₦airaland Forum

Hello, lovely miss Chinyere. Welcome to the Nairaland Forum!

As someone from the South-South, I hope you're not a supporter of "Biafra Republic". We sympathize with what is being done to your people but we refuse to believe that violence or separation is the answer; it is never the answer!

Welcome to the Nairaland Forum!

Confirmed by foreign media:

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has agreed to be investigated by the country's anti-corruption body after a governor accused him of taking bribes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4210368.stm

The text of Governor Kalu's letter to President Obasanjo on the 22nd of August 2005, "Working for Posterity to Judge Us" is as follows:

---

[salutation],
Working for Posterity to Judge Us

I write you this letter with a deep sense of patriotism, and without any malice. As a practising Christian I detest sycophancy in whatever guise, and this is why I have always offered to tell you the truth, no matter how bitter it may be.

I may not be in your good books, even though I made huge personal sacrifice and contributed tens of millions of naira to your 1999 presidential campaign.

But my joy is that, at least, you can acknowledge that I am one of those you can count on to speak the truth to you at all times and without any let or hindrance.

It is now about four years since your administration emba-rked upon its anti-corruption crusade. Nevertheless, I regret to observe that the campaign has not yielded the desired result because it lacked focus and strong foundation ab initio.

The unrelenting resentment of the campaign by many Nigerians, including the media, is attributable to the fact that they see it as a deliberate plot to witch-hunt and muzzle perceived political enemies.

The high-handed, draconian, and commando-like operations of the EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) so far have negated all that our democracy stands for. They do not hide their bias neither do they function within the ambits of the laws setting them up. Again, the establishment of the two institutions is a mere duplication since there are existing provisions in our legislation to handle their functions.

In any case, the most preposterous and incredulous aspect of your anti-corruption campaign is that while the media is awash with stories on the activities of EFCC and ICPC corruption is taking root daily in many federal establishments, Aso Rock inclusive. I have said it several times that corruption is rife among senior officials of government, especially those at the federal level.

It is said that a few members of the leadership of the Senate could stoop so low as to drop your name with active connivance of some of your aides to collect large sums in oil and defence contract commissions. The ignominous activities of this cabal, including the foreign accounts of some of your aides, serving and former ministers, are also well known to the international community. I would be surprised if you feign ignorance of this unfortunate situation.

Unbelievably, you have done nothing visible to extinguish this dangerous and sycophantic phenomenon. It seems you have deliberately turned eyes against the atrocities perpetrated by your officials because there is incontrovertible evidence at my disposal that you are afraid to prosecute them for fear of turning the table against yourself. I do not see why you should preach openly against corruption but deep inside you, you have a different attitude towards it.

What about the Abuja National Stadium? Why was the original design for the stadium which had a five star hotel and which contract was won by a Chinese firm discarded and re-awarded to another foreign construction company based in Nigeria without the five star hotel at five times the price quoted by the Chinese firm? There is unquestionable evidence at my disposal why the contract was awarded to the Nigerian-based foreign construction company instead of the Chinese firm.

What much do you know about the operations of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE)? Who collected the commissions for the sale of Ajaokuta Steel Company and Delta Steel Rolling Mill, Aladja? Could both transactions have been said to be transparent?

Why have you found it difficult Your Excellency to probe the activities of the Federal Ministry of Works in spite of my allegation that the ministry stinks? It is an open knowledge that the operations of the ministry between 1999 and 2003 were a monumental fraud.

In a media appearance at the VOA last month I challenged you to openly declare your assets. Up till now you are yet to do so. By declaring your assets openly you will have succeeded in dispelling any doubts on the minds of Nigerians and the international community about the sincerity of your anti-corruption campaign.

Mr. President, you will agree with me that there are still many other questions that I would have loved to put across to you. But I have just asked these few to agitate your mind and dismiss your anti-corruption campaign as mere window-dressing.

