₦airaland Forum

Jbenue:
Hi, I have noticed in recent months the increased clamour by our brothers in the North for secession from the entity Nigeria. Like any long suffering southerner my heart was racing with excitement at the prospect. For years I have thought that the ultra conservitive, alien, impossible,and backwards North was the achillies heel of Nigeria.
But now on second thoughts I actually dont want them to go!!!! Call it afrocentric but since watching the African WC in the summer and seeing what Africans are capable of once united, if filled me with a sense of hope that we Nigerians arent just beating a dead horse with this nation.
With the milk of african compassion and kindness now oozing from within I started to ponder, would the North actually survive on its own (even if they took abuja). The answer to that question is a resounding no!!!!

Here are 5 well qualified reasons why it wouldnt

1- The proposed Arewa would be a LANDLOCKED Republic.( Chad+ Niger come to mind )
2- Nigeria is only tolerated on the world stage because of Oil even with that look how we are treated, so imagine disedent Nigerians without oil lol. ( Unless they find oil quick in Lake Chad)
3- In Nigeria 55% of the population is under the age of 20. In Arewa its 65% thats a lot of almajaris lol.
4- What generally happens to poor Islamic states with high youth population and unemployment- Al Qaida !!!!!!!!
5- And Perhaps the most terrifying aspect to this destined Titanic is Northern Politicians i.e. IBB need i say more !!!!

I guess the point I am trying to make is, there are a lot of sections of the the country clamouring for disintergration. But rather lets unite and not just be pround Nigerians but be pround Africans, because its only when united that africa can tackle all its problems and in so doing lifting itself out of shame and depression.

VIVA AFRICA

Guy which one be your own? If Arewa wan go how he take affect u ? And if u happen to belong to d Plateu, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa or Benue and will feel more comfortable with d south why not talk to Becomerich to redraw the map?!
Just when Almighty Allah is quetly answering our age-long prayers that Arewa should leave peacefully so that I wont have to hang my neat suit and carry AK47 for d final showdown u are reminding them they will suffer if they leave.
Abeg Auwal no mind d boy. The Arewa of our dream will be:
* The most prosperous of all world nations with 100s of solid minerals buried on our land from West to East
* We shall have 100% Sharia law guiding our lives with no dilution from the Kafers from the South
* We can now freely and wholly join the committe of prospering Islamic nations of the North Africa and Midle East
* We can mary any girl even from pregnancy without being disturbed by one stupid Cannon-inclined Nigeria constitution
* Our wifes and children will have liberty from doing any form of work as commanded by the Prophets (ASWAL)
* We are ready to leave the South with their rituals, kidnapping, millitancy, unrighteousness, 419, drug trafficking and adultery

Fellow Northerners YES WE CAN. Let start pressuring our leaders Ciroma that he should tell Jonathan we need a meeting to separate from the rest of the country now. We Northerners are tired of Nigeria. Sai Arewa

Just to offer some help

http://www.femifanikayode.org

Femi is currently a PDP aspirant for Osun Gubernatorial contest. In fact he his one of d main contestsnts threathning to decamp to ACN if PDP imposed dat illiterate prisoner-turned-lawmaker Omisore.
I also remember him for being very saucy, free with uncouthed choices of words and arrogant but he doesnt look like some1 wit his head buried in pots.
He is articulate, no doubt about that, afterall IBB is also intelligent but we all hate him.

This is one of his most recent interviews and if u are so desperate to tail him he is open on facebook.

He’s been accused of many things and called many names, but nobody ever accused Chief Femi Fani-Kayode of not speaking his mind. And nobody ever accused him of not being strong-willed. Lawyer, politician and now, gubernatorial aspirant Fani-Kayode who shot into national, if somewhat controversial, prominence as Media Special Assistant to President Obasanjo and later as Minister of Tourism and Culture, then Aviation turned 50 two weeks ago. And shows no sign of turning down the heat,  He spoke with CHUKS OKOCHA, TOBI SONIYI and ONYEBUCHI EZEIGBO in Abuja, last week…



You are one of the governorship aspirants in Osun State. How is your campaign and what is your relationship with Senator Iyiola Omisore? Are you stepping down for him?   

Why on earth will I step down for Iyiola Omisore or anybody else? I have been in this game for twenty years now. It will surprise me for anybody to think that I will step down for anyone - unless of course, the party itself decides that everybody out of the 15 aspirants for the governorship should step down for somebody. That will be based on some kind of understanding; but as at today that is not the case. I am so deeply interested in it and I am doing my very best.



In terms of what we are actually doing - I mean the campaign – there’s a lot of internal caucusing going on. We are trying our best to come to some sort of understanding in terms of who the candidate will be so that we do not end up dividing the party.

What is paramount in my mind and in minds of most people from where I come in the state, Ile Ife, is that this time around a son of Ife should be Governor. Of course Omisore is a qualified son of Ife, just as Gbenga Owolabi who is one of the Local Government Chairmen, just as Ambassador Baju Bamigbetan and a number of others; that is what many of us want. But of course there are candidates from Ilesha as well as other candidates from other senatorial districts. We are all working together, we are all meeting, we are all talking. But the issue of stepping down has not arisen.



There is an allegation that you are in the Osun governorship race as a bargaining chip

Do I look like a bargaining chip to you? I’m very strong-willed, you know! I’m surprised you are asking that question! I have been in politics for twenty years. I have operated at the federal level as a Minister twice. As spokesperson for the President, I probably have more exposure and experience in terms of executive office than any other candidate. Why would I be a bargaining chip? I take this matter very seriously. I am very mature and I am taking this matter of governorship very seriously.



If circumstances unfold that would suggest we should support someone else, if it is in the interest of the party, why on earth won’t I do that? We are in the same party; we are working together. The key to understanding this is that all the governorship candidates in Osun are talking to each other and are working closely as at now; it was not so before. This is so because we want to ensure that there is unity within the party. We are also trying to ensure that we have a free and fair primary. No imposition of candidates.





As at today there is no credible voters register; is a free and fair election still feasible?

I certainly hope there will be, because we need to ensure that there is certainty in the system and we have a change of power or depending on what the people want. A new mandate is to be given so that we have a new government in power according to the guidelines. I don’t think it will be healthy for us to have an extension. It sends wrong signals and it will encourage some people to do the wrong thing. We don’t want that. But I agree with you it seems to me that it is going to be very, very difficult for us to operate within that time. But let’s just pray it happens.



Some people are saying that if May 29 is not feasible as handing over date, having an interim system in place will give everybody equal footing. How do you look at that?

I feel that is something that will be put in place as a last resort. That is not the best thing but it may well be the necessary thing depending on the circumstances. Whichever way you look at it, for me, I just think that democracy should be practised in the way it should be practised  and that we should operate within the guidelines. We should also ensure that we do our best to do the right thing at the right time. For me, the issue of interim government, as interesting as it might be, is not the best. I’m sincerely hoping that we do not have to go in that direction; but if it is necessary then it is necessary.



You said that you have experience having served in the Federal Executive Council, we assume you are referring to the time you were Minister of Aviation?

Not necessarily.  I was in government for four years. I was in Aviation for six months.



How will you relate your experience as Minister of Aviation to issues of governance at state level?

The first thing is that operating at the federal level is extremely far more complicated than most states because you are dealing with the whole nation in that situation. You are catering for the needs of 150 million Nigerians. You are operating at a cabinet level discussing complex national and international issues.



Operating at the state level for me is a lot easier especially since you will be the chief policy implementer; you will be the one to drive the policy and move the execution. Once you are familiar with the challenges of the state, once you have a firm blueprint of what you want to do and once it is clear to you that your people have a greater challenge and these are your people, your constituency, then it stirs up the passion and the desire to really do the right thing and deliver the people from a lot of the challenges they are having at the local level.



For me, politics is about service and if you are talking about experience, the best experience you can possibly have, is working at the Villa, at the Presidency and working as a Minister, in a number of Ministries and not just in one.



When you were at the Villa you were known to be outspoken defender of your principal, President Olusegun Obasanjo. Do you think that the incumbent President has such a defender like you in government?

