₦airaland Forum

Nigerian Superstars as Diseases…by Chris Ogunlowo.

1. Wizkid Syndrome: A chronic tendency to create catchy and repetitive hits to a loyal fan base with a boyish charm that induces envy from peers and late-bloomers, which also hides the fact, that one is approaching quarter-life.

2. Davidotis: A psychiatric condition whereby a sufferer survives speculations of whether genuine talent or one’s father’s wealth is the source of one’s success, alongside a pervading comparison with an equally talented whiz-kid.

3. Tuface Syndrome: A rare syndrome that occurs when prodigious talent meets prodigious baby-making ability but with a legendary status, strong social equity and a staying power that keep a whole industry in awe.

4. D’banj Obsessive Disorder: A disease characterized by the feeling that one’s best days are firmly behind and, as a result, one looks for outlets to compensate for fading stardom and income, including taking relief in farming-

5. Dangotiosis: A condition marked by an obsession with Dangote‘s wealth, only curable by a decision to mind one’s own business.

6. Lindapilepsy: A strong and strange resentment that occurs when news of Linda Ikeji’s wealth arises, which is commonly observed among struggling publicists, jealous digital marketers, hungry journalists, and retired or rival bloggers.

7. Iyanyamariasis: The abnormal ability of a cell to spot errors in its former ways before proceeding to create a trademark style that takes waist gyrations to nerve-racking heights with performances worthy of Mr. Universe Pageantry.

8. Tontolitis: The debilitating ability to sustain fame in an erratic way as it was acquired while still smiling to the bank.

9. PSquarisasis: When two malignant cells take the understanding of a market to unprecedented heights resulting in a dominance previously thought impossible and doing it with a discernible Igbo accent.

10. Don Jazzy Disorder: A disorder that makes an organ produce back-to-back hits and maintain a social equity that can embarrass pastors and politicians, including a social media addiction and an idiosyncratic singing style that impresses.

11. Kceeosis: A cell’s ability to confuse celebrity with a right to make embarrassing wardrobe choices and a knack for coming out even more horrendous than a previous time despite public outcry and bile from popular bloggers.

12. Jenniferiasis: The ability of an organ to exhibit behavior that would ordinarily be considered razz to a point where the lines between acting and reality are blurred but compensated with popular adulation and brand endorsements.

13. MIplasia: A type of dwarfism that compensates the lack of bone growth with incredible rhyming prowess and a persona capable of inducing endless admiration and beef from hustling rappers.

14. Ice Prince Cerebral Cramps: A disorder that causes exaggerated hip-hop postures, a rigid conformity to infantile end-rhymes that turn rap songs into mainstream classics and also results in multiple awards than most “serious” rappers.

15. Mode Complex: An affliction that causes an artist to be the default reference for prodigious & clever wordplay that, sadly, does not correlate with the amount of albums sold or account balance, a living proof of the saying: ‘grammar no be money’.

16. Dakolomentality: A rare psychotic disorder that inflicts a sufferer with unlimited guttural talent but indistinctive brand positioning & packaging.

17. Olamide Palsy: A malignant tumor that involves a blatant display of one’s ethnicity and background combined with traits mostly reserved for touts but interestingly made into a premium musical package that surprises earlier sufferers of the same tumor who faded into obscurity.

18. Phynognomy: A severe condition similar to Olamide Palsy but with an Igbo flair and an ability to turn what would have been a bad hair day for most into a phenomenal signature look.

19. Bella Naija Syndrome: An affliction whereby the Nigerian national man-hour is spent keeping track of who wore what to where until one wakes up to the reality of a wasted lifetime.

20. Kedike Syndrome: A syndrome that causes a sufferer to endure a clean image despite the presence of a latent sexuality which experts guess might lead to a Rihanna Crisis or, in the extreme, a psychiatric condition of Miley Cyrus proportions....
Credit:thenet.ng

http://www.kingsleyamaechi..com/

y so much hatred in naija? we should be discussing how we can move the country forward instead of bringing down one another. i laugh in hebrew when i hear ibos control the economy. do u mean commerce? economy of naija is controlled by yorubas, o!! see uac, stock market, leventis, banks and stock brokerage firms; law firms etc.

