₦airaland Forum

Still in the euphoria of the royal wedding between Prince Williams and Kate Middleton yestarday; Me and a couple of guys plunged into a fierce debate which ranged from how powerful and influential the Queen of England or the the British Monarchy is in the present day England and the world at large to which is the the richest, the most popular and powerful Monarchies in the world.
Obviously, we could not come to any agreement on many aspects of our "royal debate"(lol); while I maintained that the Queen of England has ceremonial powers that if she dares to exercise them will see her out of the monarch, my opponents thought otherwise and argued that the queen is still very powerful and influential.
They cited the fact that she gets to approve the prime minister and gets to open parliamentary speeches or reading and some other priviliges which to me were inconsequential to mounting any serious political power on say foreign policies of the UK and the likes.
Unlike Monarchies in the middle east that have political power and influence in their countries and beyond; take for instance, the Sultan of Brunei(who is unarguably richer than the whole of the British monarchy) he is the head of state with full executive powers.
In terms of wealth, I doubt if the British Monarchy is in the first ten, I can count more than five monarchies in the middle east that are several billions wealthy and I strongly doubt if the British Monarchy's wealth is in the tune of billions to start with. It is even safe to argue that the prince of monarco might be wealthier than the British monarch but what do I know. . LoL
It will be beneficial if Nigerians abroad living in the UK and other countries with monarchies and friends of Nigeria educate us more through intelligent comments about these "royal issues" as it will be enlightening and entertaining.

My Problem with Sanusi and his gang is always his drastic approach to very sensitive issues that require time and the benefits of trust and confidence.
I am in support of a cashless society like is seen in the US and UK but we have to take into consideration the infrastructural development to support such policies and have a well thought out legislation that protects people's monies should there be any case of fraud, identity theft, compromised accounts and all other dangers occassioned by this policy whose backbone is entirely reliant on very decent communication/ internet network and
constant supply none of which electricity is the case here.
Let us tell ourselves the truth, even in America and the UK where   they have excellent internet access and connections, constant supply of electricity, very many internet savvy users, and a better regulated and protected banking system,people still lose huge sums to internet fraudstars and identity thieves(which Nigeria has in large quantity) the only difference is that in developed countries, they have a system through well thought out legislations that ensures that you get your money back if it can be proven that you are victim of using the banking system unlike Nigeria where it is impossible to seek redress should you lose money via this manner which is a strong possibilty.
Is the CBN working with the National assemblies to protect people's money? Or is it another solo case of BOFIA empowers the CBN to blabla. . . Cos I am not ready to risk my hard earned money in the name of cashless society when there is no proper plan to protect me from the dangers of the system.
Another problem with the policy is the time frame for the policy to take effect and the amount limits #150,000 individual and #1million that is ridiculously too small to start with.
An avarage merchant in major Nigerian markets like Lagos, Onitsha, Aba, Kano etc does business transactions that are worth more than a hundred and fifty thousand a day not to talk of big companies.
Before placing such a ridiculous limit to both withdrwals and deposits, the CBN needs to first sensitize people to the benefits of using the POS systems, electronic money transfers and the ease of using the system. There should be some kind of advantage or incentives through cost reduction mechanism or preferential status that allows certain privileges for businesses and individuals that use the system.
The reality today is that less than %5 of Nigerian businesses and individuals use the POS system and other cashless money transfer services-that in itself is a problem that can't be solved through the argument of force but through the force of argument and even the very few ones available are not dependable as they use electricity and the internet network which obviously we lack here - by creating a dependable system that can be trusted with time; from better e-connectivity to legislative protection of their monies and investment, only then will people begin to see the benefits of a cashless society.
One year is very little a time to achieve all these giving the force of the policy, it is almost impracticable and overlooks many glaring problems to be taken seriously.
What the CBN is trying to do like somebody said in another forum is to shrink centuries of western banking development into months for Nigeria's. Short cuts and hasty methods to solving problems such as this policy will only create even bigger problems to deal with.
In conclusion, I think it is a good Idea whose implementation is about to be mismanaged without proper planning and timing, this will take more than one year expiration order to achieve unless we just want a cosmetic cashless society that will be believed to be in place on paper while people hoard their monies in their houses and cause another sets of problems for themselves, the banks and in effect  economy at large.
And lets not kid ourselves that in the US and UK they dont have cases of money laundering and other financial crimes as we have here.

kobikwelu:
@rhymz

errmm sorry, but if you dont understand my post, your loss

you are trying to sound intelligent than you realy are without first comparing the polities in question. You talk of ideology like that is a recipe for good governance. An average Nigerian electorate caresless if a government has ideological leanings to the right or the left as long as it can be translated to beneficial results that makes life better for him or her. We would srart worrying about ideology when we first cross the hurdle of good governance irrespective of political ideologies, the Nigerian polity has not developed to the extent of worrying about ideologies that produce almost thesame results except that their methodology is different. No need engaging in some sophistory way to politics when the people involved hardly understand the complexities of such. Lwts face it, the Nigerian democracy is very young, the US that you so conviniently like to cite has had democracy since its inception, they have had time to refine and fine tune their democracy hence the very advance form of democracy and politically informed electorate. Nigeria is learning and making good progress with democracy giving our antecedent, no need bringing up needless argument that does not add any serious value to the discussion, just needless distractions.

kobikwelu:
all i see in nigerian politics is face value politics and not ideological politics,

if i ask what is the major difference between PDP and ACN/CPC/APGA, what would be the answer
what most people (and sadly, most posters on nairaland ) would say is PDP is a rigging and looting party,

and i say, is that what makes APGA/CPC/ACN a viable option??

in the US, when a politician tells you he/she is a republican, i can predict  what his general views on certain issues are, likewise a democrat,
even in GBR, i can tell you the difference btw a conservative and a labour party candidate. but here in nigeria all we are interested in is pouring invectives,
nobody is ready to take a meaningfull position on "bread and butter" issues,

all what we hear is light , roads, water, (the same worn out shibboleth used by generations before us)
i pray a time would come when our parties would have their ideological values, only then would political whoring stop and then people can choose party affiliation based on issues and not on religion/ethnicity

bros could u pls argue with perspective biko

Some of these Southwesterners can be so malevolently obsessive when it comes to Igbos.
Before any of you post gibberish without the aids of common sense, learn to put issues in perspectives, instead of spewing stupid claims of political genius on a people in order to make others look less intelligent.
Situation in Abia state today is very similar to what is happening in Oyo state today. The similarities are clear. Both states have been victims of Godfatherism and mafian styled politics.
Oyo state for instance, was able to make political gains today because of the demise of that illiterate and crude Adedibu whose brand of polotics was nick named Amala & ewedu politics because of the obvious lack of political sophistication or the obvious pettiness of its characters.
In comparison to T.A Oji, Alao Akala is even worse off as he had the luxury of free will and time to change the fortunes of his state but chose to indulge in pettiness-from his obsessive self adornment, to very dumb policies that will leave anyone laughing and rolling on the floor at the incredibly $tooopid idea-unlike T.A Oji who has had to fight a belligerent and politically very savvy godfather OUK-whose finesse at dealing with people is very commendable and leaves you with mixed feelings about his person.
He only became a victim of his own maneuovering when he started overdoing it and Abians started seeing him for who he realy is- a very likeable crook who is only interested in himself and nothing else-his philandering with parties even at the expense of his own party only showed the man's loyalty lies with himself. Most of what has happened in Abia state have traces to him. T.A Oji may not neccessarily be the best person to lead Abia state but in comparison to the characters in the opposition parties, he is a viable option and his emergience is expedient to the dentriment of the stranglehold of OUK and family. This is victory for the majority of Abians that voted for him, his emergence has sent a clear message to OUK and his likes that no matter his antics and political genius, people are not stupid and his time is up.
Afterall, inspite of the fact that Alao Akala obvoiusly does not have the skill set or the character to be a governor people still voted him and he came a close 2nd in the race. It shows the beauty of democracy that even though minority can have their say, the majority will always have their way.
So I find it insulting that bonafide edioots like Seanet will want to arrogate some fictituos political genius to the electorates of his tribesmen and talk shiot about others.

I just recieved a text message from the Imo state government, I presume, ir reads: "Dear Imolites the Gov. elections result is yet to be announced by INEC PRO. Gov. ikedim Ohakim is leading in the 22 LGAs result collated. Stay With us".

There is a deliberate effort by the Ohakim government to shut people away from any news coming from outside Imo State about the elections there. People have been deliberately fed with false news using state controlled TV and radio staion.
Imagine friends from Imo state calling me to know what is going on in Imo state elections. I see serious propaganda and desperation here. Imolites beware!

Ohakim is sure going down this timw, yday he was bragging he was going to win with a wide magin but now he is struggling even with the whole magomago, i heard the bleaching Gov of Oyo state has just lost the state to the ACN candidate, Ajumobi, Alao Akala go and sit ur corrupt ass down, PDP has lost the entire Southwest interesting

GenBuhari:
[size=38pt]Vote for CPC Governors in today's elections

CPC party was founded by Buhari.

Thanks.[/size]

. . .left to you alone, you would have performed an Almajiri on people who do not see your Buhari in thesame saintly lens as you.

At Poster,
I posted that lengthy article about the insidious growing problem of Almajiris in the north- it goes beyond the the rhetorics of the elections-these almajiris a are product of a systematic brainwashing of millions of childrien in the north.
For those of us that may find the very educative article cumbersome and lengthy to read, here is a summary of that article;
1. The almajiris are students of a Koranic education system called Tsangaya. The only education these students learn is how to read, memorize the quaran, write it and recite it by heart.
There is no time limit for graduation, as it takes a minimun of at least 20yrs to learn the whole of the koran. These childrien learn no form of western education.
2. The parents of these almajiris are extremely poor and uneducated, sending them to these tsangaya school system is their only way of relieving themselves of any responsibility towards their childrien.
Many of the almajiris rarely see their parents for years after being enroled into those tsangaya schools.
3. The conditions in which these almajiri pupils live is an extremely dehumanizing one, no proper shelter, nutrition or even love from anyone, not even from their malams. These kids at a very tender age are left to fend for themselves on the street if they must eat. Even their own malams exploit them by using them to attain all sorts of financial advantages.
4. There is no proper data or any serious plan by the government especially the state government to integrate these school system into the mainstream education system, hence the lack of regulations and any serious plans to curtail the very serious problems that these schools potend to Nigeria as a whole. There has not been any sincerity to plan for the over 11million Almajiris in almost a hundred thousand of these tsangaya schools scattered all over the nothern part of Nigeria-as it has become a pool of political thugs recruits for both politicians and religious fundamentalist, radicals and extremist.
Politicians now influency the greedy malams who are supposed to be their guardians to brainwash these childrien and feed them with extreme politico-religious views.
In conclusion:
1. I think it is important for us to look at the problem from the root cause as opposed to the visible results as we have been experiencing.
This suggests that in the north, an average northern youth with a reasonable amount of care and attention is just like any other average nigerian in the south-be you muslim or christian-most of the time, the people involved in the wanton destruction of life and properties in the north are the almajiris(a majority of whom knows nothing about love, affection, care or the sanctity of human lives. A majority of them are heaving with hatred for a society that has enslaved them and shown them nothing but harsh realities of poverty and people exploiting them).
Until there is a sincerity of purpose on the part of the government, to set rules and regulations on how the over 11million almajiri students and over a hundred tsangaya schools scattered all over the northern part of Nigeria must be run.