It is a very different system and style that he is operating compared to what we operated. When President Obasanjo came in 1999 I was not with him then, I came in 2003. He told me that he had discovered that in any given day he would have about 15 verbal attacks against him. Because the country was just moving out of military dispensation to a democratic setting it was a very difficult time and the order of the day for the first four years was to totally attempt to discredit the President and tear him down and also tear down the whole system, regardless of the fact that this could have implications for the presidency and for the ability of the President to perform. Some people just decided that they were going to mess him up, and that they were going to pull him down. He went through that for four years. Even people within his own government chose to do that.



I think by 2003 he determined that he needed to have a more combative style and a stronger team in term of information management and in terms of defending his own person and explaining the policies of his government which is why he assembled a few us and encouraged us to join him. The situation then was very different from what it is today. At that time in 2003, we were surrounded with people who were extremely hostile to us; there was a sea of hostility we needed to deal with. Everything this man did was misconstrued, misunderstood and misrepresented. Some people were just malicious towards him.

I felt that it was important that if people raised issues, we needed to look at those issues, analyse them and argue. That is how participatory democracy is practised in most Western countries. Maybe by virtue of the fact that I was trained by the British and within the British system, for me as a politician you need to analyse issues, look at issues and explain issues. Not just say this is the policy, you people can say what you like, you can misunderstand it if you like, I don’t care. I believe the people have the right to be told the truth about any situation. So when you have people that rise up to misinform and misrepresent Mr. President, if it is your job to represent him properly, to inform people properly and to join issues properly. I think it is better to do it and that is precisely what I did at that time. Chuks was very much involved as a professional journalist at that time. You would find that the attacks on the person of the President and government’s policies were more measured. Because they knew that whatever you say, these people are going to come back with facts and figures. If you want to be difficult or you want to be hard and rude, you must make sure that you have covered all your fronts and you know how to respond to things that would be said to you. That is for me how it should be. As a consequence of that policy, the number of attacks on President Obasanjo completely diminished. Not that people were sacred; no, not at all. People were simply more enlightened.



Were you more of an attack dog?

No. I don’t think you can say so. I certainly don’t think you can say so because if you look at my arguments, I argued as a lawyer, which is my primary constituency. My arguments are based on logic. Maybe by the time I finished arguing with somebody he felt as if he had been bitten all over his body by a dog! Well, I certainly did not mean to do that. For me, at the end of the day, it is to argue issues with facts and figures, not personality, facts and figures. What most people are used to here is to get up and say the President is an evil man and expect you to stay nothing. If you now say please expatiate, let us look at what you have just said, or they criticise a government policy, if you now say you are wrong and that this is actually the situation, if that is what people interpret as an attack, well they are entitled to do that.



I believe I did a professional thing given the fact that I was not a journalist and had never been one. I did appreciate your job. I think I did a pretty good job based on conviction and not based on doing it just for the sake of doing a job. I believed passionately in what this man was doing. I believed he needed to be defended. I believed his policies needed to be explained. At the end of the day, I believed we did a pretty good job in doing that.



If you look at what is happening today, I believe most Nigerians have given this President the benefit of the doubt and therefore you don’t see the kind of aggression we had to deal with on a daily basis. I don’t quite know why that is, but that is precisely the situation. We don’t have a situation when people are getting up everyday misinterpreting government’s policies, attacking the person of the President.  Those days seemed to have gone and thankfully, because it is like people are more far more respectful. They give the President the benefit of the doubt. If anything, people are even very accommodating and patient and sympathetic indeed especially with Goodluck Jonathan.



With Yar’Adua it seemed to me that there was a strong attempt by the government of that day to literarily suppress, people were being muzzled. That is the truth. It may not be fashionable to say so but that is the truth. At that time the government attempted to muzzle people, and people did not say much for fear of some kind of retribution or the other from one of the government’s security agencies.  That was the order of the day under Yar’Adua.



Under Obasanjo, nobody, no media organisation ever got charged with sedition, simply for saying that the president was ill or something like that, like the Leadership newspaper faced. People could say whatever they liked. The worst thing that could happen was that someone would respond on behalf of the government in order to explain. Under Yar’Adua it was slightly different; people were muzzled. Under this dispensation, people are able to talk but they are giving the President and the government the benefit of the doubt in spite of the fact that there are some very real challenges on the ground.



Looking back, do you have any regret working for Obasanjo?

Why will I have any regret working for President Obasanjo? If I looked at the performance of that government, Nigerians have short memories. Look at what the situation was when he came in 1999. Look at what the country was going through and suffering then. Look at what he left in 2007. Let me give you just two examples. When he left government in 2007 we had USD20 Billion in the Excess Crude Account. When he left in 2007 we did not owe a penny to any foreign monetary institution or government, not a penny! No other African country has achieved that.



Three years later, by the time President Yar’Adua had been in government for three years the excess crude account had gone from USD20 billion to USD450 million. That is quite a depletion of the excess crude account! Number two, our foreign debt had gone from zero to USD9 Billion. I could go on and on. There are so many sectors, so many achievements, so many things that President Obasanjo’s government achieved which people do not want to look at today because they think it is fashionable not to do so. They would rather focus on some of the challenges or mistakes that he made. If you ask me again I will say I do not regret working in that government, I do not regret anything! I do not regret defending the President. I do not regret supporting the government. I’m glad that today, President Jonathan seems to have tremendous respect for him and I’m glad that someone like former President Shehu Shagari said the other  day that Obasanjo was a blessing to the nation and that we are glad to have had him.



Talking about the mistakes of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, one of them, people believe, was his third term bid in which you played a prominent role.

I have to be frank with you. If you look back, you would find out that some of us played a very, very measured role in that whole issue. I believe that at that time I had become a Minister. I did not say anything other than issues affecting my Ministry. You know the people that played a key role in the whole thing including President Yar’Adua including James Ibori and Andy Uba and a whole lot of others. But you also know el-Rufai,  Ribadu, Okonjo Iweala, Obi Ezekwezili, Osuntokun, myself and a few others. Our roles were a little bit measured. I would challenge you to look for any statement  at all that I issued in respect of the third term bid at that time, whether on television or in the newspapers. That is not to say I was against third term because I was in a government that believed or many people within that government believed that President Obasanjo should continue in office and they attempted to ensure that but it failed because the Senate, the National Assembly and the people said they did not want it. Fair enough. I don’t think it was a crime or a sin to say that the President should continue especially given his record at that time. But if the Nigerian people said no, no it is; end of story!



But that was against the Constitution?

That is a misconception. It was not against the Constitution. They were not trying to extend tenure against the Constitution; what they were trying to do was to change the Constitution, amend it in order to accommodate it.

Let me tell you, what a lot of people don’t realise, I’m sorry, I need to go back a bit, There was some time I had a debate with somebody from the White House on the issue of time limit . What I said - because the Americans were making a lot of noise about it, and I’m saying the same thing now -  is that American Presidents themselves, it was no more than 50 years or so perhaps even less, that time limits were imposed in America. Great presidents like Roosevelt, the very strong ones, the real changers of American society, those that really established democracy in America and made the country what it is today, were there for a very long time.  They were there because continuity was important. They were there to establish democracy and stabilise it. It was after the country was fully established and routed in democracy that time limit was introduced. It was a relatively late development. If you look at it like that you will find that there is an argument in that.

Was it the right and proper thing to do? Given what had happened between 2007 and 2010 in this country I think, for me, I leave you to make that choice. Given the kind of degeneration we have had in every sector. I will allow you to answer that question and make the choice.



This interview will not be complete without asking you this question: you are standing trial for alleged corruption. How will that affect your chances in politics?

The case is in court and as a lawyer, I would not want to comment on it. I don’t want to do anything that will prejudice the mind of the court. Can we have the next question?



As a lawyer you appear to prefer politics to law, why is this so?

Not really that I prefer politics; no, it is not a matter of choice. It is more of what your calling is. My calling is to serve my people and to participate in politics. It is as simple as that. I practised as a lawyer when I was called to bar in 1985 in Chief Rotimi Williams’ law firm and my father’s law firm, up till 1990 when I was appointed  full partner in my father’s firm. My role in law was very peripheral and I decided to focus on making my contribution. That is when I ventured into politics, and I have not looked back since.



