₦airaland Forum

Musiwa419:
se emo wipe ile ise epo ti ogbeni dangote fe kosi Lekki ni ipinle Eko, Olokola ni ipinle Ogun lo fe kosi tele

1. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN
2. Dr Ibe Kachikwu
3. Dr Okechukwu Enyinna Enelama
4. Dr Kayode Fayemi
5. Professor Isaac Adewole
6. Engr Suleiman Adamu
7. James Ocholi
8. Kemi Adeosun
9. Lt.Gen Dr Abdulrahman Dambazau
10. Geoffrey Onyeama
11. Amina Muhammed
12. Dr Ogbonaya Onu
13. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed
14. Solomon Dalong
15. Senator Udo Udo Udoma
16. Dr Osagie Ehanire
17. Ibrahim Usman Jibril
18. Abubakar Malami SAN
19. Senator Hadi Sirika
20. Muhammad Bello

21. Professor Anthony Anwuka
22. Senator Aisha Alhassan
23. Abubakar Bawa Bwari
24. Chief Audu Ogbeh
25. Mallam Adamu Adamu
27. Barr. Adebayo Shittu
28. Rtd Brigadier-General Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali
29. Dr Chris Ngige
30. Rotimi Amaechi
31. Senator Heineken Lokpobiri
32. Pastor Usani Usani
33. Alhaji Lai Muhammed
34. Mustapha Baba Shehuri
35. Professor Claudius Omoleye Daramola
36. Aisha Abubakar

zimoni:
Mo gbo wipe o ti da ise na duro.

modath:
Eeyan mi oluwa a fi ere si ise yin, amo nitori oluwa ki ni aregbe fe fi ibudoko baalu se ni ilu ti o ju wakati 3 si eko ti ko se si oro aje ti o ni ilo re...
Iyi to dun mi ju ninu gbogbo iranu ti o n se ni ki eeyan ma ni oro rere lenu..... otun n ba awon asoju (union) ni gboloun aso lori owo won...
Ose odun merin akoko daradara amon merin ikeji yi, ko ye oun gan fun ra alarare...
Mi o ki n fe ma so oro Ogbeni ekiti yen, gbogbo nkan ti e eeyin lo ko oju si.

zimoni:
Adojutini ni Ogbeni jakujaku ko pe ra ni Aregbe ni, e se Ijesha gidi. Ijesha a se apa, olusowo ke e s'aseyori ni a re, a a se apa. Apa ni Ogbeni jatijati Aregbe ni, adojutini gbaa ni.

Hinpele Oooooooooo.

WIZGUY69:
Whats up? People

totit:
Rara o sugbon omo egba ni mi ..baawa oo ..nigba ti iya mi je omo eko ile
Eko loobi mi sii sugbon mo ma'n lo si egba lekokan
Baawa o

WIZGUY69:
You know the reason why Abeokuta is not really that developed? Most projects (govt & privates) are just scattered in other areas apart from capital, which is alien to Nigeria system. Akure & Ibadan is more developed than Abeokuta.

ogaofficer:
This woman failed woefully whilst reciting the national pledge. Na wa o.

When George Thompson Sekibo, the senator representing Rivers East senatorial District rose on the senate floor, October 9, to present a petition against the nomination of Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as a minister, it left even the most naive amongst Nigerians in little doubt that the first shot had been fired in the plan to politically immobilise the former Rivers state governor. The Red Chamber’s response to the petition was reported to have been an uproarious frenzy.

Sekibo who said the petition was based on an investigation carried out by a Port Harcourt-based organisation called the Integrity Group that “believes in transparency, and fighting corruption,” is known to be among a hardcore group of Rivers State politicians who seem bent on scuttling Amaechi’s nomination – either by hook or by crook – and thus rendering him unfit to hold public office. Sekibo went on to explain to his colleagues that the Integrity Group believed “in good governance and the effective utilisation of every fund that is allocated to any state government.” In the group’s research, the senator alleged that on Amaechi’s watch, over N70 billion were transferred from hard currency account to places outside the country, a petition which he said had been forwarded to President Buhari. And this is quite a serious charge.