Nura Mohammed (10) gets up from the
worn-out mat in the uncompleted
building where he and his mates rest
their heads at night. Goats may not find
the small rooms where he and 15 others
sleep conducive as there are no windows
for cross-ventilation and the walls have
given room to cracks looking as if it will
fall the next minute. The occupants are,
indeed, vulnerable to all forms of airborne
diseases associated with the harsh
Maiduguri weather. His face baked in the
dust from the floor of the uncompleted
building like someone coming out of sand
dunes. He looks pale, apparently due to
malnutrition, with blisters on his lips. The
dryness of his face and rashes on his skin
suggest the harmattan has taken its toll
on him.
Mohammed performs ablution, says his
morning prayers (Subhi) and joins his
mates under the tree for the daily
learning of the Qur`an. After the morning
lessons, without taking his bath, he goes
out like others with his bowl to beg for
food. He repeats this ritual three times a
day for as long as he is a student in this
school. For him, life begins and ends at
the school. For the likes of Mohammed,
there is no room for dreams, ambition or
career guidance. He lives life the way it
comes -- on daily basis. This is a day in
the life of Nura Mohammed, the face of
the popular almajiri pupils, swarming the
streets of northern Nigeria like locusts.
He was brought to the Tsangaya School
in Maiduguri three years ago by his
father, a rice farmer in Zabarmari village
of Jere local government area of Borno
State. Mohammed from a polygamous
family was enrolled in the school with his
half-brother Umar (5) and since then
they have lost contact with their parents.
Mohammed is one of the over five million
children clad in tattered clothes begging
on the streets of northern Nigeria and
seeking Quranic education in the
Tsangaya School, popularly called
Almajirci.
The attitude of the society towards these
almajiris is a complex paradox. Some treat
them with contempt and exploit them,
while others give them alms and food out
of sympathy or after using them to run
errands. This probably accounts for why
most homes in northern Nigeria engage
the services of these children on daily
basis. Yusuf Ibrahim, an almajiri who was
taken from Malumfashi in Katsina State
to Sokoto in Sokoto State, accused the
society of being antagonistic to them. He
says, “No one wants to give you anything,
you either have to wash plates, clothes or
fetch water before they give you
anything." The few who realise that they
are being used often become aggressive
and resent the tokens doled out to them.
Yusuf Danjuma, a Maiduguri resident,
said almajiris cannot be blamed for
“ carrying hostility and anger on their
faces, as no one shows them affection
but looks for an opportunity to use them
for one purpose or the other before
assisting them and many of them have
never experienced parental care in their
lives.
“The experience of Ilyasu Abdullahi, an
almajiri for seven years, is an illustration
of that assessment. Abdullahi who says
he and four of his siblings are in different
tsangaya schools in northern Nigeria
claim that they visit their parents once in
two years. He says though the condition
under which they live is almost inhuman
because basic things like food and
clothing are lacking, they have no option
because their parents are poor. His
greatest problem is that each time he
sees other children in company of their
parents, he feels depressed. Abdullahi
laments that the current economic
hardship is taking its toll on them as they
hardly get leftovers nowadays. Rather,
they have resorted to doing menial jobs
like nail cutting, cap weaving and
cobbling to feed.
So why would a parent leave his child to
fate? Bello Abdulsalam, a parent who has
three children in the school, says he
embraced the system because he lacks
the means to cater for the children,
adding that no one will like to lose contact
with his kids for years. According to Goni
Usman, a tsangaya mallam (teacher),
"almajiri pupils learn the Qur`an under a
teacher three times a day without good
shelter, food or health care and away
from their parents, some of who are
hundreds of kilometres away. His
consolation lies in the belief that his
suffering in the world is for the reward
that awaits him in heaven. He learns how
to recite and memorise the holy book in
verses, chapters and write them on a
wooden slate called Allo. Afterwards, he
cleans the verses he has memorised and
he is instructed to proceed to another
chapter (Surah) as soon as his teacher is
satisfied that he has mastered the last
one he was taught.
The word almajiri, according to Sheik
Abba Aji, a renowned Maiduguri-based
Islamic scholar, is a word borrowed from
Arabic language and derived from the
word "Al-Muhajir ” meaning a seeker of
Islamic knowledge. The almajiri system of
education practised in northern Nigeria
has its origin in the migration of Prophet
Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Those
who migrated with the prophet to Medina
were called “Al-Muhajirrun,” meaning
emigrants, while those they met there
were referred to as “Ansar,” meaning
helpers. To Aji, “these emigrants (Al-
Muhajirrun) because of the
circumstances of their migration had no
means of livelihood on getting to Medina,
but based on the fraternity established
by the prophet between the two groups,
they did not engage in begging but rather
were co-opted by the Ansar in their
various trades and vocations as
apprentices who were paid for their
services. ” Aji says Islam frowns at
begging in any form because it reduces a
Muslim`s self-esteem and dignity.
Hence, begging on the streets of
northern Nigeria by these Tsangaya
pupils is contrary to the teachings of
Qur`an and Hadith.
Usman, who has memorised the Qur`an,
says there is no specific age when a child
is enrolled into the system, but the
standard practice is seven years. The
duration of his scholarship as an almajiri
has no time limit but dependent on his
intellectual capability as what matters is
for him to memorise the Qur`an. Thus, he
has three stages to fully graduate from
the system, which comprises learning the
Qur`an by heart (Tilawa), memorising it
(Hafizi) and perfecting his ability to write
the whole Qur`an devoid of errors on
sheets of paper or slate off-hand (Darasi).
This, to Usman, takes at least 20 or more
years for one to accomplish. If a child
starts at age seven, by the time he
concludes the Quaranic study he would
probably assume that he is too old to
enrol for formal education.
Abdulkareem Kwando, a medical doctor in
Kano, says the condition under which
these street urchins live makes them to
develop very strong immunity to illnesses
and diseases, which sometimes baffle
medical practitioners. He however warns
that when they become infected it is
usually fatal.
One baffling aspect of these almajiris is
their eating habit. They consume all kinds
of food, fresh or stale, but they rarely fall
sick. The magazine ran into a group of
almajiris in Wudil village of Kano State
eating a combination of food they had
warmed on a small kerosene stove. The
food, a combination of locally made corn
food (Tuwo), pasta and boiled yam
altogether in one bowl, looked like a fresh
vomit. Shah Muhammadu, one of the
boys told the magazine that it is called
“ Jagala”, being a combination of food
stored by an almajiri over a number of
days. However, when an almajiri gets
some fresh food, he could play pranks
with his colleagues. At such times he
would sneak away from his mates to eat
alone.
In Kano State, according to a 2009
statistics from the education ministry,
there are 1.6 million almajiris in 26,000
Tsangaya schools across the 44 local
government areas of the state. Sokoto
State has 1.1 million almajiris in 19,167
schools but the Sokoto State Ministry of
Religious Affairs says this figure is not
conclusive as there are still cases of
omission in some of the villages; Kaduna
State has 824,233, while Borno State,
reputed as a centre of Islamic learning,
has 389,048 almajiri pupils.
The breakdown for Borno State is as
follows Borno indigenes 266,160,
followed by those from other states
totalling 118,280, non-Nigerians are
4,608. There are 4,464 Sangaya
mallams. Algoni Kassim, desk officer,
Quranic education, Borno State Universal
Basic Education, says the figure is not
conclusive, as the almajiri census is still
ongoing. The National Council for the
Welfare of Destitutes in Nigeria says
there are about seven million almajiris or
teenage beggars in northern Nigeria.
These figures may have confirmed what
Aja Nwachukwu, former minister of
education, said in April 2008 that Nigeria
accounted for over 11 million out 80
million children who were out of school in
the world.
Goni Habib, an octogenarian, who has
produced over 300 Qur`an memorisers
who run schools across various states in
northern Nigeria, says the Tsangaya
system is a pattern of Islamic education
acquisition by children of northern origin
consisting of a mallam and his pupils. He
says that the learning done in a small
enclosure, serving as classroom, only
requires a pupil having a wooden slate.
The mallam and his pupils sometimes
move about from one area to another
depending on his age. He observes that
there is no specific requirement for
registration in a Tsangaya school. So,
how does the teacher emerge? Habib
says the teacher only needs the verbal
certification of his own teacher before he
can supervise pupils learning the Qur`an.
Though this system has produced
prominent Islamic scholars of northern
extraction like Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, Late
Abubakar Gumi, Jaa`far Adam and Kala
Rawi, Habib says the Tsangaya system as
it is presently run is a corruption of the
original. Hear him, “Almajiris, during our
time about 60 years ago did not beg and
were held in high esteem in northern
Nigeria, houses in the neighbourhood
bring food in calabash every day, we help
our teacher on the farm, gather firewood
from the bush which we use to read at
night, assist his wife with domestic
chores for food in return and no pupil is
taxed as the teacher gets his reward from
Allah. ” He laments that at his age of 86,
he sometimes feels like weeping because
the present crop of Tsangaya students
lacks the spirit of scholarship like
endurance, morals, discipline and their
intellectual capacity is low. The sad thing
now is that they are vulnerable to
criminal activities. So what is the
authority doing to save the day?
The Northern Governors Forum at their
meeting at the Hassan Usman Katsina
House, Kaduna in 2000 pledged to put an
end to the almajiri syndrome through
structural reforms. At the meeting where
they adopted far-reaching resolutions,
the governors identified worst hit areas
like Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and Borno
states. However, nine years after, little or
nothing seems to have been achieved
and the present northern governors are
still singing the old tune. The result is
that the almajiris are growing in
geometrical progression, turning the
once lofty system of Quranic education
into another form of modern slavery and
the worst form of child abuse. This is
because on daily basis they are taken to
the cities in hundreds and in trailers and
dumped with various mallams.
Of all the northern states, only Kano and
Sokoto have made appreciable progress
towards restructuring the Tsangaya
system by setting up pilot programmes to
test-run model schools. Shehu Galadanci,
special adviser to Kano State governor on
education and Information Technology,
whose office oversees the programme,
says four out of six planned, pilot schools
have been set up in Tudun Wada, Gwarzo,
Wudil and Ungogo.
Musa Maitafsir, a professor and Sokoto
State commissioner for religious affairs,
says N67 million has been earmarked for
building four model schools at four
different entry points into the state. The
first one, consisting of four blocks of eight
classrooms, a storey building and a
mosque, located on Gusau road, has
reached advanced stage of completion.
He says uniforms, books and hostel
accommodation will be provided free of
charge. Other ones will be sited on Birnin
Kebbi road, Ilela and Wurno road.
Sources say the state government was
initially giving monthly allowance and
food items to the mallams to feed
themselves and the children, but
government stopped it when it learnt
that the mallams were diverting or
appropriating the money. Galadanci,
however, denies the claim, saying that
the programme was stopped because the
burden of financial commitment was
much on the state government as “it was
a big challenge feeding 26,000 Sangaya
schools and maintaining 3,000
conventional schools. ” The new
approach by government was to cater for
those in the model schools and give
seedlings, fertilisers and farm
implements to mallams living in rural
areas.
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State
had in 2006 promised to integrate the
Tsangaya system into western
education. But three years after, his
government is still compiling the list of
Sangaya pupils and teachers. Mohammed
Imam, commissioner for education, says
the state government has set up a
committee of Ulamas to work out the
modalities, but the magazine`s
investigations do not reveal anything on
ground.
Goni Zarami, Borno State chairman,
Tsangaya association, says the governor
lacks the political will to reform the
system as he has written 37 letters to
him from 2003 on how to change the
fortunes of the system but no response.
“ I am tired and vowed not to write again
as the monthly allowance given to 1,090
Tsangaya mallams of N3,000 monthly
started by the Kachallah administration is
still what we are living on.
Salisu Tambuwal, a Zamfara-based
Islamic scholar, reads hypocrisy into the
supposed efforts of the northern
governors. He says for the nine years
some impact should have been made in
the area of poverty alleviation, which is
the root cause of this problem. To him,
“ there is no sincerity in their hearts
because if they eradicate the problem,
there will be no place for them to recruit
political thugs, and that is why what we
hear on daily basis is government
officials going to Malaysia and Egypt to
understudy how their own Tsangaya
system is run.” Tambuwal alludes to
reports of some panels probing ethno-
religious crises in the region, which
indicted almajiris as being ready foot
soldiers oiling the vehicle of
conflagration.
Mustapha Sani, another Tsangaya
student for eight years, describes the
much- talked-about plan by government
to integrate the Tsangaya system into
formal education as a fluke. “We are tired
of so much talk, but no action as many
government officials have come to our
school to record our number and needs
but nothing comes out of it, ” says Sani.
Sani, apparently echoing the views of
many of his mates and mallams across
northern Nigeria, believes the integration
is like trying to merge water and fire. He
says he is against the integration, as it
will make the almajiris abandon Islamic
teachings for western values.
This brings to the fore another aspect of
the conflict where mallams and the pupils
see the reform as a threat to their
religious belief. The age-long cultural and
religious belief in the North is that
western education has no value to the
Muslim. Perhaps, the reality is that the
mallams see the move as a way of
scrapping their means of survival. For
instance, such a reform will take away
the midweek tax, called ``Kudin Sati``,
imposed on all almajiris by the teachers.
Adamu Hussein, a Sokoto-based Islamic
scholar, has described Muslim scholars
condemning western education as
"intellectually deficient persons. ”
Backing
up his submission, the scholar said
Prophet Muhammad urged all Muslims in
his Hadith to seek knowledge in all its
ramifications and never allow
themselves to be held down by
geographical barriers. ” He adds that the
image problem facing Muslims around
the world today makes it compulsory for
adherents of the Islamic faith to lead the
way in the search for knowledge about
science, medicine, engineering and
information and communication
technology so as to rebrand themselves.
The chairman of Northern Governors
Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has
stressed the need for societal
reorientation in the North. Hear him: “We
need to discourage the ranka ya dade
syndrome, which abuses and
dehumanises the people by offering
them stipends out of the often stolen
wealth, and encourages laziness while
some of us go about in arrogance. We also
need to address the embarrassing
almajiri phenomenon in our states; we
need to question what appears as the
Islamisation of poverty. We need to ask,
why do we have endemic poverty in
Muslims dominated settlements, when
Allah has enjoined the faithful to balance
the search for the thereafter with the
search for this world? ”
Aliyu, who was speaking at a one-day
symposium on Poverty Eradication in
Northern States, organised by the Niger
State Community of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Kaduna State, put the
average poverty rate in the region at 71
per cent, noting that traditional rulers in
the country, particularly in the North, are
corrupt, support corruption and have lost
the respect and moral authority to correct
their subjects. The passage of the Child`s
Rights Act 2003 by the National
Assembly gave a glimmer of hope that it
might be the magic wand to save these
children. But, the refusal of most
northern states to domesticate the law as
directed by the federal government has
become like a camel passing through the
eye of a needle. Umar Labaran, a legal
practitioner and Borno State chairman of
Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria,
says the act seeks to confer unto parents
those duties, responsibilities and
obligations to their children, whose
realisation will lead to proper
development of the child .
Apart from Zamfara State whose
lawmakers passed a law meant to check
child abuse, all others have rejected it
outrightly.
Reason: they argue that the contents
contradict Islamic values and also a
deliberate attempt to bring western
values which allow a child to seek redress
in the courts against his parents should
he feel his rights have been trampled
upon. The act, according to the
magazine`s findings, has about 16
sections which most northern states are
contesting. Prominent among the issues
raised in these contentious sections are
giving equal rights to children born in and
outside wedlock, prohibition of child
betrothal and marriage, prohibition of
hawking by children, use of scientific
tests to determine paternity and
maternity and right to dignity and
provisions of guidance with respect to
child`s responsibilities.
Hadiza Magaji, treasurer of the lawyers`
association and deputy registrar, Borno
State High Court, says the act, despite the
criticisms, is not completely a useless
document as it has very good provisions
to take care of the almajiri syndrome.
What is required is a comprehensive
review to expunge all aspects considered
contradictory to the teachings of Islam as
the children are victims of all sorts of
exploitation by the society including
ritualists.”
Another pre-disposing factor to the
growing number of almajiri pupils in the
North is the peoples` antagonism
towards family planning and child
spacing citing the hadith of Prophet
Mohammed which says, “Go forth my
congregation, get married and multiply so
that I will be proud of you. ” But Adamu
Sani, a veterinary doctor, says this aspect
of the Hadith has been grossly
misrepresented. He says under Sharia,
some of the basic rights of a child are
food, shelter, clothing and education and
so any parent who fails in this direction
has an explanation to give before Allah.”
Adamu adds that there are birth control
practices accepted by Islam and
economic realities of today make it
necessary for every parent to breed
those children he can cater for.
Maikaramba Sadiq, Borno State co-
ordinator, Civil Liberties Organisation,
CLO, says the northern culture is the
most antagonistic culture towards
fundamental human rights because
Islam frowns at child abuse and being
dirty. He added that “almajiris are the
dirtiest set of people in the society and
the Qur`an says one`s faith is incomplete
unless you are clean. ”
Musa Maitafsir says the findings of the
committee set up by the Sokoto State
government has revealed that there is
proliferation of almajiris for three
reasons: “The love for Quranic education,
poverty and redundancy in the villages.”
He says, “By May when you go to these
Tsangaya schools you find very few
pupils but once the food harvest starts
going down, the parents start sending
the children back in batches. ”
The National Assembly through the
Senate made another effort to end the
almajiri problem by proposing a bill for the
enactment of the National Commission
for the Eradication of Child Destitution in
Nigeria in 2008. The bill, popularly known
as the almajiri bill and sponsored by
Umaru Argungu and 31 others, seeks to
punish any proprietor of an unregistered
Tsangaya school with two years jail term.
Does the solution really lie in imposing
sanctions on a people that believe they
are observing a religious injunction?
What really can be done, in the face of the
opposition by the almajiris and the
malams? The duo of Labaran and Abba
Aji believe the way forward is for the law
and constitution to recognise it as a
system of education and also inculcate
into its curriculum, a form of trade or
vocation that the almajiris will be
acquiring over the years so as to have
something to fall back on after
graduation.
While it remains to be seen if the pilot
programmes currently being run in Kano
and Sokoto states will not go with the
governors who initiated them, the fate of
almajiris in the region remains uncertain.
This is because as many northern
governors strategise for 2011, either for
re-election or to instal successors, the
almajiris, living like orphans, raise up their
hands awaiting Allah`s divine favour for
a better tomorrow.

190:
[color=deeppink]I dont think i like this IFELEKE of a person

He doesnt seem to know me, yet he talks to me as if he knows me

He aint even welcoming


and call me thanks for the info

I actually thought kadunaka is located in cameroon and was wondering what concerns nigerians[/color]

will you stop acting like a slowpoke? You are fond of distracting ppl with your stale jokes, you are not even funny. Abeg stop trivializing issues here, this is not romance/sexuality section where you are allowed to display your crass ignorance. Now blow off like a stale fart into eternal oblivion and let ppl with proper understanding exchange knowledge without your very annoying attempts at joking around.

