₦airaland Forum

So the people selling generators should take all the blame? So what was the minister of energy or whatever doing? He could not visit the site? I don't know wether all these so called leaders don't know the meaning of leadership or anything about managing a project. Forget the fact that the whole thing was greatly over budgeted in the first place, but to spend all that and get no results? If that does not warrant a conviction or jail time then i really don't know what does. $16 billion is not chicken change. I am not going to defend such gross ineptitude.

@doyin, he made an effort to put money in the sector? How is embezzling money under the guise of addressing the power problem putting money in the sector? I am tired of hearing so and so person "tried". leadership is not a must, no one forced him. So why on earth should we defend gross mismanagement, looting, embezzlement, and overbudgeting? I am sorry but i believe if i am going to praise sub par, below mediocrity achievements in a PRESIDENT, then i don't have a right to complain when the next guy does thesame things or worse. Please can we at least set ourselves some standards and stop appreciating crumbs or being beggars? It sounds like an abused wife that is grateful to her husband for the night she is not being beaten. People are already praising Yaradua because he seems like a nice person, are we going to throw a party for the next president because he breathes?

When are these people going to just leave the country alone? I am not even asking for their death or anything like that, just to simply give the country back what they stole and leave us alone, i mean if they hate the country that much and don't care about anyone but themselves then why should anyone care about them? We keep on hoping that if we give them enough rope they will hang themselves (metaphorically speaking). However, many opportunities have come and gone for the whole "can of worms" to be exposed and each time whatever new scandal is rocking the country is simply swept under the carpet. Hasn't any of the politicians got guts? Aliyu had a chance in the House to reveal 419ers but said his friends stopped playing with him so he couldn't do it. This has gone on for a year now and if anything, it shows the current administration's dishonesty in "fighting corruption". My main question in this whole power fiasco is: what is the current administration actually doing to fix the power problem? What? Yaradua's excuse can't be because he is afraid money won't get results because we all know that those billions of dollars spent from the last administration did not go to power but went to bank accounts. Isn't there any honest person in government? If Yaradua does not address this problem very soon or even more importantly reveal his actual plan or any plan for that matter in tackling the problem then what is going to happen? Are we going to be having thesame power conversation after the next election?

The way these figures are thrown around one might be mistaken to think it was a ploy by government to desensitise people to the magnitude. How many billions of dollars wasted and what is there to show? 1 billion dollars is a very big deal, it is in no way chicken change. 1 billion dollars can go a very long way and here we are talking of $10 billion according to Yaradua and $16billion according to Bankole. This is just shameful, and EFCC still hasn't found reasons to lock up OBJ. Even if they were playing it coy and acting naive, at the very least this warrants conviction on abuse of office and mismanagement of funds. How can we transmit what we don't even have in the first place? And FOI bill hasn't been talked off since and Yaradua keeps on going on about fight against corruption? What a joker. Round and round we go.

Wow, i couldn't help but physically cringe, how self indulgent was that? I don't know who was worse, the Journalist for sucking up to him and letting him indulge in himself like that instead of asking him questions about serious issues, or him for saying a lot and using that big grammar but on closer inspection actually saying nothing worthy of note. I hope that is not how all journalists in Nigeria interview people, i.e giving people in power a pat on the back for doing nothing and not actually asking them critical or criticising questions, i mean, that could as well have been a paid advert, LOL. And i genuinely do hope not all the speakers are like him too. What a wasted opportunity, if i was the person interviewing that guy would have gotten some real questions.