A few other examples will baffle you. Let me ask you: Who owns Bell University and Bell Secondary School? I was shocked when you openly denied ownership of the two institutions and rather ascribed their ownership to Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, a one time Minister of Finance. I wish to put it to you, Mr. President, that I have overwhelming evidence to link you with both institutions.

Who paid for the construction of hostels and gigantic sports complex at the Bell Secondary School? I put it to you Sir that both projects were financed with tax payers money through the construction giant, Strabag, five years ago. What role did a former Minister of Sports play in the whole deal? What of the transformation of Ota, which is going on at frenetic speed? Who picks the bill? We knew all these things but deliberately chose to keep mute for the sake of peace.

The third question for you Sir centres on your tenure as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources since 1999. Why has there not been a properly-audited account for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources since then despite the outcries by the people for this to be done? There is indisputable evidence that all the major deals in the nation’s oil sector are being handled by you through some agents. What about the leakages and the fraud at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), with particular reference to crude oil sales and the accrued commissions? What have you done to check the malfeasance?

You have at several occasions accused top government functionaries, especially the governors, of owing foreign accounts. Can you in all sincerity, Sir, swear that you own no foreign account(s)? There is evidence that you own foreign accounts, including a platinum credit card recently opened for you through which you charge your foreign account and make purchases abroad.

I fear for the ways things are going in this country under your leadership. I fear for the masses of our country which live under dehumanizing conditions. The economy has virtually collapsed, and there is no more middle class. Everything is in shambles yet we make millions of dollars daily from oil. An average Nigeria(n) lives on 60 cents (i.e N78) a day. Is this not a shame and a big scar on our collective psyche?

There is no way we can go on this way. If we continue this way then we are surreptitiously inviting anarchy and cataclysm. The patience of Nigerians is running out fast, and it behoves you to take the bull by the horns and salvage the situation before it consumes all of us.

As I said at the beginning this is a message that should challenge your statesmanship and patriotic zeal. You have an opportunity to write your name in gold if you can begin today to make amends.

You should redirect your energies to only gainful and edifying activities befitting of your exalted office instead of haunting innocent citizens just for refusing to dance to your dictates.

I am a straight forward, transparent and focussed person. I call a spade a spade not minding whose ox is gored. I have demonstrated this through my altruistic service to the people of my state.

I refer you to Galatians 6:7-8, and wish to state in my conclusion that anybody who wants to come to equity must come to equity with clean hands, and those who live in glass house should not throw stones.

You may not bother to like me, just give ear to my admonitions, and let us leave posterity to judge us.

Please accept, Your Excell-ency, the assurances of my highest consideration,
[Signed]
Source

---

President Obasanjo's response is to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). to investigate the matter. Here's a statement made to Thisday by Mr. Femi Kayode, from the president's office:

---

We completely reject and refute the suggestion that Mr. President has committed any crime or done anything wrong. It is precisely because he is a God-fearing, innocent and honest man that he has absolutely no hesitation in referring the matter to the EFCC for a thorough investigation and he directed that the findings of that investigation should be made public.

We have nothing to fear and nothing to hide. Mr. President is as clean as a whistle and these are nothing but baseless, spurious and vicious allegations which are designed to impugn his integrety. It will not work and we are not in the least bit concerned.

I have the details of every single allegation that has been made and I can assure you they are all baseless. We will do nothing to interfere in the EFCC investigation of this matter. We will co-operate and at the end of the day, I can assure you that Mr. President will be vindicated.

I don't agree with you that the allegation can lead to appearance of guilt and neither should that be the case. An allegation is nothing but an allegation without evidence. It is meaningless and irrelevant. People make hundreds of allegations per day. The issue is: where is your evidence and how can you substantiate it?

I do not see the allegation as anything other than what it is - a vicious, well-orchestrated and well-organised smear campaign against a man that has given virtually his whole life to the service of this nation in an honest, decent and transparent way. I can assure you that after the investigation has been concluded, those that made these vicious allegations will bow their heads in shame."