At Poster,
I posted that lengthy article about the insidious growing problem of Almajiris in the north- it goes beyond the the rhetorics of the elections-these almajiris are product of a systematic brainwashing of millions of childrien in the north.
For those of us that may find the very educative article cumbersome and lengthy to read, here is a summary of that article;
1. The almajiris are a student of a Koranic education system called Tsangaya. The only education these students learn is how to read, memorize the quaran and write it recite it by heart.
There is no time limit for graduation, as it takes a minimun of at least 20yrs to learn the whole of the koran. These childrien learn no form of western education.
2. The parents of these almajiris are extremely poor and uneducated, sending them to these tsangaya school system is their only way of relieving themselves of any responsibility towards their childrien.
Many of the almajiris rarely see their parents for years after being enroled into those tsangaya schools.
3. The conditions in which these almajiri pupils live is an extremely dehumanizing one, no proper shelter, nutrition or even love from anyone, not even from their malams. These kids at a very tender age are left to fend for themselves on the street if they must eat. Even their own malams exploit them by using them to attain all sorts of financial advantages.
4. There is no proper data or any serious plan by the government especially the state government to integrate these school system into the mainstream education system, hence the lack of regulations and any serious plans to curtail the very serious problems that these schools potend to Nigeria as a whole. There has not been any sincerity to plan for the over 11million Almajiris in almost a hundred thousand of these tsangaya schools scattered all over the nothern part of Nigeria-as it has become a pool of political thugs recruits for both politicians and religious fundamentalist, radicals and extremist.
Politicians now influency the greedy malams who are supposed to be their guardians to brainwash these childrien and feed them with extreme politico-religious views.
In conclusion:
1. I think it is important for us to look at the problem from the root cause as opposed to the visible results as we have been experiencing.
This suggests that in the north, an average northern youth with a reasonable amount of care and attention is just like any other average nigerian in the south-be you muslim or christian-most of the time, the people involved in the wanton destruction of life and properties in the north are the almajiris(a majority of whom knows nothing about love, affection, care or the sanctity of human lives. A majority of them are heaving with hatred for a society that has enslaved them and shown them nothing but harsh realities of poverty and people exploiting them).
Until there is a sincerity of purpose on the part of the government, to set rules and X

Nura Mohammed (10) gets up from the
worn-out mat in the uncompleted
building where he and his mates rest
their heads at night. Goats may not find
the small rooms where he and 15 others
sleep conducive as there are no windows
for cross-ventilation and the walls have
given room to cracks looking as if it will
fall the next minute. The occupants are,
indeed, vulnerable to all forms of airborne
diseases associated with the harsh
Maiduguri weather. His face baked in the
dust from the floor of the uncompleted
building like someone coming out of sand
dunes. He looks pale, apparently due to
malnutrition, with blisters on his lips. The
dryness of his face and rashes on his skin
suggest the harmattan has taken its toll
on him.
Mohammed performs ablution, says his
morning prayers (Subhi) and joins his
mates under the tree for the daily
learning of the Qur`an. After the morning
lessons, without taking his bath, he goes
out like others with his bowl to beg for
food. He repeats this ritual three times a
day for as long as he is a student in this
school. For him, life begins and ends at
the school. For the likes of Mohammed,
there is no room for dreams, ambition or
career guidance. He lives life the way it
comes -- on daily basis. This is a day in
the life of Nura Mohammed, the face of
the popular almajiri pupils, swarming the
streets of northern Nigeria like locusts.
He was brought to the Tsangaya School
in Maiduguri three years ago by his
father, a rice farmer in Zabarmari village
of Jere local government area of Borno
State. Mohammed from a polygamous
family was enrolled in the school with his
half-brother Umar (5) and since then
they have lost contact with their parents.
Mohammed is one of the over five million
children clad in tattered clothes begging
on the streets of northern Nigeria and
seeking Quranic education in the
Tsangaya School, popularly called
Almajirci.
The attitude of the society towards these
almajiris is a complex paradox. Some treat
them with contempt and exploit them,
while others give them alms and food out
of sympathy or after using them to run
errands. This probably accounts for why
most homes in northern Nigeria engage
the services of these children on daily
basis. Yusuf Ibrahim, an almajiri who was
taken from Malumfashi in Katsina State
to Sokoto in Sokoto State, accused the
society of being antagonistic to them. He
says, “No one wants to give you anything,
you either have to wash plates, clothes or
fetch water before they give you
anything." The few who realise that they
are being used often become aggressive
and resent the tokens doled out to them.
Yusuf Danjuma, a Maiduguri resident,
said almajiris cannot be blamed for
“ carrying hostility and anger on their
faces, as no one shows them affection
but looks for an opportunity to use them
for one purpose or the other before
assisting them and many of them have
never experienced parental care in their
lives.
“The experience of Ilyasu Abdullahi, an
almajiri for seven years, is an illustration
of that assessment. Abdullahi who says
he and four of his siblings are in different
tsangaya schools in northern Nigeria
claim that they visit their parents once in
two years. He says though the condition
under which they live is almost inhuman
because basic things like food and
clothing are lacking, they have no option
because their parents are poor. His
greatest problem is that each time he
sees other children in company of their
parents, he feels depressed. Abdullahi
laments that the current economic
hardship is taking its toll on them as they
hardly get leftovers nowadays. Rather,
they have resorted to doing menial jobs
like nail cutting, cap weaving and
cobbling to feed.
So why would a parent leave his child to
fate? Bello Abdulsalam, a parent who has
three children in the school, says he
embraced the system because he lacks
the means to cater for the children,
adding that no one will like to lose contact
with his kids for years. According to Goni
Usman, a tsangaya mallam (teacher),
"almajiri pupils learn the Qur`an under a
teacher three times a day without good
shelter, food or health care and away
from their parents, some of who are
hundreds of kilometres away. His
consolation lies in the belief that his
suffering in the world is for the reward
that awaits him in heaven. He learns how
to recite and memorise the holy book in
verses, chapters and write them on a
wooden slate called Allo. Afterwards, he
cleans the verses he has memorised and
he is instructed to proceed to another
chapter (Surah) as soon as his teacher is
satisfied that he has mastered the last
one he was taught.
The word almajiri, according to Sheik
Abba Aji, a renowned Maiduguri-based
Islamic scholar, is a word borrowed from
Arabic language and derived from the
word "Al-Muhajir ” meaning a seeker of
Islamic knowledge. The almajiri system of
education practised in northern Nigeria
has its origin in the migration of Prophet
Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Those
who migrated with the prophet to Medina
were called “Al-Muhajirrun,” meaning
emigrants, while those they met there
were referred to as “Ansar,” meaning
helpers. To Aji, “these emigrants (Al-
Muhajirrun) because of the
circumstances of their migration had no
means of livelihood on getting to Medina,
but based on the fraternity established
by the prophet between the two groups,
they did not engage in begging but rather
were co-opted by the Ansar in their
various trades and vocations as
apprentices who were paid for their
services. ” Aji says Islam frowns at
begging in any form because it reduces a
Muslim`s self-esteem and dignity.
Hence, begging on the streets of
northern Nigeria by these Tsangaya
pupils is contrary to the teachings of
Qur`an and Hadith.
Usman, who has memorised the Qur`an,
says there is no specific age when a child
is enrolled into the system, but the
standard practice is seven years. The
duration of his scholarship as an almajiri
has no time limit but dependent on his
intellectual capability as what matters is
for him to memorise the Qur`an. Thus, he
has three stages to fully graduate from
the system, which comprises learning the
Qur`an by heart (Tilawa), memorising it
(Hafizi) and perfecting his ability to write
the whole Qur`an devoid of errors on
sheets of paper or slate off-hand (Darasi).
This, to Usman, takes at least 20 or more
years for one to accomplish. If a child
starts at age seven, by the time he
concludes the Quaranic study he would
probably assume that he is too old to
enrol for formal education.
Abdulkareem Kwando, a medical doctor in
Kano, says the condition under which
these street urchins live makes them to
develop very strong immunity to illnesses
and diseases, which sometimes baffle
medical practitioners. He however warns
that when they become infected it is
usually fatal.
One baffling aspect of these almajiris is
their eating habit. They consume all kinds
of food, fresh or stale, but they rarely fall
sick. The magazine ran into a group of
almajiris in Wudil village of Kano State
eating a combination of food they had
warmed on a small kerosene stove. The
food, a combination of locally made corn
food (Tuwo), pasta and boiled yam
altogether in one bowl, looked like a fresh
vomit. Shah Muhammadu, one of the
boys told the magazine that it is called
“ Jagala”, being a combination of food
stored by an almajiri over a number of
days. However, when an almajiri gets
some fresh food, he could play pranks
with his colleagues. At such times he
would sneak away from his mates to eat
alone.
In Kano State, according to a 2009
statistics from the education ministry,
there are 1.6 million almajiris in 26,000
Tsangaya schools across the 44 local
government areas of the state. Sokoto
State has 1.1 million almajiris in 19,167
schools but the Sokoto State Ministry of
Religious Affairs says this figure is not
conclusive as there are still cases of
omission in some of the villages; Kaduna
State has 824,233, while Borno State,
reputed as a centre of Islamic learning,
has 389,048 almajiri pupils.
The breakdown for Borno State is as
follows Borno indigenes 266,160,
followed by those from other states
totalling 118,280, non-Nigerians are
4,608. There are 4,464 Sangaya
mallams. Algoni Kassim, desk officer,
Quranic education, Borno State Universal
Basic Education, says the figure is not
conclusive, as the almajiri census is still
ongoing. The National Council for the
Welfare of Destitutes in Nigeria says
there are about seven million almajiris or
teenage beggars in northern Nigeria.
These figures may have confirmed what
Aja Nwachukwu, former minister of
education, said in April 2008 that Nigeria
accounted for over 11 million out 80
million children who were out of school in
the world.
Goni Habib, an octogenarian, who has
produced over 300 Qur`an memorisers
who run schools across various states in
northern Nigeria, says the Tsangaya
system is a pattern of Islamic education
acquisition by children of northern origin
consisting of a mallam and his pupils. He
says that the learning done in a small
enclosure, serving as classroom, only
requires a pupil having a wooden slate.
The mallam and his pupils sometimes
move about from one area to another
depending on his age. He observes that
there is no specific requirement for
registration in a Tsangaya school. So,
how does the teacher emerge? Habib
says the teacher only needs the verbal
certification of his own teacher before he
can supervise pupils learning the Qur`an.
Though this system has produced
prominent Islamic scholars of northern
extraction like Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, Late
Abubakar Gumi, Jaa`far Adam and Kala
Rawi, Habib says the Tsangaya system as
it is presently run is a corruption of the
original. Hear him, “Almajiris, during our
time about 60 years ago did not beg and
were held in high esteem in northern
Nigeria, houses in the neighbourhood
bring food in calabash every day, we help
our teacher on the farm, gather firewood
from the bush which we use to read at
night, assist his wife with domestic
chores for food in return and no pupil is
taxed as the teacher gets his reward from
Allah. ” He laments that at his age of 86,
he sometimes feels like weeping because
the present crop of Tsangaya students
lacks the spirit of scholarship like
endurance, morals, discipline and their
intellectual capacity is low. The sad thing
now is that they are vulnerable to
criminal activities. So what is the
authority doing to save the day?
The Northern Governors Forum at their
meeting at the Hassan Usman Katsina
House, Kaduna in 2000 pledged to put an
end to the almajiri syndrome through
structural reforms. At the meeting where
they adopted far-reaching resolutions,
the governors identified worst hit areas
like Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and Borno
states. However, nine years after, little or
nothing seems to have been achieved
and the present northern governors are
still singing the old tune. The result is
that the almajiris are growing in
geometrical progression, turning the
once lofty system of Quranic education
into another form of modern slavery and
the worst form of child abuse. This is
because on daily basis they are taken to
the cities in hundreds and in trailers and
dumped with various mallams.
Of all the northern states, only Kano and
Sokoto have made appreciable progress
towards restructuring the Tsangaya
system by setting up pilot programmes to
test-run model schools. Shehu Galadanci,
special adviser to Kano State governor on
education and Information Technology,
whose office oversees the programme,
says four out of six planned, pilot schools
have been set up in Tudun Wada, Gwarzo,
Wudil and Ungogo.
Musa Maitafsir, a professor and Sokoto
State commissioner for religious affairs,
says N67 million has been earmarked for
building four model schools at four
different entry points into the state. The
first one, consisting of four blocks of eight
classrooms, a storey building and a
mosque, located on Gusau road, has
reached advanced stage of completion.
He says uniforms, books and hostel
accommodation will be provided free of
charge. Other ones will be sited on Birnin
Kebbi road, Ilela and Wurno road.
Sources say the state government was
initially giving monthly allowance and
food items to the mallams to feed
themselves and the children, but
government stopped it when it learnt
that the mallams were diverting or
appropriating the money. Galadanci,
however, denies the claim, saying that
the programme was stopped because the
burden of financial commitment was
much on the state government as “it was
a big challenge feeding 26,000 Sangaya
schools and maintaining 3,000
conventional schools. ” The new
approach by government was to cater for
those in the model schools and give
seedlings, fertilisers and farm
implements to mallams living in rural
areas.
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State
had in 2006 promised to integrate the
Tsangaya system into western
education. But three years after, his
government is still compiling the list of
Sangaya pupils and teachers. Mohammed
Imam, commissioner for education, says
the state government has set up a
committee of Ulamas to work out the
modalities, but the magazine`s
investigations do not reveal anything on
ground.
Goni Zarami, Borno State chairman,
Tsangaya association, says the governor
lacks the political will to reform the
system as he has written 37 letters to
him from 2003 on how to change the
fortunes of the system but no response.
“ I am tired and vowed not to write again
as the monthly allowance given to 1,090
Tsangaya mallams of N3,000 monthly
started by the Kachallah administration is
still what we are living on.
Salisu Tambuwal, a Zamfara-based
Islamic scholar, reads hypocrisy into the
supposed efforts of the northern
governors. He says for the nine years
some impact should have been made in
the area of poverty alleviation, which is
the root cause of this problem. To him,
“ there is no sincerity in their hearts
because if they eradicate the problem,
there will be no place for them to recruit
political thugs, and that is why what we
hear on daily basis is government
officials going to Malaysia and Egypt to
understudy how their own Tsangaya
system is run.” Tambuwal alludes to
reports of some panels probing ethno-
religious crises in the region, which
indicted almajiris as being ready foot
soldiers oiling the vehicle of
conflagration.
Mustapha Sani, another Tsangaya
student for eight years, describes the
much- talked-about plan by government
to integrate the Tsangaya system into
formal education as a fluke. “We are tired
of so much talk, but no action as many
government officials have come to our
school to record our number and needs
but nothing comes out of it, ” says Sani.
Sani, apparently echoing the views of
many of his mates and mallams across
northern Nigeria, believes the integration
is like trying to merge water and fire. He
says he is against the integration, as it
will make the almajiris abandon Islamic
teachings for western values.
This brings to the fore another aspect of
the conflict where mallams and the pupils
see the reform as a threat to their
religious belief. The age-long cultural and
religious belief in the North is that
western education has no value to the
Muslim. Perhaps, the reality is that the
mallams see the move as a way of
scrapping their means of survival. For
instance, such a reform will take away
the midweek tax, called ``Kudin Sati``,
imposed on all almajiris by the teachers.
Adamu Hussein, a Sokoto-based Islamic
scholar, has described Muslim scholars
condemning western education as
"intellectually deficient persons. ” Backing
up his submission, the scholar said
Prophet Muhammad urged all Muslims in
his Hadith to seek knowledge in all its
ramifications and never allow
themselves to be held down by
geographical barriers. ” He adds that the
image problem facing Muslims around
the world today makes it compulsory for
adherents of the Islamic faith to lead the
way in the search for knowledge about
science, medicine, engineering and
information and communication
technology so as to rebrand themselves.
The chairman of Northern Governors
Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has
stressed the need for societal
reorientation in the North. Hear him: “We
need to discourage the ranka ya dade
syndrome, which abuses and
dehumanises the people by offering
them stipends out of the often stolen
wealth, and encourages laziness while
some of us go about in arrogance. We also
need to address the embarrassing
almajiri phenomenon in our states; we
need to question what appears as the
Islamisation of poverty. We need to ask,
why do we have endemic poverty in
Muslims dominated settlements, when
Allah has enjoined the faithful to balance
the search for the thereafter with the
search for this world? ”
Aliyu, who was speaking at a one-day
symposium on Poverty Eradication in
Northern States, organised by the Niger
State Community of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Kaduna State, put the
average poverty rate in the region at 71
per cent, noting that traditional rulers in
the country, particularly in the North, are
corrupt, support corruption and have lost
the respect and moral authority to correct
their subjects. The passage of the Child`s
Rights Act 2003 by the National
Assembly gave a glimmer of hope that it
might be the magic wand to save these
children. But, the refusal of most
northern states to domesticate the law as
directed by the federal government has
become like a camel passing through the
eye of a needle. Umar Labaran, a legal
practitioner and Borno State chairman of
Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria,
says the act seeks to confer unto parents
those duties, responsibilities and
obligations to their children, whose
realisation will lead to proper
development of the child .
Apart from Zamfara State whose
lawmakers passed a law meant to check
child abuse, all others have rejected it
outrightly.
Reason: they argue that the contents
contradict Islamic values and also a
deliberate attempt to bring western
values which allow a child to seek redress
in the courts against his parents should
he feel his rights have been trampled
upon. The act, according to the
magazine`s findings, has about 16
sections which most northern states are
contesting. Prominent among the issues
raised in these contentious sections are
giving equal rights to children born in and
outside wedlock, prohibition of child
betrothal and marriage, prohibition of
hawking by children, use of scientific
tests to determine paternity and
maternity and right to dignity and
provisions of guidance with respect to
child`s responsibilities.
Hadiza Magaji, treasurer of the lawyers`
association and deputy registrar, Borno
State High Court, says the act, despite the
criticisms, is not completely a useless
document as it has very good provisions
to take care of the almajiri syndrome.
What is required is a comprehensive
review to expunge all aspects considered
contradictory to the teachings of Islam as
the children are victims of all sorts of
exploitation by the society including
ritualists.”
Another pre-disposing factor to the
growing number of almajiri pupils in the
North is the peoples` antagonism
towards family planning and child
spacing citing the hadith of Prophet
Mohammed which says, “Go forth my
congregation, get married and multiply so
that I will be proud of you. ” But Adamu
Sani, a veterinary doctor, says this aspect
of the Hadith has been grossly
misrepresented. He says under Sharia,
some of the basic rights of a child are
food, shelter, clothing and education and
so any parent who fails in this direction
has an explanation to give before Allah.”
Adamu adds that there are birth control
practices accepted by Islam and
economic realities of today make it
necessary for every parent to breed
those children he can cater for.
Maikaramba Sadiq, Borno State co-
ordinator, Civil Liberties Organisation,
CLO, says the northern culture is the
most antagonistic culture towards
fundamental human rights because
Islam frowns at child abuse and being
dirty. He added that “almajiris are the
dirtiest set of people in the society and
the Qur`an says one`s faith is incomplete
unless you are clean. ”
Musa Maitafsir says the findings of the
committee set up by the Sokoto State
government has revealed that there is
proliferation of almajiris for three
reasons: “The love for Quranic education,
poverty and redundancy in the villages.”
He says, “By May when you go to these
Tsangaya schools you find very few
pupils but once the food harvest starts
going down, the parents start sending
the children back in batches. ”
The National Assembly through the
Senate made another effort to end the
almajiri problem by proposing a bill for the
enactment of the National Commission
for the Eradication of Child Destitution in
Nigeria in 2008. The bill, popularly known
as the almajiri bill and sponsored by
Umaru Argungu and 31 others, seeks to
punish any proprietor of an unregistered
Tsangaya school with two years jail term.
Does the solution really lie in imposing
sanctions on a people that believe they
are observing a religious injunction?
What really can be done, in the face of the
opposition by the almajiris and the
malams? The duo of Labaran and Abba
Aji believe the way forward is for the law
and constitution to recognise it as a
system of education and also inculcate
into its curriculum, a form of trade or
vocation that the almajiris will be
acquiring over the years so as to have
something to fall back on after
graduation.
While it remains to be seen if the pilot
programmes currently being run in Kano
and Sokoto states will not go with the
governors who initiated them, the fate of
almajiris in the region remains uncertain.
This is because as many northern
governors strategise for 2011, either for
re-election or to instal successors, the
almajiris, living like orphans, raise up their
hands awaiting Allah`s divine favour for
a better tomorrow.