Nigeria is such a paradox and we have no one but our selves to blame. How can we be so rich yet so poor? Leadership must really hate the people, that is the only explanation. I mean, they must really despise the people. In a normal and sensible disposition, resources like ours are celebrated and are used to enrich the country and the people. A large bitumen deposit was not too long ago discovered in the country, and i am sure if there is a new element discovered it would be found in Nigeria, AND STILL? This is really disheartening. When is Nigeria going to wake up?  We really need to open our eyes and get angry about things if not thesame people who have lead the country for the past 40 or so years will continue to walk over the people. We should not be relying on just one resource, wasn't the north supplying the country with food before? So what happened to competition? Governments of regions are not competitive towards progression anymore, they have just become lazy and content with wallowing below medocrity. 10 months of Yar Adua, and what has been done? Have we really taken steps forward or backwards? How abundantly blessed are we with natural resources? And yet people have the audacity to call on God. He keeps on giving us opportunity but we keep on choosing poverty. How painful

@gregg2, let us not credit OBJ with the sucess of others. Those people you mentioned did the job not OBJ, and they did not do it as a given but did it inspite of the political environment OBJ's government created. Instead of picking competent professionals to do ministerial jobs, friends and what have you were chosen. Oby Ezekwesili institionolised due process? You probably know more than me in that department, but that is a funny statement when you take into account the fact that a lot of OBJ's activities defied "due process". Even with that, saying he was admirable because of those things is to me not seeing the whole picture. I could say Peter Odili was amazing because in his eight years of misrule he built a road to the airport, but then i would have to ignore the epitome of greeed, inhumanity and savagery he displayed in his looting of the state, institutionalising electoral violence and political thuggery, the many assasinations that went on in his rule by his party, the monumental corruption that was prevalent in Rivers state, i could go on, but you get what i am trying to say. If those things you stated made OBJ acceptable, how many factors would you or did you have to ignore to make that statement?

How this affects the ordinary person on the street? Is PDP Nigeria? They have shown just how undemocratic they are yet again, no vote was cast when there was meant to be a party election and yet someone was chosen. How do we expect to get a democracy from the most undemocratic of parties? Shouldn't we be at the stage of wiping out this party from the face of Nigeria? Isn't this yet again planting thorns and expecting oranges?

@Big B1, if as you claim i "do not understand much about the problems facing Nigeria", i am guessing you are claiming to understand things much better than i do? Why not educate me then instead of using the "i do not understand" as something passable of an actual discourse? Thanks and God bless

The arguement people always use to praise Yaradua's government is that "he is a good person". That is nice, whoever wants to celebrate that can celebrate it, but let us not extend those sentiments to what we have seen of his leadership. It is good that we have such a "nice" person in power but to be honest how does that automatically translate to managerial skills, directorhip, or better adjectives that are ascribed to good leadership? In a country with such a terrible past of greedy and egocentric leaders, the bar for good behaviour was low anyway. I don't just argue for arguement sake and in the end i desperately want to be proved wrong about this because i want the best for the country. Hence, i am still waiting for something resembling results or fruits of his labour to show

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@cola, when i refer to courage, i mean courage to lead change and act in the genuine interest of the nation instead of the interest of some members of the PDP. Doing the right thing even if it means stepping on toes. There are many examples of this, one being when the whole Ibori case was still hot in the hand of the EFCC. The london Metropolitan police was going to come into the country to do an investigation. The AGF thwarted any meaningful investigation from going on. The AGF is part of Yaradua's government. That is an example out of many which seems to see a president that is scared to step on toes or take control. When i refer to vision, well lets face it, he did not plan on becoming a president in the first place. So with that, i am guessing he did not have any plans or vision of were he would like to lead the country to. Key word being lead because he is afterall meant to be a leader. And a leader with no vision of where he wants to lead the country to is scary. It is like a ship without a captain. If you think i am being vague why don't we all take a look at his 7 point agenda?
If you notice, in all of this i have not said he is a bad person, i just said he doesn't seem prepared to lead the country and that is not a failure of him as a person, i mean what should we expect from someone who did not aspire to be president in the first place?

@Kobojunkie, tribalism needs to take the back seat in our nation if we are to move forward. Nobody is saying we should be blind to the fact that we are made of of many tribes it has actually added to our beauty and culture as a nation. But making that into an issue at every turn? Isn't that were this whole idea of "selective justice" started? You arrest somebody that stole from his people and those same people say you are dishing out "selective justice". The irony is that it is actually quite "UnNigerian". When a child steals from his family (never mind all the killing and what have you) he is disciplined isn't he? But in an environment where tribalism takes precedense in everything common sense is thrown away. If we are saying that tribalism should continue to be that important  that it puts development and progress of the whole nation in jeopardy then what future have we together as a nation?