Do you believe that the criterion for service should be previous performance?

Do I believe in performance? Of course it should be, that is part of it. It should be experience. Not only experience though, it is a democracy, you may have your own set of criteria and other people have theirs. But of course, I think experience matters. I also think trust comes into it. I think whether the people know you well enough to entrust their future into your hands.

Bearing in mind that this is one of the criteria that can play out in the choice, how do you rate your self as a past Minister, especially as Aviation Minister? What can you look back to as your achievements in this ministry?

I rate myself pretty highly and it is not for me to blow my own trumpet. Before I came in there were five crashes within the space of one year. When we got there, we put everything in place. We ensured that safety was our watchword and we put everything in place to make sure that crashes stopped. And crashes stopped. That was my main objective. All the international air routes that are being plied today by Arik, we are the ones that made sure that they were granted when I was Minister.



We also established TRACON, the Total Radar Coverage system for Nigerian airspace, which was commissioned just last week. The system was introduced and initiated a number of years before I came in by Kema Chikwe but it was stopped by my predecessor in office Professor Babalola Borisade who sought to replace it with something else. Consequently by the time that I got in Tracon had been shelved and was at a standstill. We ressurrected it, re-introduced it, re-funded it and ensured that the monuemental work that was required to complete it began. It took a number of years but thankfully we can now see the fruits of our collective labour because for the first time in our history today, as at last week, Nigeria finally has full total radar coverage. Again still on radar, when I first came in as Minister we had no radar in Nigeria at all. Since Obasanjo left power in 1979 all the existing radar systems in our country had broken down and we had been relying on radar systems from neigbouring countries such as Ghana to chart our course. The first thing I did when I came in was to re-establish and make functional the old radar systems that Obasanjo had put in place and left behind when he was military Head of State, and I introduced the same system to Abuja. We did this in a matter of weeks after coming to office after Ado Sanusi was appointed D-G of NAMA and as a consequence of that Nigeria at least had limited radar coverage in Lagos and Abuja for the first time since 1979. Our view was that half bread was better than none and we then concentrated on putting Tracon, which is the most modern and sophisticated radar system in the world, back on course. I can also cite the consolidation and increase in asset base of local airliners as another of our achievements. The consequence of this was that the era of having tiny airline operators with a small asset base which were not properly funded, not well run and not very safe was brought to an end. Such operators were not only weak and archaic but they were also endangering the lives of Nigerians with their shabby, old, decrepit one man, one pilot, one plane airlines which would have not been allowed to operate in any other country in the civilised world. We put a stop to all that. Another achievement was the fact that we insisted that foreign airline operators acted in a lawful, reasonable and responsible way in Nigeria and that they treated Nigerians with the utmost decency, politeness and respect. This seemed to have worked quite well especially after we put our foot down and threatened sanctions if this was not done.



Another of our achievements was the fact that we granted NCAA (the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority) greater automony from the Ministry and we supported them in their vital work. As a consequence of that, irresponsible and reckless airline operators who simply refused to pay any compensation to the families of the victims after their planes crashed and killed many were grounded and remain grounded till today because they have refused to honour their obligations to those families. I am talking about defunct carriers like Sosoliso and ADC.



Another of our achievements was getting presidential approval for and setting in motion the process which led to the eventual privitisation of SAHCOL, which was a parastatal under the Ministry, a few years later. When I appointed Chike Ogeah as Managing Director of SAHCOL the company was priced at a paltry N1.5 billion. He turned the place around and by the time the company was privatised it was sold for N5.6 billion. Then there was the infamous N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund. You will recall that N8.5 billion of that fund was released to and spent by my predecessor in office, Professor Babalola Borishade. After he was redeployed and I was sent to aviation the balance of N11 billion of the Aviation Intervention Fund was released to me by President Olusegun Obasanjo to help repair the decaying infrastructure at the airports. I spent N3.8 billion on three major projects (which included the Port Harcourt runway and the second Lagos runway both of which we completed) and I left N7.2 billion out of the N11 billion that was given to me to use in the Intervention Fund account for my successor to administer. Not a penny of that Intervention Fund went missing under my watch and neither has anyone alleged that it did, all the three contracts that I awarded and funded with the fund went through due process and I left plenty of money in the account for my successor to utilise and administer. I consider that to be an achievement too.



Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we signed a series of international agreements that allowed Nigerian airline carriers to begin to fly lucrative international routes and benefit from them. Up until that time Nigerian carriers and airline operators were being treated very unfairly and were shut out of all these routes by foreign governments and the international community. We entered into extensive negotiations with a number of countries and foreign governments on this matter; we regularised the agreements and ensured that Nigerian carriers could utilise those routes as well. That is what most Nigerians are enjoying today and as a consequence of that Nigerian airline operators like Arik have become big players on the international scene. I am very proud of that.

Not only that, before I went to the law school I was educated at some of the best schools in the world. I assure you, I have enough experience to be able to run a state.



In my state, I’m seen as a leader and not as someone who is still looking for experience. I am one of the leaders of the party, I’m a stakeholder. I am close to all the key people there. I challenge you to go and look at the criteria of all the others and let’s measure it and see who had more experience and who has less. Some people are running for the state governorship that are Local Government chairman and there are others who have never been in government before. There are some people who have been Senators and there others who had been Ambassadors. All of them have experience in one way or the other. All the PDP aspirants have something to offer. On the other side, Action Congress of Nigeria, they have a candidate who was a Commissioner under Bola Tinubu in Lagos State. You have in some states Governors who had never been in executive position before. Really, if you are looking for experience, I have paid my due in that respect.



Have you been following the debate on zoning?

Yes, I have.



What is your view on this?

It is really a very difficult. My party has taken a position. It is better for me to take the party line. Under the constitution of the party, zoning was there. However, the party also said that under the country’s constitution anybody who wants to run for office should do so. These two apparently conflicting principles have been espoused by my party. Who am I to say one is right and the other is wrong?



Would you like to tell us about your family?

Sure. I have a wonderful family, a wonderful wife. I have been married to her since 1997. I have five children. My oldest daughter is about to become a lawyer in the United Kingdom. She has two degrees.



What about the wife of 1987?

No 1997. But I know where you are going, I will come to that. I married my wife in 1997. Not my ex-wife. Let us start from the positive before we go to the negative.  My second daughter has just finished her first degree in the UK. Then I have two other daughters who are in school over there. And I have a fifth daughter who is also in school abroad.

I come from a loving family and I love my family very much. My extended family is also a family of lawyers. My father was a lawyer of distinction and a politician. My grandfather was a lawyer and a judge. Both of them went to the Cambridge University, just like I did. My great grandfather was a pastor, one of those that brought Christianity to Ile-Ife.

I’m a family man. My family is very important to me. I believe in continuity. Our time is almost over. At the age of fifty, you now have to start thinking about the succeeding generation. They are rising up and by the Grace of God they will continue to fly the flag.



calid16:
Yes jonathan can go with the  oil together with south east and south west. If they go they wont survive. Even now see how they are fighting and sending daughter to go and do ashewo so that they can build house. They will be worst i tell you, oil has never made anyone rich, even Saudi cannot compare with compare with Singapore. If we in sokoto can sell our diary food and lagos and all the big banks and brilliant business sit up we will pass south africa. See how wild igbo and niger delta are , they are fighting
Everytime even the women, fight fight and kill and cheat without honesty and sell fake drug to innocent people and not care if they survive . Let them go , i bet you they will worse than congo in 2 years killing themselfs with genocide. Congo have over 20 trillion dollars of minerals in the ground, richest country land on this planet, why are they poorer than nigeria beggars ?

Chai see wahala Becomerich has been spreading d virus, even to d North. Now how are we going to divide this country now wen Becomerich is alraedy unifying d country with his special trait?

Akin-Egba:
Omo, it is 'rare' and not 'rear'. Some of my Oduduwa brothers are really representing in English grammar. Hopefully ya'll are from Ekiti, the land of professors, and not Egba.