Nura Mohammed (10) gets up from the
worn-out mat in the uncompleted
building where he and his mates rest
their heads at night. Goats may not find
the small rooms where he and 15 others
sleep conducive as there are no windows
for cross-ventilation and the walls have
given room to cracks looking as if it will
fall the next minute. The occupants are,
indeed, vulnerable to all forms of airborne
diseases associated with the harsh
Maiduguri weather. His face baked in the
dust from the floor of the uncompleted
building like someone coming out of sand
dunes. He looks pale, apparently due to
malnutrition, with blisters on his lips. The
dryness of his face and rashes on his skin
suggest the harmattan has taken its toll
on him.
Mohammed performs ablution, says his
morning prayers (Subhi) and joins his
mates under the tree for the daily
learning of the Qur`an. After the morning
lessons, without taking his bath, he goes
out like others with his bowl to beg for
food. He repeats this ritual three times a
day for as long as he is a student in this
school. For him, life begins and ends at
the school. For the likes of Mohammed,
there is no room for dreams, ambition or
career guidance. He lives life the way it
comes -- on daily basis. This is a day in
the life of Nura Mohammed, the face of
the popular almajiri pupils, swarming the
streets of northern Nigeria like locusts.
He was brought to the Tsangaya School
in Maiduguri three years ago by his
father, a rice farmer in Zabarmari village
of Jere local government area of Borno
State. Mohammed from a polygamous
family was enrolled in the school with his
half-brother Umar (5) and since then
they have lost contact with their parents.
Mohammed is one of the over five million
children clad in tattered clothes begging
on the streets of northern Nigeria and
seeking Quranic education in the
Tsangaya School, popularly called
Almajirci.
The attitude of the society towards these
almajiris is a complex paradox. Some treat
them with contempt and exploit them,
while others give them alms and food out
of sympathy or after using them to run
errands. This probably accounts for why
most homes in northern Nigeria engage
the services of these children on daily
basis. Yusuf Ibrahim, an almajiri who was
taken from Malumfashi in Katsina State
to Sokoto in Sokoto State, accused the
society of being antagonistic to them. He
says, “No one wants to give you anything,
you either have to wash plates, clothes or
fetch water before they give you
anything." The few who realise that they
are being used often become aggressive
and resent the tokens doled out to them.
Yusuf Danjuma, a Maiduguri resident,
said almajiris cannot be blamed for
“ carrying hostility and anger on their
faces, as no one shows them affection
but looks for an opportunity to use them
for one purpose or the other before
assisting them and many of them have
never experienced parental care in their
lives.
“The experience of Ilyasu Abdullahi, an
almajiri for seven years, is an illustration
of that assessment. Abdullahi who says
he and four of his siblings are in different
tsangaya schools in northern Nigeria
claim that they visit their parents once in
two years. He says though the condition
under which they live is almost inhuman
because basic things like food and
clothing are lacking, they have no option
because their parents are poor. His
greatest problem is that each time he
sees other children in company of their
parents, he feels depressed. Abdullahi
laments that the current economic
hardship is taking its toll on them as they
hardly get leftovers nowadays. Rather,
they have resorted to doing menial jobs
like nail cutting, cap weaving and
cobbling to feed.
So why would a parent leave his child to
fate? Bello Abdulsalam, a parent who has
three children in the school, says he
embraced the system because he lacks
the means to cater for the children,
adding that no one will like to lose contact
with his kids for years. According to Goni
Usman, a tsangaya mallam (teacher),
"almajiri pupils learn the Qur`an under a
teacher three times a day without good
shelter, food or health care and away
from their parents, some of who are
hundreds of kilometres away. His
consolation lies in the belief that his
suffering in the world is for the reward
that awaits him in heaven. He learns how
to recite and memorise the holy book in
verses, chapters and write them on a
wooden slate called Allo. Afterwards, he
cleans the verses he has memorised and
he is instructed to proceed to another
chapter (Surah) as soon as his teacher is
satisfied that he has mastered the last
one he was taught.
The word almajiri, according to Sheik
Abba Aji, a renowned Maiduguri-based
Islamic scholar, is a word borrowed from
Arabic language and derived from the
word "Al-Muhajir ” meaning a seeker of
Islamic knowledge. The almajiri system of
education practised in northern Nigeria
has its origin in the migration of Prophet
Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Those
who migrated with the prophet to Medina
were called “Al-Muhajirrun,” meaning
emigrants, while those they met there
were referred to as “Ansar,” meaning
helpers. To Aji, “these emigrants (Al-
Muhajirrun) because of the
circumstances of their migration had no
means of livelihood on getting to Medina,
but based on the fraternity established
by the prophet between the two groups,
they did not engage in begging but rather
were co-opted by the Ansar in their
various trades and vocations as
apprentices who were paid for their
services. ” Aji says Islam frowns at
begging in any form because it reduces a
Muslim`s self-esteem and dignity.
Hence, begging on the streets of
northern Nigeria by these Tsangaya
pupils is contrary to the teachings of
Qur`an and Hadith.
Usman, who has memorised the Qur`an,
says there is no specific age when a child
is enrolled into the system, but the
standard practice is seven years. The
duration of his scholarship as an almajiri
has no time limit but dependent on his
intellectual capability as what matters is
for him to memorise the Qur`an. Thus, he
has three stages to fully graduate from
the system, which comprises learning the
Qur`an by heart (Tilawa), memorising it
(Hafizi) and perfecting his ability to write
the whole Qur`an devoid of errors on
sheets of paper or slate off-hand (Darasi).
This, to Usman, takes at least 20 or more
years for one to accomplish. If a child
starts at age seven, by the time he
concludes the Quaranic study he would
probably assume that he is too old to
enrol for formal education.
Abdulkareem Kwando, a medical doctor in
Kano, says the condition under which
these street urchins live makes them to
develop very strong immunity to illnesses
and diseases, which sometimes baffle
medical practitioners. He however warns
that when they become infected it is
usually fatal.
One baffling aspect of these almajiris is
their eating habit. They consume all kinds
of food, fresh or stale, but they rarely fall
sick. The magazine ran into a group of
almajiris in Wudil village of Kano State
eating a combination of food they had
warmed on a small kerosene stove. The
food, a combination of locally made corn
food (Tuwo), pasta and boiled yam
altogether in one bowl, looked like a fresh
vomit. Shah Muhammadu, one of the
boys told the magazine that it is called
“ Jagala”, being a combination of food
stored by an almajiri over a number of
days. However, when an almajiri gets
some fresh food, he could play pranks
with his colleagues. At such times he
would sneak away from his mates to eat
alone.
In Kano State, according to a 2009
statistics from the education ministry,
there are 1.6 million almajiris in 26,000
Tsangaya schools across the 44 local
government areas of the state. Sokoto
State has 1.1 million almajiris in 19,167
schools but the Sokoto State Ministry of
Religious Affairs says this figure is not
conclusive as there are still cases of
omission in some of the villages; Kaduna
State has 824,233, while Borno State,
reputed as a centre of Islamic learning,
has 389,048 almajiri pupils.
The breakdown for Borno State is as
follows Borno indigenes 266,160,
followed by those from other states
totalling 118,280, non-Nigerians are
4,608. There are 4,464 Sangaya
mallams. Algoni Kassim, desk officer,
Quranic education, Borno State Universal
Basic Education, says the figure is not
conclusive, as the almajiri census is still
ongoing. The National Council for the
Welfare of Destitutes in Nigeria says
there are about seven million almajiris or
teenage beggars in northern Nigeria.
These figures may have confirmed what
Aja Nwachukwu, former minister of
education, said in April 2008 that Nigeria
accounted for over 11 million out 80
million children who were out of school in
the world.
Goni Habib, an octogenarian, who has
produced over 300 Qur`an memorisers
who run schools across various states in
northern Nigeria, says the Tsangaya
system is a pattern of Islamic education
acquisition by children of northern origin
consisting of a mallam and his pupils. He
says that the learning done in a small
enclosure, serving as classroom, only
requires a pupil having a wooden slate.
The mallam and his pupils sometimes
move about from one area to another
depending on his age. He observes that
there is no specific requirement for
registration in a Tsangaya school. So,
how does the teacher emerge? Habib
says the teacher only needs the verbal
certification of his own teacher before he
can supervise pupils learning the Qur`an.
Though this system has produced
prominent Islamic scholars of northern
extraction like Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, Late
Abubakar Gumi, Jaa`far Adam and Kala
Rawi, Habib says the Tsangaya system as
it is presently run is a corruption of the
original. Hear him, “Almajiris, during our
time about 60 years ago did not beg and
were held in high esteem in northern
Nigeria, houses in the neighbourhood
bring food in calabash every day, we help
our teacher on the farm, gather firewood
from the bush which we use to read at
night, assist his wife with domestic
chores for food in return and no pupil is
taxed as the teacher gets his reward from
Allah. ” He laments that at his age of 86,
he sometimes feels like weeping because
the present crop of Tsangaya students
lacks the spirit of scholarship like
endurance, morals, discipline and their
intellectual capacity is low. The sad thing
now is that they are vulnerable to
criminal activities. So what is the
authority doing to save the day?
The Northern Governors Forum at their
meeting at the Hassan Usman Katsina
House, Kaduna in 2000 pledged to put an
end to the almajiri syndrome through
structural reforms. At the meeting where
they adopted far-reaching resolutions,
the governors identified worst hit areas
like Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and Borno
states. However, nine years after, little or
nothing seems to have been achieved
and the present northern governors are
still singing the old tune. The result is
that the almajiris are growing in
geometrical progression, turning the
once lofty system of Quranic education
into another form of modern slavery and
the worst form of child abuse. This is
because on daily basis they are taken to
the cities in hundreds and in trailers and
dumped with various mallams.
Of all the northern states, only Kano and
Sokoto have made appreciable progress
towards restructuring the Tsangaya
system by setting up pilot programmes to
test-run model schools. Shehu Galadanci,
special adviser to Kano State governor on
education and Information Technology,
whose office oversees the programme,
says four out of six planned, pilot schools
have been set up in Tudun Wada, Gwarzo,
Wudil and Ungogo.
Musa Maitafsir, a professor and Sokoto
State commissioner for religious affairs,
says N67 million has been earmarked for
building four model schools at four
different entry points into the state. The
first one, consisting of four blocks of eight
classrooms, a storey building and a
mosque, located on Gusau road, has
reached advanced stage of completion.
He says uniforms, books and hostel
accommodation will be provided free of
charge. Other ones will be sited on Birnin
Kebbi road, Ilela and Wurno road.
Sources say the state government was
initially giving monthly allowance and
food items to the mallams to feed
themselves and the children, but
government stopped it when it learnt
that the mallams were diverting or
appropriating the money. Galadanci,
however, denies the claim, saying that
the programme was stopped because the
burden of financial commitment was
much on the state government as “it was
a big challenge feeding 26,000 Sangaya
schools and maintaining 3,000
conventional schools. ” The new
approach by government was to cater for
those in the model schools and give
seedlings, fertilisers and farm
implements to mallams living in rural
areas.
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State
had in 2006 promised to integrate the
Tsangaya system into western
education. But three years after, his
government is still compiling the list of
Sangaya pupils and teachers. Mohammed
Imam, commissioner for education, says
the state government has set up a
committee of Ulamas to work out the
modalities, but the magazine`s
investigations do not reveal anything on
ground.
Goni Zarami, Borno State chairman,
Tsangaya association, says the governor
lacks the political will to reform the
system as he has written 37 letters to
him from 2003 on how to change the
fortunes of the system but no response.
“ I am tired and vowed not to write again
as the monthly allowance given to 1,090
Tsangaya mallams of N3,000 monthly
started by the Kachallah administration is
still what we are living on.
Salisu Tambuwal, a Zamfara-based
Islamic scholar, reads hypocrisy into the
supposed efforts of the northern
governors. He says for the nine years
some impact should have been made in
the area of poverty alleviation, which is
the root cause of this problem. To him,
“ there is no sincerity in their hearts
because if they eradicate the problem,
there will be no place for them to recruit
political thugs, and that is why what we
hear on daily basis is government
officials going to Malaysia and Egypt to
understudy how their own Tsangaya
system is run.” Tambuwal alludes to
reports of some panels probing ethno-
religious crises in the region, which
indicted almajiris as being ready foot
soldiers oiling the vehicle of
conflagration.
Mustapha Sani, another Tsangaya
student for eight years, describes the
much- talked-about plan by government
to integrate the Tsangaya system into
formal education as a fluke. “We are tired
of so much talk, but no action as many
government officials have come to our
school to record our number and needs
but nothing comes out of it, ” says Sani.
Sani, apparently echoing the views of
many of his mates and mallams across
northern Nigeria, believes the integration
is like trying to merge water and fire. He
says he is against the integration, as it
will make the almajiris abandon Islamic
teachings for western values.
This brings to the fore another aspect of
the conflict where mallams and the pupils
see the reform as a threat to their
religious belief. The age-long cultural and
religious belief in the North is that
western education has no value to the
Muslim. Perhaps, the reality is that the
mallams see the move as a way of
scrapping their means of survival. For
instance, such a reform will take away
the midweek tax, called ``Kudin Sati``,
imposed on all almajiris by the teachers.
Adamu Hussein, a Sokoto-based Islamic
scholar, has described Muslim scholars
condemning western education as
"intellectually deficient persons. ” Backing
up his submission, the scholar said
Prophet Muhammad urged all Muslims in
his Hadith to seek knowledge in all its
ramifications and never allow
themselves to be held down by
geographical barriers. ” He adds that the
image problem facing Muslims around
the world today makes it compulsory for
adherents of the Islamic faith to lead the
way in the search for knowledge about
science, medicine, engineering and
information and communication
technology so as to rebrand themselves.
The chairman of Northern Governors
Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has
stressed the need for societal
reorientation in the North. Hear him: “We
need to discourage the ranka ya dade
syndrome, which abuses and
dehumanises the people by offering
them stipends out of the often stolen
wealth, and encourages laziness while
some of us go about in arrogance. We also
need to address the embarrassing
almajiri phenomenon in our states; we
need to question what appears as the
Islamisation of poverty. We need to ask,
why do we have endemic poverty in
Muslims dominated settlements, when
Allah has enjoined the faithful to balance
the search for the thereafter with the
search for this world? ”
Aliyu, who was speaking at a one-day
symposium on Poverty Eradication in
Northern States, organised by the Niger
State Community of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Kaduna State, put the
average poverty rate in the region at 71
per cent, noting that traditional rulers in
the country, particularly in the North, are
corrupt, support corruption and have lost
the respect and moral authority to correct
their subjects. The passage of the Child`s
Rights Act 2003 by the National
Assembly gave a glimmer of hope that it
might be the magic wand to save these
children. But, the refusal of most
northern states to domesticate the law as
directed by the federal government has
become like a camel passing through the
eye of a needle. Umar Labaran, a legal
practitioner and Borno State chairman of
Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria,
says the act seeks to confer unto parents
those duties, responsibilities and
obligations to their children, whose
realisation will lead to proper
development of the child .
Apart from Zamfara State whose
lawmakers passed a law meant to check
child abuse, all others have rejected it
outrightly.
Reason: they argue that the contents
contradict Islamic values and also a
deliberate attempt to bring western
values which allow a child to seek redress
in the courts against his parents should
he feel his rights have been trampled
upon. The act, according to the
magazine`s findings, has about 16
sections which most northern states are
contesting. Prominent among the issues
raised in these contentious sections are
giving equal rights to children born in and
outside wedlock, prohibition of child
betrothal and marriage, prohibition of
hawking by children, use of scientific
tests to determine paternity and
maternity and right to dignity and
provisions of guidance with respect to
child`s responsibilities.
Hadiza Magaji, treasurer of the lawyers`
association and deputy registrar, Borno
State High Court, says the act, despite the
criticisms, is not completely a useless
document as it has very good provisions
to take care of the almajiri syndrome.
What is required is a comprehensive
review to expunge all aspects considered
contradictory to the teachings of Islam as
the children are victims of all sorts of
exploitation by the society including
ritualists.”
Another pre-disposing factor to the
growing number of almajiri pupils in the
North is the peoples` antagonism
towards family planning and child
spacing citing the hadith of Prophet
Mohammed which says, “Go forth my
congregation, get married and multiply so
that I will be proud of you. ” But Adamu
Sani, a veterinary doctor, says this aspect
of the Hadith has been grossly
misrepresented. He says under Sharia,
some of the basic rights of a child are
food, shelter, clothing and education and
so any parent who fails in this direction
has an explanation to give before Allah.”
Adamu adds that there are birth control
practices accepted by Islam and
economic realities of today make it
necessary for every parent to breed
those children he can cater for.
Maikaramba Sadiq, Borno State co-
ordinator, Civil Liberties Organisation,
CLO, says the northern culture is the
most antagonistic culture towards
fundamental human rights because
Islam frowns at child abuse and being
dirty. He added that “almajiris are the
dirtiest set of people in the society and
the Qur`an says one`s faith is incomplete
unless you are clean. ”
Musa Maitafsir says the findings of the
committee set up by the Sokoto State
government has revealed that there is
proliferation of almajiris for three
reasons: “The love for Quranic education,
poverty and redundancy in the villages.”
He says, “By May when you go to these
Tsangaya schools you find very few
pupils but once the food harvest starts
going down, the parents start sending
the children back in batches. ”
The National Assembly through the
Senate made another effort to end the
almajiri problem by proposing a bill for the
enactment of the National Commission
for the Eradication of Child Destitution in
Nigeria in 2008. The bill, popularly known
as the almajiri bill and sponsored by
Umaru Argungu and 31 others, seeks to
punish any proprietor of an unregistered
Tsangaya school with two years jail term.
Does the solution really lie in imposing
sanctions on a people that believe they
are observing a religious injunction?
What really can be done, in the face of the
opposition by the almajiris and the
malams? The duo of Labaran and Abba
Aji believe the way forward is for the law
and constitution to recognise it as a
system of education and also inculcate
into its curriculum, a form of trade or
vocation that the almajiris will be
acquiring over the years so as to have
something to fall back on after
graduation.
While it remains to be seen if the pilot
programmes currently being run in Kano
and Sokoto states will not go with the
governors who initiated them, the fate of
almajiris in the region remains uncertain.
This is because as many northern
governors strategise for 2011, either for
re-election or to instal successors, the
almajiris, living like orphans, raise up their
hands awaiting Allah`s divine favour for
a better tomorrow.

