₦airaland Forum

Very interesting read: http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/01/07/20030107law02.html

Gomer, I also tried search the Guardian's website but their seach engine is very poor and fails to find anything. If you can scan it that would be great, it is possible the article was never put online but I will try to contact them to get it if you can't get it to me.

I am not actually Efik or from Cross Rivers State. I am not from the South South either, I just believe Duke is the best candidate and I will always support the best candidate irrespective of where he/she comes from.

Regarding your comment on IBB; I wonder how IBB would feel if he wins and OBJ annuls the elections.

ha ha. Aferni, I am calling for the most radical paradigm shift in the history of Nigeria, whereby Nigeria elects the first President born after Independence, the first President from the South-South, the first President from the Efik ethnic group, the first President who is a University graduate etc etc and you are calling for the election of a military man who ruled 20 years ago and you say I want to maintain the status quo. How did you work that out? I am looking to the future and you are looking to the past.

Many crimes are crimes against society but in this case the students were smuggling the drugs out of Nigeria so which society did they commit a crime against? And to make matters worse the law on which they were tried was enacted after the offence took place. If you want to talk of crimes against the state then Buhari committed one of the gravest crimes against the state when he overthrow Shagari's goverment. Buhari also disgraced Nigeria when he broke UK and international law by trying to kidnap and smuggle Umaru Dikko back into Nigeria. Is that who we want for President, an international criminal. I can just imagine the western government being elated about dealing with a man who ran one of the most draconian governments during his brief stay.

Please lets move on and stop looking backwards. That is one of Nigeria's biggest problem, inability to break with the past. The international community will not take Nigeria seriously if we elect another former leader after Obasanjo, especially given the poor track record they had while in power.

well, your name matches your thinking. fyi, carrying drugs is not a crime against the state, however corruption (i.e. stealing from the government purse) but yet Buhari did not execute a single corrupt politician. Both of you have flawed ideaologies and that is why there are only 2 of you supporting Buhari on this forum.

Afeni, don't believe the Buhari hype. If parties sponsored candidates 100% then it won't be only rich people ruling Nigeria. If Buhari is so clean or a saint why did he serve in the PTF under Abacha. Would you have worked for Abacha? I wouldn't. The fact that Buhari does not flaunt wealth does not mean he does not have wealth.

If Buhari is so clean why did he avoid the Oputa truth commission Obasanjo set up? What sort of a democrat is that? I am not going to waste more time on a man whose main legacy from his 18 months rule is brutality and violation of human rights. Do you remember the 3 Nigerian students he executed for carrying drugs despite the plea from so many people around the world?

DAhxxxxx, (with a shameful name like that no wonder you are blind and think Buhari is an Angel)

Well, you haven't answered my questions. If Buhari is so honest where did he get the money for his presidential campaign from? Do you know what the pension of a retired general is? It is not even enough to build/buy a big house in Nigeria let alone sponsor a presidential campaign. I'll say it again Buhari is rich, no where as rich as IBB and some others, but a lot richer than his salaries over the year could have made him. So since you know him so well please
tell us where he got the money.

I know Nigeria history very well, and I am sure much better than you do. You obviously don't read the news because if you did you would know that IBB and Buhari have long since made up and IBB, Buhari and Atiku are colaborating to bring the presidency back to the North.

Please answer my questrion,  where did the money come from to sponsor Buhari's presidential campaign? There are different level of greed and evil and I agree Buhari is less than IBB on both scales but he is not a saint AT ALL and is not fit to rule Nigeria. For your info I don't support IBB either. I support Donald Duke. He is probably the cleanest governor in the entire country, that's why the presidency is considering him for the top job,  see: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=54184

Duke is the man to take Nigeria to the next level. Book a trip to Cross River and see for yourself. Here is a good travel agency: http://www.remlordstours.com

For those already convinced of Duke, join the bandwagon: dukeforpresident.com

Buhari may not be as wealthy as IBB but he is a lot wealthier than the pension of a retired General/Head of State would make make him. So where did Buhari get the money to fund his presidential campaign?

Question number 2. If Buhari is so clean why is he associating with IBB and Atiku?

It is the principal (of serving your nation at whatever level nescessary) I support not the man Etibet.

I don't see anything wrong with a man who ran for president now running for governor, in fact I think it is commendable, if true, and a sign of humility.