Thanks for helping a broda.
But come which one b dis your sarcasm about English grammar. Are we into some grammar competition here? Professor Akin-Egba I am sure u perfectly understand this place is an informal social forum and d idea is to pass across your message clearly and not ultimately presenting them in Queen's English.
Less I 4get WAEC dey look for English language paper markers if u want to make a profession out of this, here is not d best place 4 u Professor.

oyb:
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5639864-146/gunmen_kidnap_five_from_afren_oil.csp

up mend!

U do not improve d brightness of Ribadu candle by putting out Jonathan's candle. Mend's or any other violent attacks on innocent people shud b condemned by all.,.,.,your relation may be working on that rig wen next MEND call;u know?

Gbawe:
Indeed.

@na_so. You wan't me to respond to "conjectures and hearsay"?

I can bet u this news is true even when I cant prove it. All I need to do is to put myself in Tinubu's shoes and wear his "sleeping figure 8" cap. Since BAT has given d ACN platform to Ribadu what has he been able to do with it compared to what Buhari has achieved wit his CPC? If I were to choose btw all diz candidates in a Nigeria free of corruption, tribalism and ethnicity I will go for Ribadu again and again but this is the naija we hav.
he wil fight to earn my vote cos I aint ready to waste it.
As old as Buhari is he has visited almost all the churches in the South canversing for supports. He actually sturned me by visiting the churches 2nd and 3rd times telling them he his not an extremist. With little resources, I have seen Buhari visiting more states outside the North asking for supports than Ribadu making similar efforts.
If Ribadu is serious he should identify his weak base (the old guards) and start going after their supports. It is not enough to be gathering dsame lettered folks and youths everytime as if they are d only stake-holders in this game. My advice to Ribadu-make every count (old and young) and go all out. He shuld strive to put his voice and face on d Dailies' frontpages evry-other-day.

becomrich4:
First of all you painted zik has an hero. he stood by, while they killed 50,000 igbos and another 1,000,000 igbos.  I just want us to get the fact right. Zik is not an hero. at least not my own hero. You see here is my reason. When northerners murder Igbos, what was the response of zik and Ojukwu. Instead of zik supporting Ojukwu , he refused because of his person ambition. Is that a good man. 50,000 of his people were murder for no reason based on thier fault.

I am not a person who is scared to rewrite the history of Nigeria. we would have avoid the killing of 1,000,000 igbos , if zik was not a selfish man, and if his personal ambition he put aside and work for the common goal of people . if zik spoke against the killing at that time. There would never been a civil war. And 1,000,000 igbos would still be alive.(same thing jonathan is about to do, if he does not break up nigeria. his person or your lifes, mikhail gorbachev broke his nation)


You talk of 20 pound. You must ask yourself this question. what could 20 pound worth do then. a teacher salary was about 10 pound. And teachers at that times, where the most highly paid people. Teachers , then where likes gods. 

Do you want to tell me every igbo man was a teacher. NO.? most igbos where making less than 5 pound before the war.

2 How many igbos put thier money in banks, at that time. Not many . but when you compare to how many igbos made claim of having bank account. less than 1% of igbos put thier money into bank at that time. but nearly 99% igbos got more than 20 pound. Got from the Yorubas. or do you think northerners who killed 1,000,000 igbos were the one who gave them that money. NO. It was the yoruba people.


3. It should be on record that awolowo 20 pound that he gave the igbos, put the Yoruba people into disadvantage in business till today. Many igbos got money. what did you yorubas get for the war. Nothing.

It would be noted the fraud that was also involve in the distribution of this money.

[b]An igbo man with a name like ikechukwu uchenna, would collect 20 pound under different names.

He would go there first as

Ike Uchenna  and collect 20 pound

the second he goes there under a new name Ikechukwu nna, he collect 20 pound

Next time he goes there, Ike uche , , he collect 20 pound

Next time, he became ikechukwu uchenna , he collect 20 pound

You he end up collecting 80 pound. This is what happened. Igbos had no ID at that time.

While the Yoruba nation was destroyed finances.because the north who started the war, had no money and they took Yoruba money to fight the igbos, while even the igbos who collect 20 pound, where collecting Yoruba money. Because it was about 1970 we really as a nation start producing serious money.

While you complaining that they gave you 20 pound of Yoruba money. What did the yorubas who they collected the money from should say.


You talk of starvation ?? I  am telling you, they ship food to biafra, and my father ship  carry food to igbos was attacked by biafra. that silly believe that they use starvation was wrong. That why my name is segun.
[/b]
The story of use for many years was most use by northerner to put the blame of the civil war on chief obafemi awolowo so that they can win election. instead of them offering apology to the igbos, they put the blame on awolowo.  But the truth is, please go and ask Ojukwu, Chief Obafemi awolowo was in jail when the whole thing happen. He was in jail in the east. how can a man who is in jail be blame for starting a civil war

Oh my God! Where is diz guy getting his inspiration from? U just sit down and ideas drop in your mind,u are a rear Oduduwa jewell od inestimable values. Becomerich please what exactly do u do for a living, we need to adopt u as our consensus candidate on Nairaland

Emeagwali is already paying for his mistakes which I believe he realises. He hasnt done anything wrong to Nigeria as a Nation until proved otherwise,he has only drawn the ere of US academics in his field (who believe he has claimed more than he is) and they ave been punishing him in their normal ways (nothing criminal). I know of a Nigerian who was set to graduate wit a Distinction grade (having satisfied all requirements) in 1 of d world's 5 best universities but was dropped for improper citations in some of his works. I believe Emeagwali wil be back and better after this bohaboha.

Its a farce!. I respect the earlier Gallup polls and I have followed them from my secondary school days in the 90s and they hardly fail in their predictions. A credible opinion poll would hav stated state-by-state analysis and clearly stated the number of respondents in all situations. If d poll was credible why did they elaborate Atiku alleged 60-65 % gains and remain totally silent on GEJ obvious 90-100% supports in the SW, SS and NC. Even anti-GEJ campaigners on this forum know GEJ will most likely win 70% of SE PDP delegates votes with IBB being queittly buried 6ft underground in d race.
This is a possible abracadabra in readiness for announcement of Atiku as the Con-nonsense candidate!

Atiku nah Concussion candidate not only Consensus. As long as these diswise men hav refused to see d light GEJ remains d bomb. Instead of d old f00ls to add some credibility to their stup!d act by looking 4 an acceptable and resourceful Northerner they want to recycle d confirmed rurbish 4 us to eat for another 8 years. goodnews to GOODLUCKERS

In my books, this guy hasnt done anything criminal but from what I hav dug out about his claims and some Americans compliants, he seems to hav overdone his "speeches".
Like some1 has already pointed out abt Al Gore he wil not b d first in d US to lay claim to 'stuffs' and get rurbished and I am not against Govt removing honours bestowed on him based on his claims if they were found to b fake.
However, my reservations include d credibilty of d Govt n Akinyuli. There are so many illegalities,looting and inconsistencies going on in and around d 3 arms of Govt dat shuld primarily attact Akinyuli and FG attention.
1. Why wuld any right-thinking FG ever priotise prosecuting a 'lying' Emeagwali when IBB, Atiku, OGD, Odili, OBJ, Iyabo, Bankole, Turaki, etc av looting cases runing into Billions of dollars against them and d FG has simply chosen to look away.
2. We are currently witnessing DemoCRAZE @ d NASS as they tinker wit consistution and electoral acts and Emeagwali is Akinyuli's problem.
3. Some Iranians have been alleged to have smuggled Tons of arms and ammunition into our Nation and they are hiding in the Iranian embassy and Emeagwali is Akinyuli's Monday morning first assigment.
4. The NLC, TUC, Doctors are going on strike and Akinyuki still has the time to remember Emeagwali (only accused of lying).

Education has been d strongest weapon for growth, development and human development in advanced nations. Why has education failed to make any meaningful differeneces in d lives and dispositions of many Nigerians? I stil cant figure out what makes so much sense to these 'unwise men'.Trying to read through their opaque minds:

Ciroma:We will choose our candidate, then just inform the south we have chosen our man and they must vote for him and he must win.
Alhaji: What about if d south dont like him?
Ciroma: They must love him, didnt we give them OBJ against his people's wish? Didnt we?
Ciroma: See they cannot take away d political power and dat boy Jonathan is just a minority.
Alhaji cuts in: But he is Ijaw (their oil feed the whole nation)?!
Ciroma: We hav given them 8 years wit OBJ and we hav suffered so much 4 dat. We need our power back.
Alhaji: But Mallam, the North has occupied d position 38 years out of 50 years of d Nations existence?
Ciroma: See we are born to rule them and nothing will stand in our ways come 2011. Thereafter, they will beg for zoning because we never even wanted zoning in d first place.