I wept when the news of corpers being killed in the North reigned in the news recently. I felt like travelling straight to the southeast, Owerri to be precise-go to the hausa settlement(Ama Hausa) there and take the lives of a dozen hausa and fulani men just to send the message that no one tribe has a monopoly on voilence- I mean, if we can't have equal disarmament then there should equl armament- I dont care what their reasons are, and nobody here should bring in the PDP here as an excuse. Most of the humans killed and properties destroyed were not PDP, these !d!ots need to be packed into a gas chamber and gas them to death, Fools!

It is laughable that some southwesterners would try to arrogate some sort of power that has swung the votes for GEJ. A lot of you southwesterners are wishy-washy lying lots that change with the tide.
I personally monitored the voting pattern in Lagos and I can comfortable tell you that the over 2million votes in Lagos, more than 65% were non-yoruba votes and the of that non-yaruba votes, the Igbos constituted more than 40% of it. Lagos state which has the highest PDP votes in SW region scored that high because of the willingness of many non-yorubas to cast their votes irrespective of the wide spread aparthy of a lot of the yoruba(who felt the election has very little to do with them since none of their son was in the race).
I find it apalling that some of you that obviously are not in Nigeria will want to turn around and say the Yorubas have done GEJ a favour with the very low turn out as evidenced in other Yoruba states.
I am not arguing that we did not have yorubas that genuinely voted for GEJ but to now say they are the reason GEJ is going to win is very laughable and an insult to the people of the SS and SE that have shown unwavering support right from the on set to even the casting of the votes.
In lagos there were even a lot loyalty votes amongst the yorubas that voted for PDP hence the allegation that Tinubu may have tacitly told egg head party members to tell their boys to vote the PDP. In my ward for instance in surulere and another polling unit in Mushib LGAs I saw ACN party members openly canvassing votes for the PDP and were saying: "ati vote fu PDP nsi to ba ti di next week eyino ma vote fu wa o". That was the trend. The educated yorubas I know mostly voted for Buhari and Ribadu so what exactly is the mantra of SW gave GEJ this and that. Apart from Lagos that gave GEJ an advantage, the other SW state could hardly claim to have deliberately done anything to help with votes for GEJ, even Oyo that registered over 2million votes cant even boast of a modest 1million votes compared to a tiny state like Abia not to talk of Ekiti and Ogun state or even Osub where he lost outrightly to ACN.
In fact to be candid, Northerners even gave better support than SW in comparison even though Buhari was a mammoth personality there especially the NC states.
Shouting we did it for him is laying claim to a victory you did not labour for.
Lets be honest here, the SW has not done anything too different from the north in this election for GEJ, the only thing they have done is vote and they just had to choose somebody anyway.
Enough this claims already Jare!

I like the way the election results are going. In fact, whatever gains Buhari had garned in core northern states was neutralized by results from the Eastern blocs, especially from states like Rivers, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra just to mention a few. Where as the CPC could not get 25% of the votes cast in eastern states, in the north, the story is a bit different as PDP managed to pull 25% of the votes in core northern stronghold ans NE states.
JEG is surely cruising to victory. The SW has managed to provide the fairness and neutrality that this elections require, yet the PDP still is the clear leader in the region. Let's wait for the remaining anouncements drom the RECs, I dont see any re-run here. .lol

Akainzo:
I am sorry to burst your bubble on the bolded part above. It is not as you have stated, to be declared the winner, the candidate has to also win the popular votes. It is after winning the popular votes that the required spread comes into play.

. . What exactly is the difference between the popular vote and the 25% spread that I talked about?
It is you who needs to understand the implication and meaning of popular votes. They are thesame thing, porpular votes means widespread acceptance in at least 28 states of the federation or 2/3 of the 6 geo-political zones.
You cant attain that feat and still be talking of popular vote my friend.

If there is one thing I ve learnt after the NAS elections last week, it is not to follow the analysis and predictions of Nairalanders; a lot of them are usually based on hear-say, deliberate distortion of fact and stupid exaggerations to suit their purpose.
The way people were shouting and hyping the ACN and CPC last weekend, you would think the PDP will not constitute 30% of the assembly seats, however, when INEC started  releasing results, it was very clear who was winning and who was just shouting.
I see thesame trend here again, people shouting CPC is taking over the North and bla bla bla. . .
In lagos state for instance, PDP won in almost every polling unit I visited in Surulere and Mushin by wide margins, Obviously CPC did not do too well and ACN probably sold out to the PDP because in my area, it was thesame ACN agents mobilising votes for their candidates last weekend that obviously were organizing for the PDP today, that says a lot.
In the north, especially in the NW, the CPC may do well better than the PDP but I see the PDP maintaining a good follow up that will guarantee the needed 25% spread needed. In the NE and NC the PDP will do well just as they did in lagos state.
Forget all the inflated results and underage voting going on in some parts of the north, the PDP has got a good following even in the north that Buhari and his party cant command anywhere in the South.
And lets not forget, even if Buhari wins by number( which I find impossible) and  his victory does not have the required  spread, GEJ will be declared winner even if he comes below with a widespread number. But it wont even get to that stage anyway.

1025:
@beaf,
just as your jonathan is to the almight criminals of this nation.
whatever tinubu is can be seen in the new lagos state and it is the prayer of everyone to have his or her state be like lagos.
lagos govt is 100% better than the nigerian govt of pdp.
Tinubu can be everything but he is 100% better than pdp and their criminalities.
your father(jonathan) called him a rascal but today, he is dying to get the suport of this same rascal and u don't see that as hypocrisy?
if Tinubu is not doing well, why is the pdp states falling for him? my prayer is that we even sale my state (imo) to him because he has proved that he can make a difference. when he choosed fashola, we were all crying trembling but today, which pdp gov can stand before fashola?

, I may not give damn about the gibberish U keep spewing but when you start making dumb statements such as: "my prayer is that we even sale my state (imo) to him because he has proved that he can make a difference" then one is forced to question your sanity, you have to be overly dense to make such a stupid suggestion. I am from Imo state and like many Imolites we do not share your ignorant sentiments, and that's reflective in our choice during the NA elections.
Before you open your mouth to vomit ignorance, go and look up stories and facts of how Tinubu is holding the government of Fashola by the Jugular, most of the project we see in lagos state are more than %70 world bank assisted and are tied to huge interests. Do you know how indebted the lagos state government is? Yet the likes of Tinubu collects royalties from the lagos state government in the tune of billions every months for doing nothing. What exactly is Tinubu's claim to any success in lagos state? He is not Fashola, even fashola was a product of imposition, no wonder Jimi Agbaje left the party. That Fashola turned out to be a blessing in disguise does not make imposition of candidates right or Tinubu some sort of God to be the sole arbiter of who should represent what.
In Imo for instance, the story of the ACN is a big joke and an insulting slap to progressive Imo indigenes like me. Imagine the likes of Ararume Achike Udenwe and co heralding the party in the name of opposition; thesame disgruntled elemnts in the PDP are the majority in imo state ACN from the state chairman to the secretary, all PDP members, so tell me, what is the difference here?
Pls mind how you make ignorant comments jare!

