s currency lost 70% of its value, unemployment rose from 6.5 to 26%, commodity prices tripled across many quarters and the state-regulated premium motor spirit prices were hiked by 67% without practically anybody batting an eye.

There have been stern opposition to his policies however and to his very personality as well, notably in the South East and South- South regions in the country as they are called, where he both received less than 5% of the votes cast at the last Presidential election and where he has always been sternly unpopular for his history of bigotry against the people, perceived incompetence and dictatorial tendencies. But in many other regions across the country the people have rather resolved to suffer patiently, drawing up excuses for him at will, blaming everyone including his hundreds of political appointees, anything and anybody but never the man himself.

Buhari’s party, the APC, promised Nigerians unprecedented swiping changes in government and the eviction of all corrupt individuals.
One possible explanation for this could be his party’s hope narrative in the 2015 General election where citizens were promised an unprecedented crackdown on corruption and the abolition of all government waste by a man whose financial worth they declared to have been less than N30million ($150,000 then), a historical low for a former top official in the country and most especially a former leader.

In a country plagued by acute corruption problems and with the unremitted crude oil revenue scandal of 2014 still fresh in the people’s minds, many were eager for an abrupt change, the like as never been seen before. He was seen an army general, already experienced in government, with a great strength of will, tough to take on the nation’s cabal of hardened criminals. He promised to appoint only technocrats to head the country’s departments and to see out the lingering Boko Haram insurgency from the warfront. For a nation lacking basic amenities such as power supply in spite of its huge energy resources and with the lingering insurgency crises, the choice seemed easy to many- the general with integrity was the man for the country.

Talk was cheap then but now reality has taken its course. His earliest opponents pointed out to his track record and not to his speech, noting that the last time Nigeria fell into dismal failure, currency woes and commodity shortages was when he had seized power as a military general in 1983 and stating that the facts of that record contradicted the poems of his image brokers.

Many however just wanted “change” as it was then called and so voted the General and sat to wait for the sung promises. But from the onset of his government, the course was as his critics had predefined: Incompetency, bigotry and dictatorial tendencies plaguing the country.

He ignored the newly born genocide in the middle belt of the country perpetuated by the Fulani herdsmen of his kindred against the Christian communities in Benue, Plateau and later on Kaduna. He breached the Central Bank’s 2007 Act of Independence, telling it to suspend forex disbursements to steel importers and other manufacturing sectors in a bid to defend the Naira, a disastrous action which kick-started a spiral of recession.


He took 3 months to appoint his Chief of Staff, 6 months to appoint a cabinet and now 23 months and yet counting to appoint heads of agencies and board members he was so eager to fire upon his assumption into office and rose import duties on the most basic of commodities in a bid to raise government revenue.

And as for the corruption fight, the facts on ground do not show any one at all. Apart from a few officials harassed or imprisoned without court order, the country is yet to witness the first victim of the said campaign at the court stands.

Government waste is on the rise, officials publicly caught in graft acts were swiftly excused, the 2016 Budget year passed without implementation and most worrisome, the Central Bank’s foreign reserves were being shared among unknown Bureau De Change operators at variable rates at the detriment of critical manufacturing, business and banking sectors.

The government continues to praise itself but the people seem to be increasingly tired of the paraded self-righteousness. The President’s recent illness was greeted with cheers by many. Many are just tired of the government. But the remarkable level of patience shown so far has been unprecedented and many a times the general reactions towards acts of constitutional violations was one of calmness or insensitivity.

If the Change narrative of the 2015 election and the songs of man of integrity are to account for this, then Nigerians may have just certified themselves on the world map as a nation easy to fool with propaganda. An adult should be judged on his track record not on his tongue.

Culled from The Economist

For several reasons it's just ridiculous to make a choice of Buhari as our President. Those who are still supporting him obviously need psychiatric help.

I’ve read pro and anti-Buhari articles in symbolical narrative but none quite like this sex allegory. Wonderful!

WHEN AN ABUSE OF AN OLD MAN BECOMES MINDLESS AND ATROCIOUS

By Yusuf Mohammed

When a man gets older and crosses age 70, his sense organs begin to wane and malfunction. The brain articulates slower.

It is normal to hear old men complain of ear, eye and joint problems. Human body is like a car. It gets older by each day. It also needs frequent medical checks.

A young wife of an old man seldom gets a full ration of sex. She gets excuses while the husband bores her with stories of his great days as a young man. It’s like a history class.

The old man only has early morning half or feeble erection or no erection at all. He keeps promising and promising with little or no results the nightmare of his expectant wife. It’s frustrating if the wife is a faithful one. Like Nigerians who are forced to live, work in and consume Nigeria

The best of a man is when he can do what real men can do. That is, when he can transmute part of his sexual energy to create new things or to transform his environment. When he can dream dreams and live his dreams.

Once a man is past his prime, no promises could be kept. Privately, he rues the loss of his youthfulness.