The problem with the presidential style of government is that it creates overly powerful offices/officials (and egos) such that they can no longer serve in a lower offices when they leave. In the parliamentary style of govenment several Prime Ministers (or party leaders) go on to sever as Ministers (or shadow ministers) in subsequent governments (or the opposition). As powerful a nation as Israel is Benjamin Netenyahu served as a Minister as he had been prime minister for several years. This is a good thing because you don't loose the contributions of good and young political brains as soon as they leave high office. In the UK Willian Haque ran for Prime Minister but is no a shadow Minster. In the presidential system he would have been forced to retire at such a young age. What a waste.

We need to improve the calibre of people who serve a Governors in Nigeria. Everyone want to be president or senator often leaving the inferior or less capable people at the state level, is it any suprise that nearly all the governors are said to be corrupt? Nigeria would develop a lot quicker if some of the good brains in politics run for Governor instead of President, see what Donald Duke has doen in CRS.

Dranoel, on the contrary women in a polygamous marriage have less children than those in a monogamous marrige. After all women have to share one man, who himself may be reluctant to have too many children.

Also the fact that one man can marry several wives and there seems to be no shortage of women in the north or west tells me the male, and probably the overall populoation, may be lower than the east. Not a scientific theory, just my thought.

www.dukeforpresident.com - Check it out and register Now! Be a part of the revolution about to take place.

All those who say they support duke, it is time to put your money where your mouth it. We intend to hit the airwaves, internet and any other media to get the message accross. It is time for a change. Let the Duke revolution begin.

Nigeria attained independence from Britain 46 years ago so why are are the leaders and aspiring leaders still the same people who fought for indepence or were around when others fought for it?

Gomer, no I didn't see the duke interview in the guardian on Sunday. I tried searching for it but can't find it. Have you got the link?

Chris Okotie said God told him he will be President in 2003. Does God lie?

First he was a law student, then a singer, then a pastor, and now he wants to be president. The man has no direction and I seriously doubt his motives.

Nonsense. I can't see no humans in the picture so how on earth did you or they come to that conclussion? Common sense will tell you just from the number of Igbos you meet in Nigeria that they are one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Quite frankly given the number of Igbo in the North, West and East they are probably now the largest ethnic group, afterall the poll that made them third was decades ago and the population distribution must have changed since then. It is shame the last census did count the ethnic groups.

Donald Duke has won all such polls I have seen on the internet so far and will again win this one. I hope he wins the Vanguard/Silverbird poll (see http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/july06/24072006/f424072006.html) and the real poll in 2007.

All you Duke supporters, please go to http://www.dukeforpresident.com/ and subscribe, I will be sending interesting news regularly and will start publicising the site big time soon. Don't miss the band wagon and the revolution that will culminate in Nigeria electing the first President born after her Independence in 1960.

I couldn't care less if Duke can't speak any Nigeria languages. All I am interested is in the rapid development and transformation of our beloved country.

The result fo the first round of the Vanguard/Silverbird poll has been announced. The top 10 nominated people for the peoples president were, in no particular order were:

[list]
[li]Muhammadu Buhari
Ibrahim Babangida
Reverend Chris Okotie
Professor Pat Utomi
Governor Peter Odili
Governor Orji Kalu
Professor Dora Akunyili
Mallam Nasir el-Rufai
Governor Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State
Governor Donald Duke[/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

I am very please that our man Duke made it through the first round, thanks to all of you who voted but the fight continues to ensure he wins overall because it will bring huge publicity. I am very disappointed that Buhari and Babangida made the list, especially the latter. When will Nigeria stop admiring people for the wrong reasons and start encouraging excellence and integrity? I pray they start with Donald Duke.

See full details here: http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/july06/24072006/f424072006.html

Stanech, there is a discussion forum on dukeforpresident.com please feel free to use it and start some interesting discussions that will generate interest and publicity to the website. Once I have finished the 'Successes' page then the real publicity will begin, hopefully including paid adverts on radio and other mass medium.

Does anyone know the result of the first round of Vanguards/Rhythm FM People's president poll?

OK Guys, the site is almost complete. Please check it out and give feedback. I have done most of the pages except the "Successes" page. I need volunteers to write about Duke's achievement in a formal and professional way, Celemel I think you may be the best candidate since you live in Calabar and have already written tons of good stuff on Duke in this forum. Are you happy to do it? In any case there can be several volunteers and if so I will merge the different write-ups.

Here's the site: www.dukeforpresident.com

OK Guys, I am ready to start developing the website. I need the best pictures of Donald Duke you guys can lay your hands on. The pictures should of course look presidential. Also I need Duke's speaches, achievements etc.