I think the theme of the thread is deliberately misleading.
However, I find the erratic nature of the southwest politicians & their brand of politics unsettling, their decisions are always based on parochial regional interests and it makes agreement with them hard to follow.
I am seriously disappointed in Ribadu, his docility since he joined the ACN has only given credence to people's fear that he lacks the the required experience, skills, finesse and control of a leader. He has let Tinubu run every aspect of his campaign like he, Ribadu does not have to do anything but just engage in small talks.
I can't believe a prospective candidate for the office of the president can be so docile and passive in matters that directly affect him and his deputy.
In negotiations such as this, the other party will be more comfortable negotiating directly with the real people involved; they want to see Ribadu take charge of the negotiations, concessions and agreements reached rathan a looming and belligerant Tinubu calling all the shots and making all the demands like he is the one that is contesting or the chairman of the party-handing down orders like he does with the ACN.
There is nothing wrong with securing the party's interest and ensuring that the other party signed a post-dated later to that effect. My problem with the whole issue is why let Tinubu take charge during the meeting like he is the one that is going to be president and then giving concessions to him directly-no wonder Bakare declined such a move vehemently knowing where that was going to lead in the end-in his ridiculous demand list, he did not even make mention of Ribadu's vice as any of the possible replacements.
One would have expected that after Tinubu, Ribadu and co would have had their own discussions before they meet with the other negotiating party, an agreement would ve been reached to let Ribadu lead the discussions with other party. Afterall, Tunde Bakare was allowed in his own party to choose whether to accept to step down or not. If CPC could allow him that right to be in one of the driver seats od the negotiations why not Ribadu and his Vice too?
This was thesame way Atiku was boxed out until he got fed up and left the party, ACN still has that heavy tribal influence that makes it difficult for non-southwesterners to follow up in the party's scheme of things without feeling alienated.
Tinubu's visible interference is looming too large for comfort
that it creates uneasiness with any other party that is negotiating with them. He needs to stay behind the scene and let others do his dirty work for him withou him getting directly involved.
May be Bakare would have been more forthcoming if those demands and concessions were seen to be directly those of Ribadu's even if they are actually Tinubu's.
Come tomorow saturday, GEJ is going to beat them hands down not just because of his popularity but also, GEJ has managed to flag the best and elaborate campaign that has a good balance of regional interests and acceptability. Who would have thought that the PDP inspite of the deliberate media witch hunt will still pull it off and still be in the majority both in the senate and house of rep.
Until the oppositions learn to put the nation's interests first before their parochial interests, the PDP will always thump them in the head during elections, rigging or no rigging.

I think the theme of the thread is deliberately misleading.
However, I find the erratic nature of the southwest politicians & their brand of politics unsettling, their decisions are always based on parochial regional interests and it makes agreement with them hard to follow.
I am seriously disappointed in Ribadu, his docility since he joined the ACN has only given credence to people's fear that he lacks the the required experience, skills, finesse and control of a leader. He has let Tinubu run every aspect of his campaign like he, Ribadu does not have to do anything but just engage in small talks.
I can't believe a prospective candidate for the office of the president can be so docile and passive in matters that directly affect him and his deputy.
In negotiations such as this, the other party will be more comfortable negotiating directly with the real people involved; they want to see Ribadu take charge of the negotiations, concessions and agreements reached rathan a looming and belligerant Tinubu calling all the shots and making all the demands like he is the one that is contesting or the chairman of the party-handing down orders like he does with the ACN.
There is nothing wrong with securing the party's interest and ensuring that the other party signed a post-dated later to that effect. My problem with the whole issue is why let Tinubu take charge during the meeting like he is the one that is going to be president and then giving concessions to him directly-no wonder Bakare declined such a move vehemently knowing where that was going to lead in the end-in his ridiculous demand list, he did not even make mention of Ribadu's vice as any of the possible replacements.
One would have expected that after Tinubu, Ribadu and co would have had their own discussions before they meet with the other negotiating party, an agreement would ve been reached to let Ribadu lead the discussions with other party. Afterall, Tunde Bakare was allowed in his own party to choose whether to accept to step down or not. If CPC could allow him that right to be in one of the driver seats od the negotiations why not Ribadu and his Vice too?
This was thesame way Atiku was boxed out until he got fed up and left the party, ACN still has that heavy tribal influence that makes it difficult for non-southwesterners to follow up in the party's scheme of things without feeling alienated.
Tinubu's visible interference is looming too large for comfort
that it creates uneasiness with any other party that is negotiating with them. He needs to stay behind the scene and let others do his dirty work for him withou him getting directly involved.
May be Bakare would have been more forthcoming if those demands and concessions were seen to be directly those of Ribadu's even if they are actually Tinubu's.
Come tomorow saturday, GEJ is going to beat them hands down not just because of his popularity but also, GEJ has managed to flag the best and elaborate campaign that has a good balance of regional interests and acceptability. Who would have thought that the PDP inspite of the deliberate media witch hunt will still pull it off and still be in the majority both in the senate and house of rep.
Until the oppositions learn to put the nation's interests first before their parochial interests, the PDP will always thump them in the head during elections, rigging or no rigging.

tunde300us:
see rhymz oh
U say she didnt do anything wrong in ekiti, and yet you live in the east or something.It is the same style of rigging that was adopted at ekiti that is now being adopted here.

They will wait for elections in the opponents strong hold and neutral places,check the differences and come up with a counter figure from their own strong areas once they have seen all the difference from the opponents areas.

I want you guys to know that if there is anyone that applauded dora the most while she was in NAFDAC,then it was the average yoruba man and lagosian as a whole, because even you made mention of the fake drug barrons that are all over the place in anambra who will never support her.

And for goodness sake this woman is just being silly sef,right from the beginning i saw her loosing just like SOLUDO did cos she was neva an APGA member,and then suddenly 1month to an election she jump ship from the PDP and she was announced as the candidate of APGA for the senatorial seat when there are people that had been there since the early days of 2003 as APGA member and were disregarded because the governor wanted to have her in his side.
Protest vote is the reason for her loosing this race and i dont have any regard for desperado's like her,but really i think the PDP has made this woman a very bad product when she decided to take the awkard post of information minister,remember the controversy it generated ?

Let the voice of the people prevail that is the message here

crap fall out of your mouth like shit from a$s!
Dora is desperate and Ngige is what? A man that is in the habit of contesting and protesting results without any evidence to back up his claims. Mind you, he is still contesting his gubernatorial defeat at the election tribunals, he abondoned it to contest for the senate, what do you call that?
You southwesterners are always in the habit of arrogating false political genius to yourselves, you distort the truth and pick what you like to fit your claims. Imagine you claiming the Yorubas where the most supportive of her career during her NAFDAC days, how? Did the region specifically provide her with materials and funds to ease her job? Or gave her a free home in the region when she was being chased by assasins of business men whose illegal business she was destroying. What exaxtly did the yoruba man do to arrogate such frivolous claims.
And for your information, I was born a bred in Lagos, there is nothing you can tell me about the southwestern 'politricks' oh, sorry politics that I dont already know. The difference between you and I is that while your views are limited to the SW, I can comfortable tell you what is going on in the eastern region, northern region and even your own region, that is the benefits of having an itenerant father.
And pls Mr, argue with facts and not sentimental logic that has no basis of what is realy being discussed. Ngige is all of a sudden a saint because he is using a yoruba party to contest elections. While the ACN and yorubas in general are bent on seeing their party spread like wild fire without any consideration as to the kind of characters that use their platforms, the people of the eastern region wont fall into that bandwagon malaria that has caught the SW and NW. We will vote based on personalities not some stupid PDP wanna-be parties disguising as opposition. Eastermers know better than to fall for such tribally, bigoted sentiments. We would do better striking a balance in the representation of our region than the tsunami victory and control by one party in the name of change.
What change are they talking about when they continue to field in thesame kind of elements in the PDP as their candidates. In most of the Eastern regions most of their candidates are former PDP members. Thesame aggrieved members of the PDP make up the bulk of the so-called opposition and yet here you are shouting change and liberation, Liberation my a$$!

cantell:
Nobody bribed that man. I'm saying this because i saw what happened during akunyili/peter obi's campaign in Onitsha.
The traders in the market booed them and never gave them a chance to speak.
In one of their campaigns, they sang "Ezi na-aga n'ilo for Peter Obi"( A pig is passing by) when he was coming to the campaign arena.
How can they win in Anambra when virtually everyone hates the governor and his party members?
Prof. Akunyili is popular but not in any comparison with Ngige. Ngige is considered as one of the best governors Anambrarians would ever have.
So there's no way Akunyili can win Ngige in a free and fair election.

last time I checked, Dora Akunyili is running to represent Anambra central senatorial district not the whole of Anambra of Peter Obi himself. How her unpopularity in Onitsha(which is understandable as she delt with a lot of the fake drugs traders and merchant in Onitsha) makes Mr Anene's claim over results in one of the communities in Anaocha( which obviously is Dora's strong point as it is not just only the fact that she is from there but also that Anaocha is one of the biggest LGAs in Anambra state with very huge population) is what i can seem to figure out from your arguments.
Ngige is popular no doubt but dont make it look like Dora is a walk over that will easily lose even in her own local government, that is crap.

tunde300us:
If you guys remember the role this woman played during the Madam AYOOKA -EKITI SAGA, then you will know she can do this and more.I know some ppl still believe she is the dora of NAFDAC  that the whole world was honouring,then you better think twice cos she don eat and drink with the PDP and that is all you need to make her this desperate.

shame on her !!!

tunde you are talking bullocks! What exactly did she do during the ekiti crises that was outside the purview of her job as information minister. The Chicken liverd Mrs Ayoka went missing when she was supposed to announce the results of the elections and Dora Akunyili warned her to truncate our democracy by such a stupid act. After it was discoverd that it was even her son and an ACN party stalwart who 'abducted' her, the FG had to issue a threat to arrest her if she did not turn up and announce the result. The claim that she had resigned was carried by Tinubu's radio station and TV stations from there it spread like wild fire only for the same chicken livered Ayoka to come out and deny it, scheeeew. You southwesterners can be funny at times, anyone that plays the game different from your way is labelled all sorts of names. Since then the media in the west wont see anything good in Dora's action, when she brave up to the cabinet and told the uncomfortable truth, thesame media hounded her and questioned her motives for saying the truth even when it put her in bad light. Come on, you people should give the woman a break, she is very popular in her home state inspite of the media conspiracy againsr her.

A lot of nigerians are so dumb and naive, how can anyone take to church such a frivolous accusation without any iota of evidence. Is it not clear to the descerning that Mr Anene is a bloody lier doing somebody's bid?
A man whom before the commencement of the elections was caught fake election materials and hounded by the police. I wonder why he was even giveb the chance again to preside over any aspect of the elections. I saw the man on TV and I could tell he was sb's labrador lapping up lies to the media to suit sb's purpose. The guy is a paid alarmist and the pauper I saw on TV couldn't have rejected such offer if realy he was given such an enticement. How come he did not report the case to the police before rushing to the press to get all sensational with his falsehood.
Let's face fact here and eschew stupid bi-partisan politics.
Anaocha which is both the governor's and Akunyili's LGA, there is no how Dora Akunyili and APGA would not have pulled most of the votes there, thesame way he, Ngige pulled most of the votes in idemili north and south his part of Anambra.
He is crying foul because he knows if the results from Anaocha was cancelled he will have a clear lead. If he faultd the votes' margine btw him and Akunyili in Anaocha( Dora's own constituency) then same argument should be applied to his wide margin victory in idemili north and south( Ngige's own constituencies).
Everybody is just playing politics of mudslinging, Ngige knows the only exit point for him was to divert attention by crying wolf and at least get a re-run as has transpired. He is a sour loser and a desperado, he is fast running out of the the goodwill that he had accrued from Governorship days.
Thank God the Anene guy has been removed, it is obvious ACN is using him to fight dirty, seriously, with the ACN tsunami in the Southwest, I see another PDP in the making in not too far a distance. Soon there will be cross-carpeting of aggrevied PDP members and other mushroom parties to ACN just like it happened in Imo state. Thank God ACN did not win any sit in imo state, anyone that has been following the Imo state politics knows that majority of the present ACN members and flagbearers are aggrieved PDP members. These are the people we are shouting change and stuff for? I have observed ACN closely and I have observed that the party has every tendency to turn out like the PDP or even worse.
From imposition of candidate to their desperation to nationalize and oust the PDP, hence allowing corrupt money bag politicians that has the fund in any state to use the party platform without any serious scrutiny. No wonder the likes of Ararume are the financier of the party in Imo state. Change in deed! If change means changing an umbrella to a broom when the odds are against a politician then let such change die a natural death and get a decent burial, we Igbos do not need such a placebo in the name of change, it is either the real thing or nothing.

Any man that allows his parents to run the afairs of his family is not fit to be called a man. 9ice is obviously still a crude boy that knows nothing about diplomacy and handling issues with finesse and tact. He seemed to be in the habit of condoning hear-says and rumours about a woman he is married to and lives with. He was not even man enough to look at Toni Payne in the eyes and give her a divorce he so desperately needed. He had to subtly announce through his meddlesome manager(probably one of the people giving him advice on his marriage) his separation from his wife not even a formal divorce. He used his parents to kick out his wife and son from the house and then concocted a false story about the possibilties of his wife extra-marital afairs with a very close friend and mentor to hide his own realtime affairs with his Abuja mistress. All these make a recipe for an unintelligent, immature overgrown baby who still takes orders from his illiterate parents and manuevering friends.
This exactly throws up the debate again of the propriety of a very educated and classy woman marrying a man who is not even half as educated as her let alone classy. There will always be this ego problem at some point when they begin to live as husband and wife: the woman will seem overbearing because she will always know what to do and even tell you before you even think of it. Knowing women by their nature, they may not be so diplomatic in the way they offer such unsolicited help which more often than not will be construed by the less educated man as overbearing, hence his reluctance and eventual third party meddlesomeness. If there is one thing I have keenly observed about 9ice, it is the fact that he is not discerning and is very crude in his approach to dealing with issues. 9ice is a bona-fide matrimonial risk to any women with real family values and from a nuclear setting background. He is yet to grow up into a real man. I am sure some other woman is still going to have another child for him after this one. What he fails to realize is that if he feels the wife wants to exploit him then let him wait and watch many women exploit him through pregnances and other shit. You think the woman that allowed him impregnate her does not have a game plan too abi?