By 2019, Buhari shall be 76+. If he were a judge or a professor, he would have retired. If he were any other civil servant, he would have also retired 16 years before.

But the job of the president is more tasking than that of a judge, professor or any other civil servants. He works 7 days a week and every hour.

Is it not an irony that people retire due to declining performance or old age only to take up a more tasking job and expect to excel?

In the absence of strong institutions, the President of Nigeria is saddled with onerous responsibilities enough to bend the back of a willing septuagenarian. That’s why everything in the country is going slow to the frustration of those who believe that we could have progressed faster.

How many files can President Buhari read and treat at his current age? How long can he sit in meetings? What quantum decibels of voices can his ears take? How far can an old man run without breaking down? What happens to productivity while the vehicle is being fixed, in a country where everyone waits to be directed by the president before acting.

Many developmental economists and genuine business people who have serious investments in Nigeria don’t want this nightmare to continue. They got Bill Gates to help them speak truth to power.

The disillusioned business people can’t complain aloud lest their previous sins like unpaid taxes are remembered. They speak through reductions in their workforce.

We all know that as a man gets older, he makes no hasty decisions and would surprised if anybody pushes for urgency. Didn’t we wait for about 7 months for ministers to be nominated in 2015?

*"Most people dancing over the president’s re-election announcement are happy because they would retain their privileged positions not minding whether the president can still carry the weight or not. Unlike Simon of Cyrene, they are willing to help carry the presidential cross for their own benefits"*.

Also dancing are those other Nigerians who believe that Maradona or Pèle can still reenact the heroics they were known for. They wanted to watch the president perform his action film IBB aborted in 1985 forgetting that there can’t be “with immediate effect” again. He also doesn’t have the “Idiagbon factor” anymore.

The hailers want all looters dealt with but they have a misplaced hope. It will take legal reforms and investment in human resources and technology to make criminal justice more effective and faster. You cannot travel from Lagos to Abuja by a bus and expect to arrive in an hour. Governance outcomes are products of deliberate actions or inactions.

However, few of the initial hailers are smart enough to have realized that they misplaced their hope. They want the “change” changed.

Strikingly, many hailers have aged parents at home; the former powerful parents they no longer allow to take decisions for them. But, they want Papa Yusuf to be deciding for them and their numerous millennial kids in Nigeria.

*"If Buhari wins in 2019, our grandfather president would continue to be a meal ticket to those around him who would be exercising the presidential powers by proxy just like drivers, cooks, maids and other domestic staff control the old men they are meant to serve"*.

All the old men are not known for disciplining young children and domestic servants living with them. They indulge them. We have seen it happen in this presidency.

Nigeria as a country is like a nymphomaniac (that is a woman with insatiable desire for sex).

Imagine a 77 years old man appealing to an energy sapping nymphomaniac Nigeria saying: *“choose me, I will make you moan, I will make you want me some more, I will satisfy you beyond your imagination!”*

It is the same Nigeria, the old man has been sleeping with for the past three years without making her wet as his feeble phallus has refused to rise to a hopeful strength.

It is sheer madness to expect a pregnant sheep to give birth to a baby elephant. That’s the illusion of the backers of this re-election bid.

Let someone name a 77 years old man who is efficiently running any cooperation or a multinational in Nigeria 7 days a week.

It is wicked to abuse an old man just as it is very atrocious for any child to allow his or her father to be abused by those who derive their relevance or existence from the such abuse.

Please share with your contacts

fk001:
Stay in your country and make it, no place like home.




I have never seen or heard that a Northerner crossing the Mediterranean sea.

How can they make it in their country after Buhari plunged us into the worst recession in our history, made us the poverty capital of the world and with poverty is on a rapid increase?

Cjrane2:
I tell Nigerians that the impact of poor corrupt leadership at home is waay beyond just putting Buhari in power.

Nigerians that voted him in will eventually run out of Nigeria and be mistreated as animals in foreign lands. Come to think of it, aren't we animals for voting a 75 year old illiterate former coup plotter as our leader in this modern day and age?

Well, sorry to the girls. I pray they regain their freedom someday.

If only we had responsible leadership in the country. As long as it is not Fulani people that are affected Buhari will not lift a finger to address this malady.

This is really sad and pathetic that such evil is still going on in the world today. What are our African leaders doing to stop this tragedy? What exactly is the role of the African Union if such evil is still being metted out to Africans on African soil. Something drastic needs to be done to put an end to this assault on our collective humanity.

CC: Seun lalasticlala mynd44

Mine is Donald Duke, the best performing governor in the history of Nigeria.

You are very wrong, just let one single Fulani man be killed by a community and you will see the army, police, DSS and airforce trying to out do themselves in dealing with the 'assailants'.

lilfreezy:
Mumu, without zoning, a minority tribe like yours wouldn't smell the presidency

Such myopic thinking