Also looming over Amaechi’s credibility is the recent report of the Commission of inquiry set up by his successor Governor Nyesom Wike that found the former governor guilty of diverting N53 billion, a charge which Amaechi has since denied, challenging his accusers to go to court if they feel so compelled. In his own defence, Amaechi explained that the missing funds were duly used to offset the short fall from federal allocations to his state which had dwindled over time due to incessant spats with federal authorities.

However, what has been conspicuous in its absence in this melodrama which has almost become a permanent feature in the politics of the Rivers State of Nigeria, is the timing of all these accusations and the identity of those who are making them. I am of the opinion that only a few Nigerians will be found to be ignorant of the fact that Amaechi’s problems have their origins in the grudge match between him and former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience which has since morphed into all-out animus.

Since sometime in August 2010, when Amaechi endured public humiliation in the hands of Mrs. Jonathan who was reported to have literally snatched the microphone from the then Governor Amaechi and proceeded to offer him unsolicited lessons on governance and land use, there has been no love lost between the Jonathans and Amaechi .

Amaechi’s sin that earned him the public embarrassment was said to have centered around some demolition exercise which the state government had planned to carry out in Mrs. Jonathan’s Okirika hometown as to make the environment conducive to students in a nearby school. From thence on, Amaechi and Goodluck Jonathan have found it difficult to get along, and no amount of public posturing could mask the bad blood that have marked their frosty relationship.

In a piece in his The Guardian newspaper column of August 27, 2010, Reuben Abati – shortly before his appointment as the spokesman for the Jonathan presidency – encapsulated the Okirika incident thus: “In Okirika, Dame Patience behaved so impatiently and spoke to Governor Amaechi as if he is on the staff of the presidency. It may not be her fault though. Amaechi caused it all by bringing himself to such a level by undertaking to debrief Dame Patience about his administration’s programmes and activities in the misguided hope of getting cheap political endorsement. He should have asked his wife to attend to her.” How time changes everything!

Matters then took a turn for the worse with the news of Amaechi’s perceived ambition to contest the 2015 presidential elections as the running mate to Sule Lamido. It was obvious that this unconfirmed piece of news rattled the Jonathan cage to no end. And this was coming on the heels of Jonathan’s open hostility towards an Amaechi tenure as the Chairman of the all-powerful Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

The mother of all feuds between the two, however, turned out to be the messy battle for the oil wells of Soku and Elem-Sangama. Amaechi felt that his state – Rivers – had been sorely shortchanged by Bayelsa State, Jonathan’s home state, that became the beneficiary of proceeds from the disputed wells. Amaechi protested the arbitrariness of the handling of the matter, and expressed his position in unmistakable terms while directing his angst about the matter at Jonathan. Amaechi accused the former president of complicity, thus further deepening the chasm between the two camps.

From thence on, it was one ugly face-off after another between the two men. Amaechi dug in his heels. And Jonathan and his handlers pushed back, refusing to have the President humiliated.

Other public confrontations were to follow. With every given opportunity, Amaechi took on Jonathan’s men such as the well publicised media face-off with Jonathan’s Minister for the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe and Information Minister, Labaran Maku.

Therefore, it was no surprise at all when Amaechi quit his membership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pitched his tent with the then opposition party – All Progressives Congress (APC), and taking with him four other PDP governors with several legislators in tow. Without question, this marked a major shift in the power equation on the national political scene for the first time in a long time. And from that moment, the centre could no longer hold. And while Amaechi gloated, his former party accused him of having committed the unpardonable sin.

Apparently, to compensate Amaechi for not getting the Vice Presidential candidate’s slot, APC leadership appointed him to the position of Director General of the party’s presidential campaign committee.

In the typical Amaechi style, he threw himself into the assignment with such personal conviction and gusto, making more enemies in the process. Amaechi took the task personal. His commitment was total. And he was loud about it.

On the PDP side, some of his erstwhile friends-turned-foes were working their magic to return the PDP to power so they could exact their comeuppance on Amaechi. One of them is of course, his one-time chief of staff and confidant now tormentor-in-chief, the current Governor Wike who assumed the unofficial role of a hatchet man for the Jonathans.