@BigB1 beign decisive and having ideas of your own does not necessarily translate into things being "rushed". The power situation after OBJ is still the way it is today not becasue it was rushed, but because of the monumental corruption and greediness that was part of the programme, as well as a lack of genuine concern in that regards. We were fooled with mere rhetoric of 'restoring Nigeria'. The idea of saying Nigeria's problems are too complicated and hence it will take time is just simply something i do not buy into. Many of the problems are simple but we need a courageous leader. We need someone to get down and dirty and take the bull by the horn instead of the lame excuse of 'it will take time'. We are not trying to re-invent the wheel here. Yes Yaradua has seemed so far to be the most genuine leader, that is all nice and sweet but does that make him a good leader though? What courage or vision has he shown for Nigeria? No one has ever said he wasn't nice, but he lacks needed leadership skills and this whole idea of 'he is trying his best' just simply won't do. If we are going to keep saying that then we might as well forget about seeing any progress for the next 50years. But hey, at least we will have leaders that were "trying there best".

I understand the arguements for selected justice, but nevertheless, why are we trying to use it to defend common crooks? If Odili was clean then he would have nothing to answer and it is as simple as that. If selective justice would mean only governors from a specific region are targeted by EFCC what would that mean for the people of that region? It might mean that they get governors who are so affraid of being a victim of this "selective justice" that they do not steal from their people. If this "selective justice" is going to reduce looting in those places then i fail to see why people from such places will see reasonability in crying foul. If other people don't want to hold their own leaders accountable and they are fine with the looting and they don't want the "selective justice" well, that is up to them and is to their own detriment. If "selective justice" is going to get Odili locked up then so be it.

@Econium, James Ibori and Lucky Igbinedion? I will reserve a comment till we here the verdict on that case. Was Alams case justice though? If all they do is end up "settling" the matter out of the court then it is nothing but a photo op and they have just come in front of us to act film. As far as i can see, when you really think about it, none of the ex-governors or ministers have been properly dealt with by the EFCC. They have been trying to pull scape goat tactics so the perceived injustices can be settled, however all we end up hearing is that a fraction was paid back and in the case of Alams, he was released at the end because he apperently spent 2 years already in a supposed "jail". I will hold my praise of the EFCC till they really do deal with these criminals.

Why are we so quick to blame all of the sour decisions some judges have made on our legal system? Unless some of us are well schooled on the law, why are we so quick to say it is because our laws are at fault and are primitive? Yes a lot of work needs to be done in that department but if we are to be honest and truthful it is simply individuals looking out for their own interest. The Judge is supposed to interprete the law. If he decided to ignore obvious common sense and bury his sense of justice in order to benefit himself or some other interest then is the main problem the laws or the judges?

Do people now see one of the reasons for having credible elections? If we had a president and governors that were elected by the masses, they won't feel they owe this criminals anything and all this shielding and protection of certain people may have been reduced. We are about to see how serious the EFCC, and ICPC and all the other agencies are about fighting corruption. Prisons in Nigeria are full of people who have not properly been prosecuted and people who stole to feed themselves, yet these criminals and touts and public agberos are walking free? Credible elections are so important. Maybe when next we are given a chance to stand for justice and truth then less people will be willing to hide under mere rhetoric or counterprogressive specially made Nigerian slogans like "National Interest" and "for peace".

I am hoping a higher court would over rule this decision and fast too. But what else could have been expected when the court that gave this order was based in Port Harcourt? And what else can you expect from a common criminal? He is a desperate man, and what even stinks more is the fact that he has also stopped EFCC from publishing their finds on him. Well, so what is ICPC waiting for? If people were serious about catching this criminal he would have been caught, so all i can say is it looks like it is business as usual as i have stated previously. I will desperately liked to be proved wrong.