What most of Buhari's supporters do not realize is that in comparison to the other three main presidential candidates, Buhari has had the most chance to move this country forward but slaughtered it on the alter of bigotry, nepotism and sectionalism. Buhari represents the old order and lacks the mental capacity to understand Nigeria's fundamental problems, all he talks about is locking people like that is the nitty-gritty of Nigeria's problems. Building democratic institutions is the only way corruption can be fought head on, not hounding ppl and wasting resoirces on cases that ve very slim chances of success when tried in a democratic law court. Lets even forget about his oratory skills, the debate rhetorics or inability to articulate his ideas, what I realy want to understand holistically is what he hopes to do. I am tired of the obsession with throwing ppl in jail, that obviously is going to be a battle that will drain his administration and further slow us down.
Yes corruption is one of our major problems but that is not the only problem, we have to know what he intends to do beyond tough sensational threats. Jonathan seem to me to be the only one with a fairly coherent and realizable manifesto plus he is not vindictive.

atch AIT
International TV Online Today !
Since her sepration Toni has granted her
first major interview explaining her own
version of how and why the marriage
crashed. She opened up to City People
Publisher Seye Kehinde on why her
marriage crashed. -
Q: Did u hear d gist making d rounds dat a
lady in Abuja just delivered twins for ur
husband?
A: Yes I did
Q: Rumor has it that 9ice went into that
affair because you went into a new
relationship, how true is that?
A; That is not true, he has been in that
relationship before we seperated. In fact
the day I found out about it, I confronted
her over the phone and she reported me
to him. He came to fight me because of
that and later called his parents (Alhaji
Azeez Akande, Tawa Oshodi) to come and
pack me and my son out of the house.
Q: Some ave alleged dat she was d one
who broke ur marriage. Is this true?
A: yes she was the main reason along
with issues with his family. All that
ruggedman story was rubbish, I'm not
even attracted to ruggedman cos he is like
a brother to me. Aside that, his manager
was feeding his parents false stories
about me cos he wanted me out of the
picture cos he thot I wanted his job and
also his brother Dr Wale Akande
convinced them I was after his property
because I stopped d brother from
continuing with building our house after
noticing some monies where unaccounted
for. Mind you I met my husband when he
was struggling, none of his family
members sent him then. We were staying
in my family house and his apt with
Jahbless in Ikorodu and I loved him
regardless, so what property could I have
been after? I toiled night and day with him
so why would I want to cheat him. The
parents would come to the house to fight
me, yelling curses, trying to frustrate me
out of the house, the mother tore my
dress one day and I ran for mine and my
sons safty. This caused a lot of tension in
our relationship but instead of him to
stand by me he ran to another woman.
Q: What was ur reaction to the twins
news wen you heard it? Were u angry?
Did u call him to ask about that news of a
woman having a child for him?
A: Yes I was understandably angry
because from day 1 he knows I don't want
polygamy for my children if I can avoid it
and also cos I felt he shud have divorced
me first and married her before engaging
in such. Like what example is he setting
for his son. Lastly I felt if he would
impregnate anyone it should not be the
woman who broke our home.
Q: Why have u been quiet all this while
about your marriage break up?
A: I tried very hard to protect him even
when people rubbished me. I never said ok
he was the one who messed up because I
felt he would be wise and consider my
sons interest, when taking life changing
decisions that could affect Zion. A part of
me wanted to believe he would never put
his own bloods future at stake for cheap
thrils. I changed my mind about talking
when I read a recent paper and noticed his
manager was already trying to twist
things to make it look like he moved on
and got someone pregnant cos I'm
engaged, I'm NOT engaged, so I just felt
enough is enough, I don't know why they
must always bringg my name up to justify
their mistakes. I had to ask myself, Why
am I protecting a man who continues to
make me look bad to protect himself. I felt
it was time to be true to myself and quit
deceiving myself that he will soon feel
remorse for his actions.
Q: Was it because you wanted
reconciliation?
A: No, I just felt I should protect him
because I guess a stupid part of me still
loved him and felt he would come to his
senses and at least do right by my son
even if we never reconcile. At d end of the
day I'm human and have emotions too,
guess I never predicted things would get
this bad.
Q: For the very 1st time, can you tell me
what broke your marriage?
A: Simple: 3 things broke my marriage: His
family's interferance, His Manager's
interference and His affair with Vicky
Godis
Q: Whose fault, your or his fault?
A: I can't say I was perfect, but I NEVER
cheated on him. I was pregnant and later
nursing the entire time we were married.
Also, before I got married I knew what
being loyal is, I also knew there is no way I
would ever cheat on my husband. Its not
my way. Yeah I would get angry when he
cheated on me, I felt it was a normal
reaction when you love someone and they
are doing things to hurt you but still I
never left him. The seperation was not my
idea. My son was 11 months old, a week
before his 1st birthday, his parents threw
us out. My son spent his birthday in a
hotel. I was sitting in my house when his
parents came, they packed my things and
my sons things into my car, I have pictures
I took as evidence and I drove off with my
son to a friends hotel in VI where I stayed
for 3 weeks. Meanwhile he was with Vicky
in abuja while it was happening.
Q: Is it true you have asked for Divorce
A: Yes, I have. He is yet to file. If he is so
sure he doesn't want to be married he
should have no problems divorcig me.
Allow me move on and give my son a
family life he deserves.
Q: Do u see room for reconciliation?
A: I am not God so I can't say yes or no
but he has hurt me too deeply to just go
back. It would take a lot of healing,
although iv moved on forgetting the pains
is not that easy. At the end of the day,
only God know where our future is
headed.
Q: Some accuse you of forcing yourself on
him and that you are older than him and
that he couldnt just say no
A: I never forced myself on him. He did all
the chasing, even when I said I can't marry
a musician, he never stopped, he kept
assuring me that if he got famous he
would not change and I trusted him. What
people don't know is we got engaged in
November 2007, even before Gongo Aso
became a hit, some said its because I was
pregnant, that is not true, I got pregnant
5 months after we picked a wedding date.
I am not older than him, that report is also
false. He is older than me.
Q: Can you let us into how u fell in love wit
9ice? Who toasted who? Did u make the
1st move or he did?
A: He toasted me, I resisted in the
begining because I did not want a
musician boyfriend, I later agreed because
I felt he was sweet and sincere. How he
changed so much is what I'm not sure of.
Maybe bad advisers around him.
Q How did you feel when the news broke
that you are dating ruggedman/ Did u
ever date him?
A: I have said this hundreds of times, I
Never dated Ruggedman, I was never
caught with Ruggedman or any other
man. At first I did not take it serious
because I knew it was a lie. Iv known
ruggedman longer than any guy in the
industry, we have always been friends but
never dated. Till date, we have been and
still are like brother and sister. That
ruggedman story was a terrible attempt
to destroy my reputation. I'm not loose, I
don't sleep around, I don't jump from man
to man, I know the concequences of
cheating so why would I engage in it. Why
would I build with a man, when I know I
still want to play around. Why would I
destroy my home carelessly. I'm not
stupid. That makes no sense to me. I thank
God I have a fighting spirit because I did
not let the lies or insults bring me down.
Q: How did u meet 9ice? For how long did
you date before marriage?
A: I first saw him in Oct 2006, he came to
back ruggedman up at Gbenga Adeyinkas
Anniversary. We dint hook up till the
following year. I went back to the states
and we would chat online and talk on the
phone for hours. We got married in July
2008.
Q: How true is the story that you were
too overbearing on him?
A: I do not think I was overbearing. I
wanted the best for him so yeah I may
push him to strive for the best. I don't
think that's a bad thing or something
worth breaking a marriage over.
Q: How come it didn't work out
A: It takes 2 to make a marriage work, if
one party insist they dont want it to work
it will cripple any effort made by anyone.
The mistake I made was entering with my
heart and not my head. I should have
taken his family background seriously and
made 100% sure he had the same family
values as me.
Q: Let's get to know about ur growing up
years Where were you born?
A: Though my family decend is Ogun state,
I'm a lagos baby. My childhood was fun,
grew up and only child but had a lot of
cousins to play with. Let's say I had a
sound childhood.
Q: How about your growing up years and
Schools attended?
A: I shuttled between america and naija as
a child and till now so I attended primary
n secondary in both countries but finished
my university education at california state
university northridge
Q: Having studid in the US, what
professional/education courses did you
take?
A: I studied video digital art
Q: Your parents how did they influence
you, It seems you are closer to your mum?
A: they taught me to be very open in all I
do. Yes my mum and I are close, shez
always been there for me.
Q: Your career choice, Why showbiz?
A; Showbiz is something I stumbled into
since about 1999. I started it as a hobby
and eventually turned it into a business.
I'm happy I did.
Q: You are into Modeling Music and
Beauty how did u find yourself in all
these?
A: life has drawn me into everything I do
now. Something always transpires that
leads me to my calling. Plus I'm a business
minded person, very driven and don't
mind getting my hands wet in new
ventures.
Q: How do you cope with managing
artistes? People say that can be wild
A: I am blesed with artists that don't
engage in bad activities so I count myself
lucky.
Q: Tell us about your label. How many
artistes do you manage?
A: I currently manage three artists; Adol,
Zara and Olamide and all three are
focused people. Olamide and Adol just
released their albums titled Rapsodi and
Orin, respectively. Zara is currently
working on her debut album
Q: Did you ever manage 9ice How did you
cope fitting the 2 roles?
A: I took care of his international relations
as well as some PR. I did it because I
wanted him to succeed not because he
hired mee or was paying me. Its what I
love doing plus I was very passionate
about his music so it came easy
Q: Marrying a star means u coping with
his female admirers. How did u cope?
A: Well, I'm in the industry as well so I
know it comes with the territory. It didn't
bother me so far he kept it professional.
Q: What are your full names? Toni Payne
sounds oyinbo, How come?
A: (laughs) Toni is short for Antonia and
Payne is my last name. My yoruba name is
Seun
Q: How come you and his manager don't
get along?
A: he disliked me because he felt I wanted
his job. I believe it was ignorance
disturbing him. I wasn't interested in his
job. I just wanted to be helpful to the
process by contributing my knowledge.
Guess he knew he was horrible at his job
hence the insecurities. For me I dint care
who managed him so far the person was
doing a great job.
Q: When the news broke dat you were
marrying 9ice in 2008 many felt you
rushed him. Did you?
A: in 2008, no we did not rush. We were
engaged before he got popular so because
the marriage took place around the time
people started appreciating him, they felt
it was a new decision when it wasn't.
Q: Then Zion came isn't dat a rush?
No, I was of age and so was he. We
discussed it before, its just because
everything was happening around the
same time people wanted to know more
about him. It wasn't a new decision at all
or something that just happened. No.
Q: Is it true that this lady that had kids for
9ice has always been 9ices girlfriend
before you came into the picture?
A: (laughs) No, that is not true. My
husband met her a few months before our
seperation. I believe in September 2009 or
thereabouts. Her name is Vicky "Bukky"
Godis. She works at ECOWAS in Abuja.
Q: What did being a mother change in you
A: it made me more tolerant at the same
time more protective. A mother son love is
unique. Very special feeling.
Q: Any regrets about how your marriage
went?
A:In life there are always two sides to
things. People never gave me a chance
before judging me. I received so many
insults, hate mail over something I did not
do. It was painful knowing I was innocent
yet a lot were quick to crucify me. Ill just
say to those who judged me blindly, may
God forgive you. Next time find out facts
before castigating an innocent person. In
Nigeria women are usually judged unfairly
and this act has to stop. Its very very
unfair.
Click the link below to go to ,
EXCLUSIVE: Abuja Lover delivers baby girl
for 9ice

atch AIT
International TV Online Today !
Since her sepration Toni has granted her
first major interview explaining her own
version of how and why the marriage
crashed. She opened up to City People
Publisher Seye Kehinde on why her
marriage crashed. -
Q: Did u hear d gist making d rounds dat a
lady in Abuja just delivered twins for ur
husband?
A: Yes I did
Q: Rumor has it that 9ice went into that
affair because you went into a new
relationship, how true is that?
A; That is not true, he has been in that
relationship before we seperated. In fact
the day I found out about it, I confronted
her over the phone and she reported me
to him. He came to fight me because of
that and later called his parents (Alhaji
Azeez Akande, Tawa Oshodi) to come and
pack me and my son out of the house.
Q: Some ave alleged dat she was d one
who broke ur marriage. Is this true?
A: yes she was the main reason along
with issues with his family. All that
ruggedman story was rubbish, I'm not
even attracted to ruggedman cos he is like
a brother to me. Aside that, his manager
was feeding his parents false stories
about me cos he wanted me out of the
picture cos he thot I wanted his job and
also his brother Dr Wale Akande
convinced them I was after his property
because I stopped d brother from
continuing with building our house after
noticing some monies where unaccounted
for. Mind you I met my husband when he
was struggling, none of his family
members sent him then. We were staying
in my family house and his apt with
Jahbless in Ikorodu and I loved him
regardless, so what property could I have
been after? I toiled night and day with him
so why would I want to cheat him. The
parents would come to the house to fight
me, yelling curses, trying to frustrate me
out of the house, the mother tore my
dress one day and I ran for mine and my
sons safty. This caused a lot of tension in
our relationship but instead of him to
stand by me he ran to another woman.
Q: What was ur reaction to the twins
news wen you heard it? Were u angry?
Did u call him to ask about that news of a
woman having a child for him?
A: Yes I was understandably angry
because from day 1 he knows I don't want
polygamy for my children if I can avoid it
and also cos I felt he shud have divorced
me first and married her before engaging
in such. Like what example is he setting
for his son. Lastly I felt if he would
impregnate anyone it should not be the
woman who broke our home.
Q: Why have u been quiet all this while
about your marriage break up?
A: I tried very hard to protect him even
when people rubbished me. I never said ok
he was the one who messed up because I
felt he would be wise and consider my
sons interest, when taking life changing
decisions that could affect Zion. A part of
me wanted to believe he would never put
his own bloods future at stake for cheap
thrils. I changed my mind about talking
when I read a recent paper and noticed his
manager was already trying to twist
things to make it look like he moved on
and got someone pregnant cos I'm
engaged, I'm NOT engaged, so I just felt
enough is enough, I don't know why they
must always bringg my name up to justify
their mistakes. I had to ask myself, Why
am I protecting a man who continues to
make me look bad to protect himself. I felt
it was time to be true to myself and quit
deceiving myself that he will soon feel
remorse for his actions.
Q: Was it because you wanted
reconciliation?
A: No, I just felt I should protect him
because I guess a stupid part of me still
loved him and felt he would come to his
senses and at least do right by my son
even if we never reconcile. At d end of the
day I'm human and have emotions too,
guess I never predicted things would get
this bad.
Q: For the very 1st time, can you tell me
what broke your marriage?
A: Simple: 3 things broke my marriage: His
family's interferance, His Manager's
interference and His affair with Vicky
Godis
Q: Whose fault, your or his fault?
A: I can't say I was perfect, but I NEVER
cheated on him. I was pregnant and later
nursing the entire time we were married.
Also, before I got married I knew what
being loyal is, I also knew there is no way I
would ever cheat on my husband. Its not
my way. Yeah I would get angry when he
cheated on me, I felt it was a normal
reaction when you love someone and they
are doing things to hurt you but still I
never left him. The seperation was not my
idea. My son was 11 months old, a week
before his 1st birthday, his parents threw
us out. My son spent his birthday in a
hotel. I was sitting in my house when his
parents came, they packed my things and
my sons things into my car, I have pictures
I took as evidence and I drove off with my
son to a friends hotel in VI where I stayed
for 3 weeks. Meanwhile he was with Vicky
in abuja while it was happening.
Q: Is it true you have asked for Divorce
A: Yes, I have. He is yet to file. If he is so
sure he doesn't want to be married he
should have no problems divorcig me.
Allow me move on and give my son a
family life he deserves.
Q: Do u see room for reconciliation?
A: I am not God so I can't say yes or no
but he has hurt me too deeply to just go
back. It would take a lot of healing,
although iv moved on forgetting the pains
is not that easy. At the end of the day,
only God know where our future is
headed.
Q: Some accuse you of forcing yourself on
him and that you are older than him and
that he couldnt just say no
A: I never forced myself on him. He did all
the chasing, even when I said I can't marry
a musician, he never stopped, he kept
assuring me that if he got famous he
would not change and I trusted him. What
people don't know is we got engaged in
November 2007, even before Gongo Aso
became a hit, some said its because I was
pregnant, that is not true, I got pregnant
5 months after we picked a wedding date.
I am not older than him, that report is also
false. He is older than me.
Q: Can you let us into how u fell in love wit
9ice? Who toasted who? Did u make the
1st move or he did?
A: He toasted me, I resisted in the
begining because I did not want a
musician boyfriend, I later agreed because
I felt he was sweet and sincere. How he
changed so much is what I'm not sure of.
Maybe bad advisers around him.
Q How did you feel when the news broke
that you are dating ruggedman/ Did u
ever date him?
A: I have said this hundreds of times, I
Never dated Ruggedman, I was never
caught with Ruggedman or any other
man. At first I did not take it serious
because I knew it was a lie. Iv known
ruggedman longer than any guy in the
industry, we have always been friends but
never dated. Till date, we have been and
still are like brother and sister. That
ruggedman story was a terrible attempt
to destroy my reputation. I'm not loose, I
don't sleep around, I don't jump from man
to man, I know the concequences of
cheating so why would I engage in it. Why
would I build with a man, when I know I
still want to play around. Why would I
destroy my home carelessly. I'm not
stupid. That makes no sense to me. I thank
God I have a fighting spirit because I did
not let the lies or insults bring me down.
Q: How did u meet 9ice? For how long did
you date before marriage?
A: I first saw him in Oct 2006, he came to
back ruggedman up at Gbenga Adeyinkas
Anniversary. We dint hook up till the
following year. I went back to the states
and we would chat online and talk on the
phone for hours. We got married in July
2008.
Q: How true is the story that you were
too overbearing on him?
A: I do not think I was overbearing. I
wanted the best for him so yeah I may
push him to strive for the best. I don't
think that's a bad thing or something
worth breaking a marriage over.
Q: How come it didn't work out
A: It takes 2 to make a marriage work, if
one party insist they dont want it to work
it will cripple any effort made by anyone.
The mistake I made was entering with my
heart and not my head. I should have
taken his family background seriously and
made 100% sure he had the same family
values as me.
Q: Let's get to know about ur growing up
years Where were you born?
A: Though my family decend is Ogun state,
I'm a lagos baby. My childhood was fun,
grew up and only child but had a lot of
cousins to play with. Let's say I had a
sound childhood.
Q: How about your growing up years and
Schools attended?
A: I shuttled between america and naija as
a child and till now so I attended primary
n secondary in both countries but finished
my university education at california state
university northridge
Q: Having studid in the US, what
professional/education courses did you
take?
A: I studied video digital art
Q: Your parents how did they influence
you, It seems you are closer to your mum?
A: they taught me to be very open in all I
do. Yes my mum and I are close, shez
always been there for me.
Q: Your career choice, Why showbiz?
A; Showbiz is something I stumbled into
since about 1999. I started it as a hobby
and eventually turned it into a business.
I'm happy I did.
Q: You are into Modeling Music and
Beauty how did u find yourself in all
these?
A: life has drawn me into everything I do
now. Something always transpires that
leads me to my calling. Plus I'm a business
minded person, very driven and don't
mind getting my hands wet in new
ventures.
Q: How do you cope with managing
artistes? People say that can be wild
A: I am blesed with artists that don't
engage in bad activities so I count myself
lucky.
Q: Tell us about your label. How many
artistes do you manage?
A: I currently manage three artists; Adol,
Zara and Olamide and all three are
focused people. Olamide and Adol just
released their albums titled Rapsodi and
Orin, respectively. Zara is currently
working on her debut album
Q: Did you ever manage 9ice How did you
cope fitting the 2 roles?
A: I took care of his international relations
as well as some PR. I did it because I
wanted him to succeed not because he
hired mee or was paying me. Its what I
love doing plus I was very passionate
about his music so it came easy
Q: Marrying a star means u coping with
his female admirers. How did u cope?
A: Well, I'm in the industry as well so I
know it comes with the territory. It didn't
bother me so far he kept it professional.
Q: What are your full names? Toni Payne
sounds oyinbo, How come?
A: (laughs) Toni is short for Antonia and
Payne is my last name. My yoruba name is
Seun
Q: How come you and his manager don't
get along?
A: he disliked me because he felt I wanted
his job. I believe it was ignorance
disturbing him. I wasn't interested in his
job. I just wanted to be helpful to the
process by contributing my knowledge.
Guess he knew he was horrible at his job
hence the insecurities. For me I dint care
who managed him so far the person was
doing a great job.
Q: When the news broke dat you were
marrying 9ice in 2008 many felt you
rushed him. Did you?
A: in 2008, no we did not rush. We were
engaged before he got popular so because
the marriage took place around the time
people started appreciating him, they felt
it was a new decision when it wasn't.
Q: Then Zion came isn't dat a rush?
No, I was of age and so was he. We
discussed it before, its just because
everything was happening around the
same time people wanted to know more
about him. It wasn't a new decision at all
or something that just happened. No.
Q: Is it true that this lady that had kids for
9ice has always been 9ices girlfriend
before you came into the picture?
A: (laughs) No, that is not true. My
husband met her a few months before our
seperation. I believe in September 2009 or
thereabouts. Her name is Vicky "Bukky"
Godis. She works at ECOWAS in Abuja.
Q: What did being a mother change in you
A: it made me more tolerant at the same
time more protective. A mother son love is
unique. Very special feeling.
Q: Any regrets about how your marriage
went?
A:In life there are always two sides to
things. People never gave me a chance
before judging me. I received so many
insults, hate mail over something I did not
do. It was painful knowing I was innocent
yet a lot were quick to crucify me. Ill just
say to those who judged me blindly, may
God forgive you. Next time find out facts
before castigating an innocent person. In
Nigeria women are usually judged unfairly
and this act has to stop. Its very very
unfair.
Click the link below to go to ,
EXCLUSIVE: Abuja Lover delivers baby girl
for 9ice