---

We look forward to the comclusion of this juicy story, and will keep you updated through this page. Meanwhile, your reactions to this story are welcome!

http://thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=27284 (use "nairaland" and "nairaland" if prompted for password)

This is at least partly a simply political manouvre by Governor Orji Uzor Kalu to further his presidential ambition. I hope it doesn't backfire!

Please note that the topic is most beautiful hollywood actress. Anything else will be removed.

She gave him a hard question because of his story!

Rwanda and Angola. Two countries that I know nothing about, except that they are synonymous with war. The fate of the Nigerian national team is in the hands of Rwanda!!

The caps lock issue is one that has been debated on the Internet for many years. The rule of etiquette that has arisen out of that debate is that posting messages in all caps is wrong on message boards, forums, e-mail, mailing lists, chat rooms, and all online communities. Posting in all caps is equivalent to shouting, which has no place in any place where people are tying to discuss in a civil manner.

From the Wikipedia, "Because capital letters are supposed to be used for shouting, posting a forum message entirely in caps is a sign that the poster is a newbie or a troll. More experienced users will sometimes jocularly use all-caps and misspelled phrases to make fun of newbies." link

"Typing in all caps is considered yelling or screaming online. Those who type in all caps are perceived as lazy and not being considerate of those who will have to read their e-mail. Various studies on the topic reflect that it is more difficult and takes longer to read text that is typed in all caps." link

These are the reasons for this rule. I can assure you that anything you write in all caps is painful for others to read. Don't you realize this?

Hello,

Many of us have enthusiastically endorsed the Pidgin English we speak in Nigeria:

IAH: "Pidgin English isn't hard to read at all. Infact, it makes whatever you are reading more interesting."
obong: "IAH, you're right. pidgin is very sweet, reading and speaking."
Scorpio: "[Google in Yoruba is ] really cool though, but I would've
preferred it if it was in pidgin - everyone would be able to relate too"
obong: "Universal Declaration of Human Rights ... Nigerian Pidgin English Version" (link)"

Others are more skeptical:
trae_z: "Pidgin English is a pain in the ass when reading, especially voluminous reading, but its cool all the same to speak and to write in"

Imnakoya believes that Nigerian pidgin might be suitable s Nigeria's common/official language. He asked,
"What are the short comings of pidgin English as a common language in Nigeria? Already, it is the unofficial lingo...why are we deceiving ourselves with this queens english that is only well spoken by few?"

Should we restructure our educational system around pidgin English, a language spoken and understood by the majority, in place of Queen's English? Or should we just improve the quality of English Language education? Will it be a step in the right direction, or a terribly misguided step?

Looking forward to your opinions.

They have been sending me domain renewal notifications despite the suspension of my account.

The rules are available here: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-1026.0.html

A concise but more comprehensive list is available when you click on the POST button.

Some rules remain unwritten but you can infer them from my actions.

This is a feedback thread which you can use to motivate us to move forward. Not to tear us down, but to move us forward by sharing your feelings about the various rules.

Actually, this is not true. I am not a joker, I am the CEO . Such is life.

Update: This is a joke, a joke, a joke please! Yes, there are people younger then me who are managing 50 year olds, but it is intended to be a joke.

Actually, my argument is that Nairaland criticism should go straight to my private box, but feedback should go to the various threads available in the Nairaland.com section

Please I hereby apologize if you feel that the way I've expressed my frustration is not palatable.

Ok, I have created a new thread for those of us who feel that rules are too strict:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-1637.0.html

Hello,

It seems to be a general consensus among even the most cooperative Nairaland members that some of our rules are too strict. I have created this thread as a forum for gathering information from our users about:
- What rules are too strict.
- Why you think those rules are too strict.
- How the rules can be ammended to make them more palatable.

I am also interested in helping users to understand why the rules are there in the first place, which I haven't done until now. Let's take advantage of this thread and use it to move the forum forward.

Seun.

Adults should behave like adults.