I hav noticed u guys are very good friends but I cannot afford to watch wen d name of d Devil is being elevated. IBB sins trascend SW concerns and interests. IBB and OBJ hav touched more lives (negatively) than any other Naija leader since 1979. OBJ is a terrible disaster we av put behind us but 4 any1 to shove across d ultimate Demon (in IBB) as d best option in 2011 will b met by brutal resistance. IBB never conducted elections like some are saying he was simply keeping boys busy whilst he looted d national treasury dry. IBB transition programs were d longest in Nigerian history. Even wen politicians,oblivious of his antics, were getting it right and Yaradua emerged, what did he do? He cancelled d elections and started afresh, banned all main politicians. Again defying his antics politician pushed 4ward MKO, who eventually won d general election. What did he do? He cannot not come back and benefit from d same process he utterly desecrated. A special place is already being prepared for him in hell beside Lucifa and they will reign together forever.

He isnt even d Northern front-runner. D guy is already a failure, abeg make we talk about something else

gadogado:
Firstly, if you dont like the law, why not seek to change it in a civil and lawful way at the national assembly. Form advocacy groups and pressure groups that seek the law changed. Do that or secede.
Secondly, All you're writing is laughable stereotype, kunu this, transistor radio that, all that is just comical to say the least. Believe it or not, southerners have their own stereotypes but because that it beneath me, i wont indulge you.

Thirdly, we are one country, the laws in Nigeria should be peculiar to the socio-economic and cultural conditions prevalent in Nigeria. Do not cite foreign laws as a basis for your "agitation"

No one cares that your govs waste or steal their 13% derivation. But why are you asking for more when the one you already have is being wasted? that is the epitome of greed. The Nigerian economy is based on a natural resource, this is actually looked down on in international circles. So the northerner or anybody from any part of the country has a stake in the issues surrounding oil, after all, the national police and military is funded by oil. This is what it means to be a nation state. The federal government has national as well as international responsibilities which is why it keeps control over natural resources and gets more of the revenue than states.
Again, until we can change the economic arrangement in the whole country then oil will remain the mainstay. If I am asked in America, what my country's major export is, I say oil not the resources in my village.
If you dont like the arrangement and feel you dont want to be part of Nigeria, declare independence! Simple. Then you can drink the oil to death as a sovereign country, no one care

There is no way you can compare regional governments to state governments in terms of internally generated revenue. Back then, the northern region paid tax to the center, "the whole region pooled resources together" same for the other regions in the country. The same way you cannot compare regional governments to countries that pool their resources together as a single entity. You cant compare a northern region to Chad if the latter works as a single entity for economic purposes. You have to change the entire structure of the country in terms of governmental system and economic arrangement if you want to keep all the oil revenue because it is "yours" I'd rather you just declare independence then you can form your own tiny oil kingdom where children drink oil in their class rooms so they can be even better educated than their almajiri peers.

I can see u have no answers to my questions. U have tacitly agreed the North largely lacks ambition. I remember d National Constitution Conference called by Abdusallam, d ND delegations walked out twice insisting on 50% derivation but because of d numerical strength of other states they only achieved 3% derivation.
Since peaceful solution, to their problems, seems impossible they have since taken to violent options in MEND, JCR etc and that has forced d hitherto sturborn 'rest of d nation' to grant 13% derivation under OBJ. More and more reasonable non-NDtans are becoming more sympathetic to their plights and showing supports for their course.
They do not need your advice to get to 90% derivation, they have employed all effective means and it's just a matter of time b/4 they start getting back what rightly belongs to them in d first place.
The question is what will your state survive on when ND hav larger control of their oil?

We are discussing issues u are celebrating only Dangote out of your so-called 80 million people. We all know Dangote story but let's have other true enterpreneurs from your state that have made anything big from non-oil related sources.

krendo:
No  that is not the way it works here

For speaking the truth then you started the insult. So watch them rain abuse on you. They think every thing is about Kill am, Kill am, Kill am!!!!


Solomon

Did you say Niger Delta States are sovereign States? That was the point I stopped reading your argument.
If you do not know what Sovereignty means then the rest of your argument is clearly not woth it.

I did not even need to read your copy and paste in details to know that the author of that essay in that section was simply comparing ownership of Oil in UK where it belongs to the Sovereign Nation and ownership of Oil in US where those on whose private land it is found own it.

So the current Law in Nigeria is not necessarily bad, our leaders are simply irresponsible.

If we do not understand our problems people will continue to die for nothing. If anybody wants to say that all onshore oil must belong to individuals who own the land then lets make that law, and just like the FG can not claim ownership, the State Government can not also claim ownership and the same applies to all not directly connected to that land.

Go back to the post and read again or get an interpreter if u still do not understand

Solomon227:
"Given that Scotland is not a sovereign state (like the ND states), it has no effective maritime claims and for such purposes is part of the maritime claims of the United Kingdom (like Nigeria),  systems in Great Britain - that of Scots law pertaining to Scotland and English law pertaining to England and Wales, constitutional law in the United Kingdom has provided for the division of the UK sector of the North Sea into specific Scottish and English components[5]. The Continental Shelf Act 1964 and the Continental Shelf (Jurisdiction) Order 1968 defines the UK North Sea maritime area to the north of latitude 55 degrees north as being under the jurisdiction of Scots law[6] meaning that 90% of the UK's oil resources were under Scottish jurisdiction[7][8]. In addition, section 126 of the Scotland Act 1998 defines Scottish waters as the internal waters and territorial sea of the United Kingdom as are adjacent to Scotland[9]. This has been subsequently amended by the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundary Order 1999 which redefined the extent of Scottish waters and Scottish fishery limits[10][11].
Recent evidence by Kemp and Stephen (1999) has tried to estimate hypothetical Scottish shares of North Sea Oil revenue by dividing the UK sector of the North Sea into separate Scottish and UK sectors using the international principle of equidistance as utilised under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) - such a convention is used in defining the maritime assets of newly formed states and resolving international maritime disputes. The study by Kemp & Stephen showed that hypothesised Scottish shares of North Sea oil revenue over the period 1970 to 1999, varied to as high as 98%[12] dependent upon the price of oil and offset against taxable profits and the costs of exploration and development"



"In the United States, oil and gas rights to a particular parcel may be owned by private individuals, corporations, Indian tribes, or by local, state, or federal governments. Oil and gas rights extend vertically downward from the property line. Unless explicitly separated by a deed, oil and gas rights are owned by the surface landowner. Once severed from surface ownership, oil and gas rights may be bought, sold, or transferred, like other real estate property.
Oil and gas rights offshore are owned by either the state or federal government and leased to oil companies for development. The tidelands controversy involve the limits of state ownership.
Although oil and gas laws vary by state, the laws regarding ownership prior to, at, and after extraction are nearly universal. An owner of real estate also owns the minerals underneath the surface, unless the minerals are severed under a previous deed or an agreement.
[edit]Prior to and at extraction
Unless mineral rights are severed, whoever owns the fee of the soil owns everything below the surface, limited by the extent of the surface rights (Del Monte Mining & Milling Co. v. Last Chance Mining & Milling Co.). Because oil and gas are fluids, they may flow in the subsurface across property boundaries. In this way, an operator may permissibly extract oil and gas from beneath the land of another, if the extraction is lawfully conducted on his own property (Kelly v. Ohio Oil Co.). An operator may not, however, angle a well to penetrate beneath property not owned by or leased to him.
The two conflicting legal doctrines covering oil and gas extraction are the rule of capture, and the correlative rights doctrine. Which of the doctrines applies in a particular case depends on state law, which varies considerably from state to state, or in the case of the federal offshore zone, on US federal law.
The rule of capture gives land owners an incentive to pump out oil as quickly as possible to capture the oil of their neighbors. Such practice may deplete the gas pressure needed to force oil out of the ground. Government agencies such as the Texas Railroad Commission therefore regulate extraction by individual owners"


Mr Krenko go back to your village and start doing everything to tap your resources. He who owns d land owns the resources therein, the ND states own their lands and if diz Nation breaks up today they will not only go with their lands but also with the territorial waters that carry more oil.
I have long realised this bitter truth and have vowed to do my own little way to improve d economy of my own state and town.