Who will be the editor of the site i.e. write the contents of all the pages etc. We need to lay down a COMPELLING arguement why Duke should be president. Zexyworm will you do this?

Lets get cracking I mean business and hope to have the site ready in 2 - 4 weeks. So please send me pictures, speeches, positive quotes by Duke or about Duke. Send them to uche.onyema@btopenworld.com and please put "Donald Duke" in the subject so that I can easily identify it if it goes to my bulk folder.

Vanguard and Silverbird's search for the next President

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/june06/27062006/f327062006.html

Oya O! Let's all nominate and support Donald Duke. Let the revolution begin here, we can break the stronghold the small elite click have on power in Nigeria by raising further awareness and publicity for Donald Duke. I believe that through rigging you can prevent a man with 50 or 55% support from winning a election but you can't stop a revolution where the front runner has 70% - 90% support.

Donald Duke (by The Independent Newspaper):

Governor Donald Duke of Cross-River State is also a major contender that might easily surprise bookmakers and emerge the governors' choice. Insiders, who insisted that he was on the cards for the office of the President in 2007, said it was President Olusegun Obasanjo that first drew the attention of PDP leadership that Duke has displayed admirable managerial capacities in the way he has governed Cross River State. His associates said the youthful governor's performance impressed President Obasanjo so much that he has suddenly become one of the 'possibles' from the South-South.

Even amongst his colleagues, Duke is believed to be the favourite of many, mainly because they have come to see him as one of the less controversial PDP governors. He is also seen as a credible representative of youths in government, who have shown that there is a future for Nigeria.

As a neutral political force, Duke has somehow emerged everybody's friend in this era of high stake political alignments. This singular factor, coupled with his acceptability at the Presidency and by the South-South, makes Duke a likely candidate.



Another Newspaper quote:

"If Nigeria were a country looking for people with competence and ability to get things moving, Duke (Donald) should be head hunted." Vanguard – May 19, 2006

I will like to tale up the webmaster job. I can get a good webtemplate and use one of my existing domains.

Stanech, let's go for it. Get the ball rolling as you have volunteered for Chairman.

When does the poll end?

Does anyone know the result of the Rhythm FM poll? I am assuming they have announced the top 10 nominated candidates.

I have just seen this news article (dated 4 June). If true it is good news for those of us who support Duke:

http://www.independentngonline.com/?c=127&a=3924

", Rythm FM is conducting an opinion poll for a presidential candidate. It started a week ago to end this sunday(June 11th) and the result of the ten most nominated candidates will be announced on monday, June 12th. You can nominate a candidate by texting the name of the candidate to 333 33 on Vmobile and MTN network."

That is EXELLENT! Thanks for this info Wiseguy. This is the sort of campaigns I have been looking for to show Nigeria that Duke is the man for Nigeria so PLEASE let us all nominate Duke ASAP. Can everyone please text or email their friends, those who support Duke of course, to do the same?

Seun, universities in the UK, US and other developed countries are funded by the governments. The US governments funded univeristies to the tune of $26 billiion in 2004. Yes universities in the developed countries are less dependent on government funds because they generate income from research but until Nigeria reaches that stage the government needs to continue funding universities. There are already private univeristies and yes there should be more funding of the the state and federal universities from the private sector but universities should never be totally privatised like you would NEPA, NITEL etc. because they are not companies.

All good governments the world over provide funding for universities because the output (graduates) directly affect the economy and general development of the nation. You can´t privatise everything, would you privatise the military?

By the way if Donald Duke is elected president he will have set a new a record as the first ever Nigeria President born after Nigeria became an independent nation. Wouldn´t that be great. I am tired of all those old leaders who fought for independence years ago , at least this would be a truely new era. Clinton became the first US president born after the world war and Duke will be our first post independence president.

Obebe, yes I am ready to put my money where my mouth is. Can can easily put together a website for this cause and send to every single Nigeria we know by email and text.

Are you guys in?

Seun, are you impressed by Obasanjo when he makes a speech? Have you ever seen him make a serious speech without reading every single word at a very boring and slow pace? I watched Bill Clinton deliver an hour long speech without any notes a couple of years ago, his command of world and general knowledge was amazing and he was given a huge standing ovation when he finshed. That is the sort of president I want for Nigeria.

In my view there is no polician in Nigeria better than Duke who can represent the country in an intelligent, articulate and captivating manner.