And remember, there is a PM facility on this forum which you can use to educate me with your wisdom if you so desire. I am not Obasanjo who can only be reached through the papers. It is silly and irritating for people to post messages meant for me on the main forum and be asking "I hope Seun is reading this".

Since we are all are mature and working adults, let me ask you a question. When you want to deliver a message to your boss at work, do you post it on the departmental notice board or do you go to his office? Why do you think the Internet is any different?

I think musa is happy because he's managed to win something in the programme!

It's an unfortunate incident. That's all I can say. WHo knows if it's related to VP Atiku's current challenges?

Another new website that will help your cause is this one - www.nigerianbloggers.com

Nigeria 5, Algeria 2. 5 - 2 at the tail of the match!

"Former youth international goalkeeper Sam Okoye has died in Iraq, where he had gone on trials. Okoye’s friend, Tonex Chukwu told KICK OFF that the 25-year-old former Rangers goalie died after being ill for four days."
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/images/Okoye-01-03-2005.gif
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/sports/2005/sep/02/sports-02-09-2005-004.htm

"Former Rangers of Enugu goaltender and Enyimba of Aba second choice keeper, Sam Okoye is dead.
Daily Independent learnt from officials of the Aba side that Okoye slumped while on trial with an unnamed Iraqi club side."
http://www.independentng.com/sports/snsep010501.htm

May his soul rest in peace.

Kingdom

Pintos has said "bye" to the forum and I am not to blame for his saying "bye". When he said "bye" I said safe journey and deactivated his account for him. He made no attempt to protest the deactivation so I assumed he's ok with it. Abi? I'm tired!

I have unbanned him a while ago. While he was banned, he made no attempt to contact me by email to be unbanned.

Hello lexyflexy. Welcome to Nairaland!

Thirty-eight persons, who specialised in forging anything under the sun, were yesterday paraded in Lagos by Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero. The suspects were arrested during a raid of the notorious Oluwole area of Lagos, by a combined force of four security agencies.

Stunned by the range of recovered forged documents, including 4,000 Nigerian passports, 50,000 assorted foreign cheques, 10,000 blank British Airways tickets and 10,000 United States Postal Money Order, the police boss said Nigeria would have been better off, if the skill, creativity and imagination exhibited by some of the young suspects had been channeled to other lawful endeavour.

On display were forged bank statement of accounts, several stamps and seals, various International passports, forged blank marriage certificates, death certificates, certificates of Incorporation of Companies, forged certificates of occupancies, International driver's licences, Postal Orders, foreign bank cheques, fake United States dollars, Printing plates for various foreign bank cheques, forged university degrees and NYSC certificates.

Also recovered were 1,500 foreign passports of countries such as Chad, Libya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Congo, Cameroun, Senegal, Switzerland, Gambia, South Africa, United States, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Ghana.Ehindero also mentioned the seizure of 500 computers, Customs documents, seals and stamps, photocopiers, binding machines and wraps of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp.

Pointing out that Oluwole area of central Lagos has, over the years, been notorious as criminal black spot where all forms of stolen and forged documents are openly traded, Ehindero, who addressed reporters and police officers at the officers mess, Onikan, said: "The last few years had witnessed the detriment of our national image, a high preponderance of forged documents emanating from Oluwole being used in complex advance fee fraud, scams, fake cheque scams, immigration scams etc in several foreign countries particularly in Europe, North America and Asia."

http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=535 (click for more information)

Thirty-eight persons, who specialised in forging anything under the sun, were yesterday paraded in Lagos by Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero. The suspects were arrested during a raid of the notorious Oluwole area of Lagos, by a combined force of four security agencies.

Stunned by the range of recovered forged documents, including 4,000 Nigerian passports, 50,000 assorted foreign cheques, 10,000 blank British Airways tickets and 10,000 United States Postal Money Order, the police boss said Nigeria would have been better off, if the skill, creativity and imagination exhibited by some of the young suspects had been channeled to other lawful endeavour.