The ND states will cont fighting for what is their right. They went from almost nothing to 3% and now to 13% under OBJ. They will not stop until they have like 90% control like Scotland in the UK. Back-up or u bleep-up!

The 'copied and pasted' reports are from different authors and the 2 systems are not being compared like u claim to know. I posted them to educate u on your claim that the locals dont have any control over oil resources in the UK and all d oil belong to the crown. As we are talking now Scotland is claiming more and more authonomy from d cntral British Govt and more often than not they are having their ways. ND is fighting for something, I remember some SW states were also fighting for state police, federalism and free-trade zones. I have also read where a couple of SE staes were agitating for d repeal of law dat stops states from distributing electric power generated by them. They have also been agitating for more states in their region.
Kredon when last has your state clamoured for anything from the Union? This should b your primary worry and not ND struggle.

Agreed there is grand corruption among ND Govts like the rest of the country. But that doesnt put anybody (like Krendo and Gadogado) in position to prevent them from 'squandering' the resources accruable to their land if they so wish. The resources control laws as they are now are bad as long as they prevent P/H, Oran, Warri, Ogoniland, Kuale, Eket from looking like Houston, Dubai, Abhu Dabhi and Abadeen.

If u dont understand federalism go and pick some books and read thoroughly. That is what we claim to be practising and we should be working towards that. More powers and control must be bestowed on the states and LGA as practised in other developed domocracies we have been copying.

U are right that fight against corruption must b intensified and laws properly implemented but that doesnt stand in the way on ND people getting their right. It is left for them to squader or make meaningful use of them.

gadogado:
Under the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, all its oil and gas wealth belongs to the government: "All Allah's bestowed wealth, be it under the ground, on the surface or in national territorial waters, in the land or maritime domains under the state's control, are the property of the state as defined by law. The law defines means of exploiting, protecting, and developing such wealth in the interests of the state, its security and economy."[1] Energy taxes are also specifically allowed; Article 20 of the basic law states, "Taxes and fees are to be imposed on a basis of justice and only when the need for them arises. Imposition, amendment, revocation and exemption is only permitted by law


Since we're in the business of throwing foreign laws out there, here's one, this happens to be of the country with the highest proven oil reserves in the world and the largest exporter of oil, so they know a thing or two about oil.
You're missing the point, what does Nigerian Law say about the ownership of oil Not American Law because their law is not applicable in Nigeria likewise Saudi Law is not applicable.

Gadogado why ave u brought-up Saudi in diz issue as if Saudi has anything to do with democratic governance. Saudi operates Monarchy and practices modern communism. Nigeria is taunted to b a federal democracy and operates capitalism and could only b compared to nations with similar economic structures.
This is why most of us from d south hate most Northerners. In all your submissions you have never shown concerns for Northern problems and how to improve on them, but always quick and eager to 'help solve' ND problems. Once u people start dropping God's name: Allah in your arguement we readily smell a hypocrite, looter, killer and peadophile coming to party. Yerima almost hoowinked all in d name of Allah only for Ribadu to rightly place him on the top of looters table, the same with Turaki, IBB calls Allah name wit blood of innocents conspicuosly flowing on his hands. I wish u guys can stop desecrating the name of God in your misdeeds.

These are questions for u:

What was d Nigerian law about resources control b/4 it was changed to d status-quo?
Is that your state and Northern region is free of problems that d only thing u can think of is to help ND solve theirs?
What is your business if the ND Govts waste their 13% derivation allocations?
What will u do when ND go from 13% to 90% derivation allocation? Suicide?
When last has your state agitated for 'something', I mean 'anything at all' @ d NASS? Shouldnt this worry u d most?

The ND has every right to fight 4 their right which they hav been doing through mirad of means (good and bad). They wont stop until they leave d rest of d nation with 10% allocation.
Gadogado u also hav d right to harness and fight for d resources of your village instead of cont being a 'beggar'.
U cannot sit on a tiled-floor, with kunu on yor left-hand and goro on d right,strugling with yah transistor radio knob for BBC hausa service and be determining how an Ijaw fisherman, on d creek, should fight for his right.

krendo:
Solomon

^^^^^^^

In UK?

That is a pure lie.

Oil in UK belongs to her majesty. Yes compensation is paid to host communities for enviromental degradation but oil belongs to no one but the crown.

"Given that Scotland is not a sovereign state (like the ND states), it has no effective maritime claims and for such purposes is part of the maritime claims of the United Kingdom (like Nigeria),  systems in Great Britain - that of Scots law pertaining to Scotland and English law pertaining to England and Wales, constitutional law in the United Kingdom has provided for the division of the UK sector of the North Sea into specific Scottish and English components[5]. The Continental Shelf Act 1964 and the Continental Shelf (Jurisdiction) Order 1968 defines the UK North Sea maritime area to the north of latitude 55 degrees north as being under the jurisdiction of Scots law[6] meaning that 90% of the UK's oil resources were under Scottish jurisdiction[7][8]. In addition, section 126 of the Scotland Act 1998 defines Scottish waters as the internal waters and territorial sea of the United Kingdom as are adjacent to Scotland[9]. This has been subsequently amended by the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundary Order 1999 which redefined the extent of Scottish waters and Scottish fishery limits[10][11].
Recent evidence by Kemp and Stephen (1999) has tried to estimate hypothetical Scottish shares of North Sea Oil revenue by dividing the UK sector of the North Sea into separate Scottish and UK sectors using the international principle of equidistance as utilised under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) - such a convention is used in defining the maritime assets of newly formed states and resolving international maritime disputes. The study by Kemp & Stephen showed that hypothesised Scottish shares of North Sea oil revenue over the period 1970 to 1999, varied to as high as 98%[12] dependent upon the price of oil and offset against taxable profits and the costs of exploration and development"



"In the United States, oil and gas rights to a particular parcel may be owned by private individuals, corporations, Indian tribes, or by local, state, or federal governments. Oil and gas rights extend vertically downward from the property line. Unless explicitly separated by a deed, oil and gas rights are owned by the surface landowner. Once severed from surface ownership, oil and gas rights may be bought, sold, or transferred, like other real estate property.
Oil and gas rights offshore are owned by either the state or federal government and leased to oil companies for development. The tidelands controversy involve the limits of state ownership.
Although oil and gas laws vary by state, the laws regarding ownership prior to, at, and after extraction are nearly universal. An owner of real estate also owns the minerals underneath the surface, unless the minerals are severed under a previous deed or an agreement.
[edit]Prior to and at extraction
Unless mineral rights are severed, whoever owns the fee of the soil owns everything below the surface, limited by the extent of the surface rights (Del Monte Mining & Milling Co. v. Last Chance Mining & Milling Co.). Because oil and gas are fluids, they may flow in the subsurface across property boundaries. In this way, an operator may permissibly extract oil and gas from beneath the land of another, if the extraction is lawfully conducted on his own property (Kelly v. Ohio Oil Co.). An operator may not, however, angle a well to penetrate beneath property not owned by or leased to him.
The two conflicting legal doctrines covering oil and gas extraction are the rule of capture, and the correlative rights doctrine. Which of the doctrines applies in a particular case depends on state law, which varies considerably from state to state, or in the case of the federal offshore zone, on US federal law.
The rule of capture gives land owners an incentive to pump out oil as quickly as possible to capture the oil of their neighbors. Such practice may deplete the gas pressure needed to force oil out of the ground. Government agencies such as the Texas Railroad Commission therefore regulate extraction by individual owners"


Mr Krenko go back to your village and start doing everything to tap your resources. He who owns d land owns the resources therein, the ND states own their lands and if diz Nation breaks up today they will not only go with their lands but also with the territorial waters that carry more oil.
I have long realised this bitter truth and have vowed to do my own little way to improve d economy of my own state and town.