With this as the back-drop, most of us are under no illusion about the origins of Amaechi’s current political headaches which have their roots in his problems with the Jonathans. And if you ask me, I believe that the former first couple are still waging a proxy war against Amaechi. These are part of the dynamics which saw Rivers state show up ingloriously on the radar as one of the flash points in the last general elections – the outcome of which is soon to be determined by an electoral tribunal.

In fairness to his critics and enemies, Rotimi Amaechi can be brash. His in-your-face personality and impetuous disposition often rub many the wrong way. Conversely, he can be down-to-earth, and even apolitical.

For the records, Amaechi is a product of political crises, dating back to the events leading up to his winning the mandate to become the governor of Rivers state. His problems with the likes of Peter Odili (Amaechi’s political mentor) and former President Olusegun Obasanjo with whom he later reconciled are well documented. We cannot also forget the legal abracadabra that led up to a Supreme Court ruling that enabled him reclaim his mandate and go on to occupy the Brick House (the Rivers state Government lodge) to the consternation of many.

With Amaechi’s type of personality, I am not in the least surprised that he continues to get in trouble. Consequently, he remains one of the most misunderstood Nigerian politicians of our time. But, I must say that one of Amaechi’s strong suits is his fierce loyalty to his friends. That quality, I believe is one of the reasons why he enjoys such close relationship with President Buhari who himself is a stickler for loyalty, and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. Even with Peter Odili from whom Amaechi is estranged, I have been in circles where he reverently referred to his erstwhile mentor in nothing but respectful terms. But he does not suffer fools gladly.

That is why I am among those who believe that Rotimi Amaechi will be sitting in jail today if Goodluck Jonathan had won the last presidential election. His enemies were determined to humiliate him and deconstruct his career.

I am of the opinion that those same forces are still at work today. This time, they seem to be operating from the chambers of the National Assembly.

However, let me caution that the mob mentality demonstrated recently with the release of Buhari’s list of ministers does not augur well for our democracy. The nation must not be subjected to further delays in having the President’s cabinet in place, and the subsequent articulation and implementation of the policies of the new government.

I am not in any way advocating that Amaechi’s nomination as a minister in the new government should be any less scrutinised.

However, our senators mustn’t allow their parochial sentiments to becloud their constitutionally guaranteed duties. This process can no longer be unnecessarily dragged out for any narrow-minded reason.

When and if Rotimi Amaechi’s sins are profoundly proven beyond reasonable doubts, I have no misgivings about Buhari’s predilection to doing the needful – relieving Amaechi of his position. If he fails, Nigerians will not let him forget.

Until then, I am of the school of thought that believes in the hypothesis that Amaechi’s current problems are more political than ethical. The developmental strides made under his belt as governor of Rivers State were on many occasions lauded by independent observers. For example, in the summer of 2009, an internationally adjudged panel in the United States made up of law makers, Hollywood celebrities and activists under the banner of the Africa Achievement Awards-USA, honoured him in Beverly Hills, California for his leadership role in one of the most volatile parts of the world.

I am prepared to concede the fact to those who say that Amaechi’s problems are self-inflicted. More often than not, Amaechi demonstrates lack of tact and proper understanding of his immediate social and political environment. This is his Achilles heels. And that costs him quite some political dividends and mileage. However, let me state that that does not translate to inefficiency, corruption or any other form of malfeasance in any language.

Amaechi can be strongly opinionated, even to the point of being didactic. This has on many occasions been misconstrued to mean arrogance. I don’t think so. And at a time in the life of his tenure as governor, this became a source of veritable distraction to the attainment of some of his goals. That he should have managed it well as a statesman is an argument I can buy. The rest of the other theatrics have been nothing short of rabble-rousing, and trying to give a dog a bad name to kill it.

Having said all that, we must not allow this situation cost this nation the opportunity to have someone like Rotimi Amaechi serve. Therefore, we cannot afford to throw away this baby. With the bath water.

That is my story. And I stand by it.

Charles Anyiam is Editor-In-Chief, The African Times-USA.

400billionman:
Why did you edit the comment of Hell Raiser. ?

guest-swlnniw Oct 13th, 08:17
This isn't a very well written article. To attribute the improved power supply to Buhari, when he has himself said he had nothing to do with it, is downright mischievous.