On display were forged bank statement of accounts, several stamps and seals, various International passports, forged blank marriage certificates, death certificates, certificates of Incorporation of Companies, forged certificates of occupancies, International driver's licences, Postal Orders, foreign bank cheques, fake United States dollars, Printing plates for various foreign bank cheques, forged university degrees and NYSC certificates.

Also recovered were 1,500 foreign passports of countries such as Chad, Libya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Congo, Cameroun, Senegal, Switzerland, Gambia, South Africa, United States, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Ghana.Ehindero also mentioned the seizure of 500 computers, Customs documents, seals and stamps, photocopiers, binding machines and wraps of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp.

Pointing out that Oluwole area of central Lagos has, over the years, been notorious as criminal black spot where all forms of stolen and forged documents are openly traded, Ehindero, who addressed reporters and police officers at the officers mess, Onikan, said: "The last few years had witnessed the detriment of our national image, a high preponderance of forged documents emanating from Oluwole being used in complex advance fee fraud, scams, fake cheque scams, immigration scams etc in several foreign countries particularly in Europe, North America and Asia."

http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=535 (click for more details)

All the information you need can be gleaned from the following EFCC press releases.

---

40,000 Passports Seized in Oluwole Raid

Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Sunday Ehindero, yesterday said over 40,000 Nigerian Passports, including official ones, were recovered during the recent raid on Oluwole, a notorious area in Lagos Island noted for document forgery and counterfeiting.

The IGP, who made the disclosure while briefing the press in Lagos said 1,500 foreign passports, including those of Libya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Senegal, Switzer-land., the Gambia, South Africa, United States, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Ghana were recovered. Also recovered from the raid were about 50,000 assorted foreign cheques and over 500 printing plates.

Other seizures made, according to Ehindero, include over 500 computers, about 10, 000 blank British Airways tickets, about 10, 000 United States Postal Money Order and blank certificates of occupancy.The IGP said 115 suspects were arrested. Seventy-seven of the suspects, he said, were later set free for lack of sufficient evidence to warrant their detention.

Ehindero said the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the State Security Services (SSS) combined to conduct the Oluwole raid aimed at dismantling the notorious criminal black spot, where all forms of stolen and forged documents were openly traded in Central Lagos.

According to him, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was concerned with the threat to security by the nefarious activities going on in the area had directed that a committee, comprising of the Police, the FCT Minister, SSS, Immigration and the EFCC clean up the area and other similar locations, where counterfeiting and forgery were prevalent in Lagos.

You girls don't know beauty! Halle Berry is respected and looks ok but she's too old to be the most beautiful, sorry!

Now I'm going to show you the true face of beauty in hollywood:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b3/Sin_City_Jessica_Alba_poster.jpg/220px-Sin_City_Jessica_Alba_poster.jpg

Jesica Alba is it. She makes a very good "tough girl".

hot-angel: no spoilers, please!

AAccording to the Yahoo Movie mum, the stealth movie is an average movie (C rating). I always listen to what the movie mom has to say!

Men pretend to be Casanova's to get to women: They succeed.

Men pretend to be rich and successful and have other female admirers. After many attempts, they might eventually succeed.

Men pretend to be "nice guys" to get to women: They succeed.

Nice guys don't get to women. Rich and successful cassanovas pretend to be also caring and they usually succeed!

Men pretend to be "bad boys" to get women: They succeed.

When a nice guy pretends to be a bad boy to get a woman, this is a win-win situation. Nice man gets nice woman who would have fallen for a "bad boy" and they live happily ever after. or the rest of their lives, each time she needs a little more "bad boy", from him he gives it to her!

What is so hard about being who you are?

You get rejected by several women and then you get smarter. Women reward those who pretend to be what they are not by paying them attention, so the men go right ahead and do what works!

Check this link for a list of 5 blogs that have been submitted to our del.icio.us directory:
http://del.icio.us/nairaland/blog

Check this link for my personal collection of Nigerian blogs on Bloglines:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/nairaland

Hope this helps?