The ND states will cont fighting for what is their right. They went from almost nothing to 3% and now to 13% under OBJ. They will not stop until they have like 90% control like Scotland in the UK. Back-up or u bleep-up!

Then I will go on and marry oyinbo wife. She will give me enough problems that I will not know when the 8 years would have passed. And if he secured a third term I will simply nationalise and wait 4 him to die on the throne before thinking about Nigeria at all, but thank God he will never get there and I will never have to suffer

krendo:
All we have is a case of criminals claiming to fight on behalf of unsuspecting Nigerian citizens in the ND against an irresponsible Government.

Sharing money to these criminals in the name of amnesty will not and never will be the solution to this problem.

The long term solution to this problem is for Government to be alive again to its responsibilities.

My Krendo. Let me ask u the following questions:
Where are u from?
What are the natural resources domiciled in your Village, LGA or/and state?
What efforts has/hav the Govt(s) of your area made to harness these resources?

Now let me take u back in time to when the 'fiction' called Nigeria was formed
SW was in 100% control of Cocoa and other cash-crops and paying rebate to the central Federal Govt. The North was in absolute control of groundnuts and all other cash-crops grown on Northern soil and paid rebate to the central Federal Government. The SE had palm-oil and other crops they were exporting to cater for the immediate need of the SEstern people.
These regions between them were laying down the foundation for the development of their people with noticeable healthy rivalry amongst them. For every great OAU structure planted by Awo, there was a great UNN structure by Zik and also a great ABU structure. There was a Cocao house, a groundnut house and many more infrastructural developmental efforts from these regions.

Then there come d Khaki boys, driven by greed and when oil was discovered from d ND they felt ND could not control their resources. I am not from ND but I hav been directly and indirectly connected to d ND since 2006. I served in Bonny Island where the cost of constructing a 1km road will do 20Km in Maiduguri. I worked in the creeks for 3 years where the locals had to push their little gals to field workers to get clean water to drink. I have, sadly, witnessed oil spills from oil coys operations drifting into the ND villages polluting their few sources of potable water.

Krendo or whatever you call yourself I have since visited and worked in 7 countries in d world where oil is being produced either as an integral part of a larger economy or as d mainstay of economy like ours.  NO COUNTRY IS AS CRUEL TO THE HOST COMMUNITIES LIKE NIGERIA. Not only are the host communities actively involved in the running of the oil business in other nations they are in firm control of all the resources found on their lands in the countries like US,UK, and Kazastan.

Krendo why do your likes find it difficult to look inward into your own community resources and harness them. If u think ND do not have stake in the resources found on their lands why cant Nigeria tell them to secced since their problems are too much? He who wears the shoes feel d pains, NDtans should be given more controls over d resources found on their land while other Nigerians should go on develop their own village resources too and fight for control over them.

ferado

How far wit the brain surgery u went for? Are u feeling worse now?

ferari9o:
pray for your father you fool.
since when has it become a crime to support  one of the  most intelligent homo-sapiens in Africa.
Only a homo erectus like you will spew such nonsense as you just did

according to some  Homo habilis, this man ,I BB destroyed Nigeria in 8 years  some years back
17 year latter nobody has been able to move Nigeria more forward that he did. I wonder what they are still ranting about.

I am  tired of hearing people talk about  June 12,Dele Giwa and Okigbo report.
please!!! please!! !! Please!!!!! ,I want to hear something else 

IBB haters surfer from 3 ailments

1)Inherited Prejudice
2)Second hand wisdom
3)Greed

OK Mr FeraDull u want to hear more? Let me giv u three more

[size=14pt]He killed his step-son:he felt the guy is a threat to his own pure breeds
He killed his best friend because he was more intelligent than him
He parceled bumb on the plane of young military officers because he was afraid they were becoming more brilliant than him[/size]

bukythom:
Last night I dreamt that 33 Nigerian miners were trapped underground and the government decided to send a capsule down to rescue them one after the other.

When the miners knew of the rescue plan, they began to argue amongst themselves on who goes first. Zoning was suggested but they could not agree on which zone will go first. Eventually in a struggle to determine who goes first, several of them got injured and MEND issued a threat message warning that they would set off a bomb if any South-south miner was critically injured.


Meanwhile, the FEC had awarded the capsule contract to JB and we are still awaiting delivery three months later. There is a probe going on to unravel this and retrieve the award sum before we get to the issue of what formula to adopt for the rescue and which miner comes out first.


In the mean time, traditional rulers from the miners' towns are paying solidarity visits to the president to thank him for his efforts to rescue the miners.

And the first lady had just invited the wives of the Nigerian miners to Abuja for dinner at the Hilton! The first ladies from the 36 states will also be in attendance. All including the wives of the miners will wear the Goodluck for President ankara.


CNN reported early this morning that after 10 months underground all the 33 Nigerian miners have died and the Nigerian government has declared seven days of mourning during which the Nigerian flag will be flown at half mast to honour the dead. Meanwhile, JB has sued the FGN for the balance of the contract sum.

Why did u spoil such a nice comedy with a tragic end? Thank God all our underground mines have been run down by IBB

@ Chuqudi and Stacym

For all (including Priest, Pope, Pastors, Imam) have seen and come short of the glory of God. Priests including Catholic' or otherwise are all flesh and can make mistakes or orchestrate deliberate misdeeds.
I once visited a 'Kopa' friend, in my NYSC days in Plateau state, at a very wrong time. The community youths have attacked the Catholic chaplaincy and carted away about 2 point something Million Naira. I was lucky I came 2 hours later as all d Kopas staying in d Vicarage were beaten blue-black by d youth in case they tried to defend the Priest.
According d story d youths were annoyed that while d community wallows in poverty the Priest insist on raising fund to acquire a Jeep to aid his movement around d community. The money was contributed by artisans, farmers, and all kind of poverty-stricken people who can hardly afford 3 squared meal. This is not about Catholic or Protestant or Pentecostal but about highly-revered 'Men of God' taking advantage of people's poor condition to exploit them of their meagre income. We shud be asking 4 thorough investigation on d complicity of this priest in this case and not for his automatic exoneration just because he is a Priest.
Our Christian allegiance shuld b to God and not to an individual or a Church.

Big B1:
Don't be a political f00l.
Mark it down, Ibori will be back in the country next month.

Big fool how far.It's been a long time. How d failing business?

See how parochial-minded my brothers and sisters are. Many of us have been illusioned by religions. So a Catholic Priest shuld not b investigated just because he is a Priest? Even in the west many Catholic Priests have been prosecuted and convicted with various offences ranging from despoil to paedophilia. The last Papal visit to the UK witnessed many demonstration from Catholic faithful that think the Papacy isnt doing enough to expose way-ward Priests.
Brethren get it into yor heads Priests, Reverens, Pastors, Imams or whatever names they go by are human and fallible, like u and I,  and we shud stop vouching 4 them until we are sure justice has (not) been done or seemed (not) to hav been done like d learned-fellows will cry.
GEJ shuld pls extend the same energy and method into all facets of our existence. Let there be a total and comprehensive JTF operation to fish out Boko Harams in the North, Hired assassins in the west, and militants in the ND.
If the JTF can bring peace to Aba in few days they have taken over why shud they not b supported to bring peace to all d parts of the country. Afterall this is d primary assignment of the govt.

ferari90:
By Segun Balogun

October 16, 2010 03:00AM
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Your main task is to convince the people of Lagos to vote IBB in as next president of Nigeria. What do you have to tell them now?

Even though it is always very difficult for people to seek the truth objectively, I will simply tell them to know the truth because the day we start the quest of pursuing the truth, we start to liberate ourselves and our nation.

IBB ruled this country for eight years during which he put up institutions on which successive administrations are building. We had Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries under him but now, we are importing fuel. Why didn't IBB import fuel? Is it possible to think of Lagos without the Third Mainland Bridge?

All these were done when crude oil sold for low prices; but what did Obasanjo do when crude oil prices skyrocketed? And you think we can just use one June 12 issue to blanket all these achievements?