atch AIT
International TV Online Today !
Since her sepration Toni has granted her
first major interview explaining her own
version of how and why the marriage
crashed. She opened up to City People
Publisher Seye Kehinde on why her
marriage crashed. -
Q: Did u hear d gist making d rounds dat a
lady in Abuja just delivered twins for ur
husband?
A: Yes I did
Q: Rumor has it that 9ice went into that
affair because you went into a new
relationship, how true is that?
A; That is not true, he has been in that
relationship before we seperated. In fact
the day I found out about it, I confronted
her over the phone and she reported me
to him. He came to fight me because of
that and later called his parents (Alhaji
Azeez Akande, Tawa Oshodi) to come and
pack me and my son out of the house.
Q: Some ave alleged dat she was d one
who broke ur marriage. Is this true?
A: yes she was the main reason along
with issues with his family. All that
ruggedman story was rubbish, I'm not
even attracted to ruggedman cos he is like
a brother to me. Aside that, his manager
was feeding his parents false stories
about me cos he wanted me out of the
picture cos he thot I wanted his job and
also his brother Dr Wale Akande
convinced them I was after his property
because I stopped d brother from
continuing with building our house after
noticing some monies where unaccounted
for. Mind you I met my husband when he
was struggling, none of his family
members sent him then. We were staying
in my family house and his apt with
Jahbless in Ikorodu and I loved him
regardless, so what property could I have
been after? I toiled night and day with him
so why would I want to cheat him. The
parents would come to the house to fight
me, yelling curses, trying to frustrate me
out of the house, the mother tore my
dress one day and I ran for mine and my
sons safty. This caused a lot of tension in
our relationship but instead of him to
stand by me he ran to another woman.
Q: What was ur reaction to the twins
news wen you heard it? Were u angry?
Did u call him to ask about that news of a
woman having a child for him?
A: Yes I was understandably angry
because from day 1 he knows I don't want
polygamy for my children if I can avoid it
and also cos I felt he shud have divorced
me first and married her before engaging
in such. Like what example is he setting
for his son. Lastly I felt if he would
impregnate anyone it should not be the
woman who broke our home.
Q: Why have u been quiet all this while
about your marriage break up?
A: I tried very hard to protect him even
when people rubbished me. I never said ok
he was the one who messed up because I
felt he would be wise and consider my
sons interest, when taking life changing
decisions that could affect Zion. A part of
me wanted to believe he would never put
his own bloods future at stake for cheap
thrils. I changed my mind about talking
when I read a recent paper and noticed his
manager was already trying to twist
things to make it look like he moved on
and got someone pregnant cos I'm
engaged, I'm NOT engaged, so I just felt
enough is enough, I don't know why they
must always bringg my name up to justify
their mistakes. I had to ask myself, Why
am I protecting a man who continues to
make me look bad to protect himself. I felt
it was time to be true to myself and quit
deceiving myself that he will soon feel
remorse for his actions.
Q: Was it because you wanted
reconciliation?
A: No, I just felt I should protect him
because I guess a stupid part of me still
loved him and felt he would come to his
senses and at least do right by my son
even if we never reconcile. At d end of the
day I'm human and have emotions too,
guess I never predicted things would get
this bad.
Q: For the very 1st time, can you tell me
what broke your marriage?
A: Simple: 3 things broke my marriage: His
family's interferance, His Manager's
interference and His affair with Vicky
Godis
Q: Whose fault, your or his fault?
A: I can't say I was perfect, but I NEVER
cheated on him. I was pregnant and later
nursing the entire time we were married.
Also, before I got married I knew what
being loyal is, I also knew there is no way I
would ever cheat on my husband. Its not
my way. Yeah I would get angry when he
cheated on me, I felt it was a normal
reaction when you love someone and they
are doing things to hurt you but still I
never left him. The seperation was not my
idea. My son was 11 months old, a week
before his 1st birthday, his parents threw
us out. My son spent his birthday in a
hotel. I was sitting in my house when his
parents came, they packed my things and
my sons things into my car, I have pictures
I took as evidence and I drove off with my
son to a friends hotel in VI where I stayed
for 3 weeks. Meanwhile he was with Vicky
in abuja while it was happening.
Q: Is it true you have asked for Divorce
A: Yes, I have. He is yet to file. If he is so
sure he doesn't want to be married he
should have no problems divorcig me.
Allow me move on and give my son a
family life he deserves.
Q: Do u see room for reconciliation?
A: I am not God so I can't say yes or no
but he has hurt me too deeply to just go
back. It would take a lot of healing,
although iv moved on forgetting the pains
is not that easy. At the end of the day,
only God know where our future is
headed.
Q: Some accuse you of forcing yourself on
him and that you are older than him and
that he couldnt just say no
A: I never forced myself on him. He did all
the chasing, even when I said I can't marry
a musician, he never stopped, he kept
assuring me that if he got famous he
would not change and I trusted him. What
people don't know is we got engaged in
November 2007, even before Gongo Aso
became a hit, some said its because I was
pregnant, that is not true, I got pregnant
5 months after we picked a wedding date.
I am not older than him, that report is also
false. He is older than me.
Q: Can you let us into how u fell in love wit
9ice? Who toasted who? Did u make the
1st move or he did?
A: He toasted me, I resisted in the
begining because I did not want a
musician boyfriend, I later agreed because
I felt he was sweet and sincere. How he
changed so much is what I'm not sure of.
Maybe bad advisers around him.
Q How did you feel when the news broke
that you are dating ruggedman/ Did u
ever date him?
A: I have said this hundreds of times, I
Never dated Ruggedman, I was never
caught with Ruggedman or any other
man. At first I did not take it serious
because I knew it was a lie. Iv known
ruggedman longer than any guy in the
industry, we have always been friends but
never dated. Till date, we have been and
still are like brother and sister. That
ruggedman story was a terrible attempt
to destroy my reputation. I'm not loose, I
don't sleep around, I don't jump from man
to man, I know the concequences of
cheating so why would I engage in it. Why
would I build with a man, when I know I
still want to play around. Why would I
destroy my home carelessly. I'm not
stupid. That makes no sense to me. I thank
God I have a fighting spirit because I did
not let the lies or insults bring me down.
Q: How did u meet 9ice? For how long did
you date before marriage?
A: I first saw him in Oct 2006, he came to
back ruggedman up at Gbenga Adeyinkas
Anniversary. We dint hook up till the
following year. I went back to the states
and we would chat online and talk on the
phone for hours. We got married in July
2008.
Q: How true is the story that you were
too overbearing on him?
A: I do not think I was overbearing. I
wanted the best for him so yeah I may
push him to strive for the best. I don't
think that's a bad thing or something
worth breaking a marriage over.
Q: How come it didn't work out
A: It takes 2 to make a marriage work, if
one party insist they dont want it to work
it will cripple any effort made by anyone.
The mistake I made was entering with my
heart and not my head. I should have
taken his family background seriously and
made 100% sure he had the same family
values as me.
Q: Let's get to know about ur growing up
years Where were you born?
A: Though my family decend is Ogun state,
I'm a lagos baby. My childhood was fun,
grew up and only child but had a lot of
cousins to play with. Let's say I had a
sound childhood.
Q: How about your growing up years and
Schools attended?
A: I shuttled between america and naija as
a child and till now so I attended primary
n secondary in both countries but finished
my university education at california state
university northridge
Q: Having studid in the US, what
professional/education courses did you
take?
A: I studied video digital art
Q: Your parents how did they influence
you, It seems you are closer to your mum?
A: they taught me to be very open in all I
do. Yes my mum and I are close, shez
always been there for me.
Q: Your career choice, Why showbiz?
A; Showbiz is something I stumbled into
since about 1999. I started it as a hobby
and eventually turned it into a business.
I'm happy I did.
Q: You are into Modeling Music and
Beauty how did u find yourself in all
these?
A: life has drawn me into everything I do
now. Something always transpires that
leads me to my calling. Plus I'm a business
minded person, very driven and don't
mind getting my hands wet in new
ventures.
Q: How do you cope with managing
artistes? People say that can be wild
A: I am blesed with artists that don't
engage in bad activities so I count myself
lucky.
Q: Tell us about your label. How many
artistes do you manage?
A: I currently manage three artists; Adol,
Zara and Olamide and all three are
focused people. Olamide and Adol just
released their albums titled Rapsodi and
Orin, respectively. Zara is currently
working on her debut album
Q: Did you ever manage 9ice How did you
cope fitting the 2 roles?
A: I took care of his international relations
as well as some PR. I did it because I
wanted him to succeed not because he
hired mee or was paying me. Its what I
love doing plus I was very passionate
about his music so it came easy
Q: Marrying a star means u coping with
his female admirers. How did u cope?
A: Well, I'm in the industry as well so I
know it comes with the territory. It didn't
bother me so far he kept it professional.
Q: What are your full names? Toni Payne
sounds oyinbo, How come?
A: (laughs) Toni is short for Antonia and
Payne is my last name. My yoruba name is
Seun
Q: How come you and his manager don't
get along?
A: he disliked me because he felt I wanted
his job. I believe it was ignorance
disturbing him. I wasn't interested in his
job. I just wanted to be helpful to the
process by contributing my knowledge.
Guess he knew he was horrible at his job
hence the insecurities. For me I dint care
who managed him so far the person was
doing a great job.
Q: When the news broke dat you were
marrying 9ice in 2008 many felt you
rushed him. Did you?
A: in 2008, no we did not rush. We were
engaged before he got popular so because
the marriage took place around the time
people started appreciating him, they felt
it was a new decision when it wasn't.
Q: Then Zion came isn't dat a rush?
No, I was of age and so was he. We
discussed it before, its just because
everything was happening around the
same time people wanted to know more
about him. It wasn't a new decision at all
or something that just happened. No.
Q: Is it true that this lady that had kids for
9ice has always been 9ices girlfriend
before you came into the picture?
A: (laughs) No, that is not true. My
husband met her a few months before our
seperation. I believe in September 2009 or
thereabouts. Her name is Vicky "Bukky"
Godis. She works at ECOWAS in Abuja.
Q: What did being a mother change in you
A: it made me more tolerant at the same
time more protective. A mother son love is
unique. Very special feeling.
Q: Any regrets about how your marriage
went?
A:In life there are always two sides to
things. People never gave me a chance
before judging me. I received so many
insults, hate mail over something I did not
do. It was painful knowing I was innocent
yet a lot were quick to crucify me. Ill just
say to those who judged me blindly, may
God forgive you. Next time find out facts
before castigating an innocent person. In
Nigeria women are usually judged unfairly
and this act has to stop. Its very very
unfair.
Click the link below to go to ,
EXCLUSIVE: Abuja Lover delivers baby girl
for 9ice