[color=#000099][/color]my guy i feel your pain...u come across as a good man...keep it up bro. Like someone advised, hava a one to one discussion with her and let her say what is eating her to misbehave thus!! you will be surprised at what she says about you, your character and how you have changed in the pass two years from a luvly husband to a control freak/monster. note, let her do the talking and u the ilistening. do not interrupt her till she finishes her lamentations!! then and then only you promise her you will change; and tell her 3 things she does that anger you. Thats the trial ad tribulation of marriage you have to learn to live with. her stubbornness could be a sign of showing you u r hurting her, as she loves u so much to leave u.
try this, ad u see the changes in her.
Man, my wife has some of these traits; but she dare not let anyone else than her brig me my food; talkless of not cooking for me!! not that i will beat her or argue, o! she just knows since the past 4 years that she can misbehave and be stubborn anytime she likes; i will tolerate it; but she dare not joke with my food; or dont tell me b4 hand when and where she will be going out. I made her know those two things are points of no return.....SHE SABI SAY MY FOOD NA MY LIFE!!!

good luck bro

liyuboy:
Hello Peep, i need ur advise,, i am married to a woman i tot was of a certain characteristics upon marriage and two years down the line my only source of happiness are the two children (Boy and Girl) we have.

Despite all I do (as bread winner) to please her she is not appreciative, she disrespect me, she doesn't cook for me, she complains too much, she compares me to her father daily even though i have told her her mother has a better character than her that is why her father would do anything to please her.

I am always unhappy becos of her character, i am thinking of seeking divorce.

What do u guys think?

[b]My guy the first Django was released around 1978 and it was a Western..ie. cowboy movie. I prefer it to the 2012 nonsence called Django unchained!!

Django Are u fvcking kidding me? Movie that was released. December 25, 2012...[/quote]

oyibos are the most ignorant sometimes; but always claiming to be sophisticated. The elites are well read and educated but the common white man and woman have a great degree of ignorance running in them veins

World's richest woman Gina Rinehart is enduring a media firestorm over an article in which she takes the "jealous" middle class to task for "drinking, or smoking and socializing" rather than working to earn their own fortune.
What if she has a point?
Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think," spent nearly three decades interviewing millionaires around the world to find out what separates them from everyone else.
It had little to do with money itself, he told Business Insider. It was about their mentality.
"[The middle class] tells people to be happy with what they have," he said. "And on the whole, most people are steeped in fear when it comes to money."
Average people think MONEY is the root of all evil. Rich people believe POVERTY is the root of all evilFlickr / C. Pajunen
"The average person has been brainwashed to believe rich people are lucky or dishonest," Siebold writes.
That's why there's a certain shame that comes along with "getting rich" in lower-income communities.
"The world class knows that while having money doesn't guarantee happiness, it does make your life easier and more enjoyable."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.
"The rich go out there and try to make themselves happy. They don't try to pretend to save the world," Siebold told Business Insider.
The problem is that middle class people see that as a negative––and it's keeping them poor, he writes.
"If you're not taking care of you, you're not in a position to help anyone else. You can't give what you don't have."
Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.
"While the masses are waiting to pick the right numbers and praying for prosperity, the great ones are solving problems," Siebold writes.
"The hero [middle class people] are waiting for may be God, government, their boss or their spouse. It's the average person's level of thinking that breeds this approach to life and living while the clock keeps ticking away."
Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge.
"Many world-class performers have little formal education, and have amassed their wealth through the acquisition and subsequent sale of specific knowledge," he writes.
"Meanwhile, the masses are convinced that master's degrees and doctorates are the way to wealth, mostly because they are trapped in the linear line of thought that holds them back from higher levels of consciousness...The wealthy aren't interested in the means, only the end."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people long for the good old days. Rich people dream of the future.
"Self-made millionaires get rich because they're willing to bet on themselves and project their dreams, goals and ideas into an unknown future," Siebold writes.
"People who believe their best days are behind them rarely get rich, and often struggle with unhappiness and depression."
Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.
"An ordinarily smart, well-educated and otherwise successful person can be instantly transformed into a fear-based, scarcity driven thinker whose greatest financial aspiration is to retire comfortably," he writes.
"The world class sees money for what it is and what it's not, through the eyes of logic. The great ones know money is a critical tool that presents options and opportunities."
Average people earn money doing things they don't love. Rich people follow their passion.