The major dams giving us electricity, NAFCON, Eleme Pretochemicals, 1004 Estates, NDIC, NBC, there were so many things he did to ensure the system was working. He established Federal Environmental Protection Agency, National Housing Policy, Directorate for Food Road Rural Infrastructure, an organisation that constructed roads to villages and connected the villages to the national grid.

I am a product of Mass Mobilisation for Self Reliance and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) but today, we have graduates roaming the streets without jobs. MAMSER gave the youth hope, but which hope has any government given the Nigerian youth apart from propaganda against IBB?

The problem is that young Nigerians who do not know IBB while in power are fed with wrong information about a man who did so much for them. Primary healthcare, which many Nigerians benefitted from, was established under him. He created 11 states, 200 local government areas, and eight federal universities.

How many federal universities have been established since IBB left office? IBB spent eight years with lesser money than Obasanjo's eight years. Murtala spent six months in power and created an impact. What impact has President Goodluck created since he got there? IBB represents Nigeria's interest more than any of them.

Was the annulment of June 12 elections in the best interest of Nigeria?

Being a Yoruba man, I'm aware that the southwest did not support Abiola. Then it is believed that Abiola was also against Awolowo, who cursed him.

Are you saying June 12 annulment is a jinx?

If God has not installed anybody a leader, nobody can. Also, the annulment was done by the Supreme Military Council. It's not just Babangida alone. There were lots of people behind him with guns. Nobody prays to have a military government. But all that is history now; we must not throw away the baby with the bath water.

He was fond of incarcerating Gani Fawehinmi. In fact, many believe Gani contracted cancer due to the frequent incarcerations. Do you think lovers of Gani will accept IBB's candidacy?

Obasanjo also went to jail and he didn't get cancer. That aside, Babangida was a military ruler. Nobody vote them into power and that is why they are called Armed Forces. Again, it's a military decision then and he will not operate the same under democracy. Many of us don't understand how the military operate; they take issue of security and order very serious.

So, I won't want to dabble into what I don't understand. All I know is that it's a military decision, good or bad. You can't challenge a military ruler for taking bad decision because he didn't get your permission to be there. Let us leave military out of this, we are no more running a military government.

In Lagos, Babangida is not a popular candidate yet. If you add that to the fact that he is contesting on the platform of a party (PDP) considered non-progressive, what do you have?

It is not the public that do not like IBB, it is a few powerful people who have benefitted from government over the years. They have taken advantage of the media to drown his achievements. There is no local government area in Nigeria where IBB has not empowered somebody.

We should not get involved with those powerful people who have issues with Babangida and are luring the Nigerian masses to fight one man that has done no evil against them.

Nigeria's corruption rating went up during Babangida's period and we have been battling that till now. Can he deal with it if he gets elected?

Well, corruption has had its roots even before IBB came in, else Fela wouldn't have sang some of his lyrics when Shagari was in power. But he certainly will do something about corruption. Fela told us also that Obasanjo has corruption cases to answer, yet he established EFCC.

What did you say when Obasanjo sought your mandate, did you question him? You see, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Apart from propaganda, I don't think IBB has done anything deserving corruption charges.

He allowed, for the first time in Nigeria's history, women and youth to express themselves. You don't want to give him credit for the good things he did, you only want to talk about the wrong. Babangida is not God; he is prone to errors.

Would you say because we are human, we allow errors that are costly to the nation?

What about the errors of other presidents? I have not seen others criticised as IBB, and the man takes them. There are presidents that if you criticise them, you will be in trouble. If truly Nigerians are not happy with Obasanjo, then they should have objected when he brought out Jonathan.

But was it not the late President Yar'Adua that chose Jonathan as his running mate?

No, it wasn't Yar'Adua. Let's be honest now. It was all Obasanjo's plan. Nigerians must know the truth. We shouldn't mislead people. IBB gets criticised, but people kept silent about other leaders whose records are not as good as IBB. Why?

But IBB has not answered the questions people are asking about why he chose not to appear before Oputa Panel and what he did with the Gulf War oil windfall.

Was Oputa panel set up to find out the truth or to witch-hunt? What came out of the report after it was submitted? The motive behind that panel was for a purpose; has that purpose been achieved? It was modelled after the truth and reconciliation panel (in South Africa), but what has been reconciled?

About the oil windfall, you have seen what IBB did with the money. I just showed you a list of all his achievements which no other president has matched.

What about the statement he made about Nigerian youth?

The only statement I've heard Babangida made is his belief in the Nigerian youth. His campaign organisation is predominantly run by the Nigerian youth.

All some people are after now is just to fight Babangida to a standstill, irrespective of whether people are dying of hunger. We should check the good and the bad things he has done. If the good is not acceptable, we stay away; but if yes, we draw him closer.

In the international community, do you think he has an acceptable personality that can push Nigeria's good, considering that young leaders are springing up?

Everybody knows IBB is respected globally. He is no pushover and can stand against any leader anywhere in the world. I'm proud to know somebody with such a wonderful personality.




http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5630780-146/story.csp

Ferari why have u chosen to b a perpetual failure? U are so dull and stupid to see we av long taken our stand on IBB. IBB himself has been told by the so called Northern wise-men (he relies so much on) dat Gauso will b d man if there is going to b any concession at all. IBB people know how unsellable he is, even to d Northerners not to talk of the well-educated Southerners who know a vote for IBB is :an elevation of Lucifa in our hearts, a retrogression to stone age, an invitation to oppression, grand looting and steady killing of friends, opponents, step-sons, and any potential brilliants minds.
We understand d obvious Waterloo of IBB will take yor means of livelihood away but why not hug a transformer or take a dive into d Lagos lagoon. Dat way u wont feel any pains. Trust me it works, u can even advise yor master to do dsame after he must have been 'schemed out' by GEJ.

revolt:
Like their endorsement means poo to the average igbo man. Let's see how they would force us to vote

They dont need to force us b/4 we vote GEJ. Against IBB we (sensible Ndigbo youths) are voting GEJ. Without IBB in d race u can vote him out if u like.

I have always told people on this forum times without number that IBB shud b thankful he is having a GEJ sitting on his case. IBB has killed and looted enough to frame him and send him to the gallows. I still dont know why diz mudafucker isnt in witness box already? Please when is IBB going to be roped in? Does anyone has IBB number I want to send him a text message that he should pay our balance for the bomb. IBB and his disciples deserve any oppression, witch-hunting, slapping, knocks, balls-kicking, they get from the FG. If Vatsa and Dele Giwa were just hounded by IBB at least they will b alive today to thank God for their lives. As for me I dont WANT a free and fair election in 2011 which will easily bring back the Evil one. Free and fair election starts with removing the Demon (IBB) from the options or else GEJ shud just rig him out openly in d PDP primaries and if he succeeded to get ANPP ticket, GEJ shud rig the general elction. Let us see d evil one in court begging, let him feel the kind on pains he inflicted on Yaradua Snr and MKO, let him b manipulated and disgraced in his own game. Finally let him die slowly with sorrow (of the Vatsas),  agony (of the Abiolas), and lamentations (of the Ejigbo plane crash families).

jabbok:
Why is it so that most people who argue for Jonathan find it difficult to make their case without reverting to IBB? I find the senseless comparism rather bizzare.

Anything, Anything but the PDP will be BETTER

Why is that most people who do not argue for Jonathan find it difficult to make their case without reverting to Jonathan? We have seen what u (docile) guys have refused to see. Most of u are academic thinkers, totally unrealistic and unpragmatic. IBB remains d stumbling block in realising a free and fear election in 2011. He has d evil war-chest, the Devil's mind and the required Satanic discipleship to override a Nation full of hopists like jabbok. After careful appraisal of d situations, we av seen d only way to stop the Demon is by supporting GEJ.
U guys sit back and just believe by putting yor votes into Buhari or Ribaduu box u wuld have done d right think but some of us know better. It has never worked dat way and its not likely going to work that way in 2011. IBB killed his best friend for power, he killed his step-son for lineage cleansing, he rigged in OBJ against popular wishes, tell me how difficult IBB presidency will b in 2011 without GEJ in d race.