I tell people to always give credit where it's due. If not you end up praising people for work they haven't done, or for shoddy work and as a result they end up doing the barest minimum.

Communal Award Oct 13th, 04:46
Voting != Democracy;

China’s model of capitalism is more popular in Africa than America’s democracy.
http://qz.com/521970/why-chinas-model-of-capitalism-is-popular-in-africa...

AKPAN54 Oct 11th, 13:57

The author fails to include the months of transition that he had following the election, which is usually more than enough for in-coming governments all over the democratic world to assemble a governing team, the better to hit the ground running, as they say. But let's leave that aside, for there is a much more serious problem with the man called Buhari (and to be fair, with our judgment too, as Nigerians). To begin with, here is a man who once literally ruled unopposed for 20 good months, and never managed to create one single job or generate one single microwatt of electricity. On the contrary, unemployment was accelerated, while he engaged in a highly selective witch-hunt against certain individuals (as is happening already this time) – in the name of fighting corruption, as if it is corruption that has caused itself, rather than the man-made chaos and dysfunctionality of the so-called “country” that makes it impossible to fight corruption.

And who can forget the deeply insulting War Against Indiscipline that he inflicted upon us? Leaving aside the crude barbarisms inflicted by the ubiquitous horsewhip, you were expected to clean up your neighbourhood each Saturday morning - which rendered the duty of government (to whom you were also expected to pay your taxes, on pain of savage punishment) redundant. Not to mention the idea of his ilk attempting to teach us what our ancestors did for themselves instinctively: keep their environment tidy.

Yet, how we praised him for "restoring order and discipline" - apparently unaware that every odious regime, from Stalin's to Hitler's to Pol Pot's to Pinochet's to the Kims' of N.Korea have relied on that very same logic - I've left aside ISIS because it hadn't yet emerged, to be fair, though we already had their godfathers in Saudi Arabia too.

So, it was no surprise to me at all that we elected him into office because of his track record - except that that record had nothing to do with the strategic economic imagination capable of translating policies (even if he had any, which he demonstrably hasn’t) into jobs, healthcare, etc.

To me, his (re)emergence as a saintly messiah speaks volumes about the quality of our so-called leadership, and represents a scathing indictment of our collective judgment. Then again, who says we don’t deserve him.

Jenkins Dagba Oct 10th, 20:47
Buhari's government was brought together by a coalition of unlikely partners whose unifying characteristic is a genuine love for Nigeria. They are from varying backgrounds.. some with dubious antecedents, he has to work with them however. The "go slow" is a deliberate move to purge the people he has to work with of their not so desired characteristics. A majority of Nigerians get this.

makusa Oct 9th, 12:30
As former Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria and author of "Nigeria: A Business Manual", I see no correlation between the performance, on one side, and either delay an/or the age of the nominees on the other. Let us not forget how long Gen. Buhari needed to persevere before getting elected - and becoming the oldest Nigerian Head of State ever.

It is possible to offer some rationalisation for the delay. Firstly, the socio-economic dynamic was unfamiliar to the new helmsman - the country and its government having changed in past 32 years. Secondly, the oil price tumble, Naira free fall, Boko Haram and other crises needed some time to get to the grips with. Under Nigerian system the policies flow from the State House. If the State House itself was clueless (as was often the case in past two terms), it would have compounded the situation. Lastly, as head of nascent coalition, President Buhari saw the how the old guard out-manouvred him to get Senate President elected by stealth. He needed to give long rope to such tendencies and impose his will on the system.
Having said the above, the Cabinet formation could not have been delayed forever. The ministers normally also represent the states (and their Governors). Moreover, the budgetary process for 2016 need being concluded by next month.

Hell-raiser Oct 8th, 23:37
The remarkably old ages of the ministerial nominees (60 and above) is causing consternation . . .
Moreover, although some nominees expertise such as Fashola (strategy execution), and Amina (inclusive growth and sustainable development) are well suited to the country's situation, it's difficult to fathom someone like Rt. Lt. Gen. Dambazau comprehending the complexities of development, such as say technological development, which northern Nigeria is in dire need of . . .