Looking at OBJ and saying he was the best does not really mean anything. It certainly is not looking at the whole picture, so what about the things he destroyed? Anyway, i won't start that arguement. But honsetly speaking, look at the state of the country, does anyone being the best president Nigeria has ever had say anything much? Honestly? Instead of anyone clamouring for this title, they should be running away from it like the plague, they should be denying that they were once the president of a country that has come to be the way it is.

I haven't lost faith in Nigeria, i am an eternal optimist. However, i refuse to celebrate a non-existent democracy and chicken steps, i am going to reserve my comentary for after the supreme court ruling on the election matter. I do agree with you about prosecution of criminals, but do you know the problem right now? The nigerian courts are swamped, and this just goes to show how bad things are. Matters that should be settled and taken up by other non-functioning agencies like the police, EFCC, ICPC and all the other failed organisations are all on the steps of the courts. Hence this means there is a long queue of pending cases.
Is it only NAFDAC that is working in Nigeria?

Democracy? In Nigeria? Since when? We can't even conduct something resembling credible elections. I will reserve my verdict till the supreme court rules on the matter. I have said i will try not to discuss this anymore because it is simply frustrating, especially with such overwhelming eveidence. Unfortunately it seems it is business as usual. Out of the few ex-governors EFCC arrested how many of them are in jail today? And yet we have prisons full of people who stole 50naira to feed themselves. What has happened to Ibori's case? Peter Odili's restraining order on the EFCC to not publish their finds on him and to stop them from arresting him has about expired so why is he still a free man? Freedom of Information Bill has not been passed for how long now? Allegations were made about 419ers in the house, it was reffered to ethics commitee, so has it all of a sudden been swept under the carpet? I could go on and on, but these things show that it is business as usula, that means nothing much has changed. Let us wait and see what happens in the supreme court (although that in itself is quite a wait)

There are so many people in Nigerian politics who should not be involved. Even without naming the usual suspects, Ibori had 2 criminal convictions before he got into politics in Nigeria, and yet he was made the serving governor in a Nigerian state for 2 terms. While the idea of a decentralised government might in some way work, the bottom line is that Nigerians should start holding the nation to higher regards, instead of turning everything tribal. We have been a nation (though a poor imitation of one) for quite a while now, and if we are to advance we should begin to see ourselves as one nation with different tribes, and accept it that way. I am not saying ignore our differences, but instead aknowledge them but also aknowledge nationhood. When we get this sorted then we can begin to look at decentralisation. If the nation wasn't so poorly run, i doubt many people would be so quick to start calling for seperation as we keep hearing.

@ JayFK, isn't it sad to think that we have to wait for some of these old power hugging politicians to die before we move on? Do you really believe if we keep on just taking things the way they are it will stop after 'these people' die? I remember from a previous thread when someone said we should forget about the results of the election tribunal because Nigeria needs continuity. The sad part of the matter is that there is no continuity in government, or in things that will benefit from continuity. However, nigeria seems to enjoy continuity in corruption. When these people die or leave power, they just hand over to their relatives or associates to continue with the reign of terror. Andy Uba selected his relative to continue, OBJ selected Yaradua, Ibori selected his associate, Adedibu did thesame thing for a senator. The list goes on. So i really don't believe waiting for this people to die and keeping up this nonchalant societal attitude is helping us in anyway. If nigeria is to get back power, it might have to wrestle it from these people because they are not willing to let go.

@ zillaxy, good to here that Adamawa is improving and if all those points you put down as achievements are true then it is impressive governance indeed and all in 9 months? Still though, i think it is important that if there was serious electoral malpractice then the tribunal did the right thing. We really need to discourage this culture of electoral malpractrice before it become a norm. When elections come again, if you still want him to be the leader then go and vote for him, simple as that, that is the beauty of democracy.

The thing is i don't believe Nigerians would want Nigeria to seperate if it worked. It really is a multi cultural society and that has added a lot to what makes Nigeria so special. Even pidgin English borrows a lot of words from different Nigerian languages. But the simple problem is this, we hold the interest of tribes far greater than the interest of the nation. I really do believe that this is more pronounced in people that are older and lived through the biafra war. If Nigerians held the interest of Nigeria to even half the same level of importance they held the interest of their tribes then Nigeria would work. Then we will vote for the candidate because we think he will make a better president and not because we think it should belong to a particular tribe. Then the president will focus on developing the nation and not a particular region. If Nigerians invested their trust and priority in Nigeria as a nation as much as they invest such trust and priority in their different tribes, then Nigeria will excel. Colonialism happened, it is very unfortunate but it did. Some prime minister saying sorry might be seen as healing to some, but frankly it will not improve the electricity problem in the country, it will not put food on the table, it will not improve the economy, Nigerians would have to do that. Are we really saying we are waiting for this before we move on? We are better than that so we would have to look at building the nation together as brothers if it is to work. And honestly, what a great nation it could turn out to be. That is what makes it so frustrating when i see the potential of the nation squandered by selfishness, dishonesty and greed.

PDP is not Nigeria, PDP is not more important than Nigeria. Unfortunately the hijack of the nations by this party has meant that whatever they do spills into the rest of the nation. A party which as far as i can see is ethically and morally bankrupt in its leadership, and full of the 'who is who' of Nigeria's failed leadership past, a past that needs to be kept in the past and not keep on spilling into the present and (God forbid) future. The news recently has shown just how bad internal workings in the party are, bullying, intimidation, even alleged murder and what have you. Have these not become part and parcel of the nations politics and so called 'democracy'? As i said, due to their hold on the nation, the behaviour of one party has come to symbolise and dominate the behaviour of the Nigerian political scene and it is distressing. So to get back to the topic, PDP as a monster or saviour? Personally i think that is just giving them too much credit and making them more important than they should be. Believe it or not Nigeria will survive without PDP and the party although not alone in its activities, has come to symbolise everything wrong with Nigeria (possible hyperbole). I am not saying nothing good can ever come out of PDP, but i am saying the grip PDP has on Nigeria needs to be broken so that we can progress and have a true democracy, not this extremely poor imitation of the real thing.

Some groups in the country are now apparently calling for the removal of Iwu and all commissioners in INEC due to their inability to re-run credible elections. I am getting confused, i thought the tribunal said INEC did a fantastic job and a lot of people agreed with the ruling, so why are people now disturbing INEC. Can't people just make up their mind and stick to it? LOL

INEC has just come out and said thesame thing. INEC has come out to say that the tribunal verdict vindicated them. Why don't they just give Iwu and OBJ national award and let us get this insult over with quickly afterall that is what a lot of Nigerians seem to want, right?

That looked like nothing but a photo op. You really believe that is how they operate? I kept on waiting for one of them to slap somebody, lol.

@ Backslider, i think i might make this my last post on this thread because i am tired of repeating myself. Ghana had a form of revolution in the case of Rawlings to set a new status quo. Why have people come to believe running election is rocket science? Get CCTV and do it something like 3 or 4 states at a time and beef up security around polling stations, but why would politicians want a good electoral system when it would mean no more wide scale mandate robbery and rigging? But if continuity is what you want then that is what we have gotten, as i have said before, with this ruling everything remains thesame and the status quo remains, its business as usual. God Bless

@Kobojunkie, but you see, this is more than that. Why on earth will the Freedom of Information bill be passed when it goes against the status quo? Why will there be electoral reforms when it will go against the status quo (i.e people choosing their leaders)? Why would this one and the next one (God forbid) want to act in the real interest of the people when they know it is not the people that got them into power? Why on earth would all these happen? Is it not just wishful thinking? PDP's precedense was set and instead of destroying it, it was maintained. Do or die politics have been maintained (it is now a matter of who can rig or kill more) and the status quo continues and yet we expect real change? How disheartening. Well, you never know, he might build a few roads and half complete a power station before he leaves office right?