"To the average person, it looks like the rich are working all the time," Siebold says. "But one of the smartest strategies of the world class is doing what they love and finding a way to get paid for it."
On the other hand, middle class take jobs they don't enjoy "because they need the money and they've been trained in school and conditioned by society to live in a linear thinking world that equates earning money with physical or mental effort."
Average people set low expectations so they're never disappointed. Rich people are up for the challenge.

"Psychologists and other mental health experts often advise people to set low expectations for their life to ensure they are not disappointed," Siebold writes.
"No one would ever strike it rich and live their dreams without huge expectations."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich.
"That's why people like Donald Trump go from millionaire to nine billion dollars in debt and come back richer than ever," he writes.
"While the masses are fixated on the doing and the immediate results of their actions, the great ones are learning and growing from every experience, whether it's a success or a failure, knowing their true reward is becoming a human success machine that eventually produces outstanding results."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people believe you need money to make money. Rich people use other people's money.
Linear thought might tell people to make money in order to earn more, but Siebold says the rich aren't afraid to fund their future from other people's pockets.
"Rich people know not being solvent enough to personally afford something is not relevant. The real question is, 'Is this worth buying, investing in, or pursuing?'"
Average people believe the markets are driven by logic and strategy. Rich people know they're driven by emotion and greed.
Investing successfully in the stock market isn't just about a fancy math formula.
"The rich know that the primary emotions that drive financial markets are fear and greed, and they factor this into all trades and trends they observe," Siebold writes.
"This knowledge of human nature and its overlapping impact on trading give them strategic advantage in building greater wealth through leverage."
Average people live beyond their means. Rich people live below theirs.
"Here's how to live below your means and tap into the secret wealthy people have used for centuries: Get rich so you can afford to," he writes.
"The rich live below their means, not because they're so savvy, but because they make so much money that they can afford to live like royalty while still having a king's ransom socked away for the future."
Average people teach their children how to survive. Rich people teach their kids to get rich.
Rich parents teach their kids from an early age about the world of "haves" and "have-nots," Siebold says. Even he admits many people have argued that he's supporting the idea of elitism.
He disagrees.
"[People] say parents are teaching their kids to look down on the masses because they're poor. This isn't true," he writes. "What they're teaching their kids is to see the world through the eyes of objective reality––the way society really is."
If children understand wealth early on, they'll be more likely to strive for it later in life.
Average people let money stress them out. Rich people find peace of mind in wealth.
The reason wealthy people earn more wealth is that they're not afraid to admit that money can solve most problems, Siebold says.
"[The middle class] sees money as a never-ending necessary evil that must be endured as part of life. The world class sees money as the great liberator, and with enough of it, they are able to purchase financial peace of mind."
Average people would rather be entertained than educated. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained.

Kim Bhasin, Business Insider
While the rich don't put much stock in furthering wealth through formal education, they appreciate the power of learning long after college is over, Siebold says.
"Walk into a wealthy person's home and one of the first things you'll see is an extensive library of books they've used to educate themselves on how to become more successful," he writes.
"The middle class reads novels, tabloids and entertainment magazines."
Average people think rich people are snobs. Rich people just want to surround themselves with like-minded people.
The negative money mentality poisoning the middle class is what keeps the rich hanging out with the rich, he says.
"[Rich people] can't afford the messages of doom and gloom," he writes. "This is often misinterpreted by the masses as snobbery.
Labeling the world class as snobs is another way the middle class finds to feel better bout themselves and their chosen path of mediocrity."
Average people focus on saving. Rich people focus on earning.
Siebold theorizes that the wealthy focus on what they'll gain by taking risks, rather than how to save what they have.
"The masses are so focused on clipping coupons and living frugally they miss major opportunities," he writes.
"Even in the midst of a cash flow crisis, the rich reject the nickle and dime thinking of the masses. They are the masters of focusing their mental energy where it belongs: on the big money."
Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks.
"Leverage is the watchword of the rich," Siebold writes.
"Every investor loses money on occasion, but the world class knows no matter what happens, they will aways be able to earn more."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people love to be comfortable. Rich people find comfort in uncertainty.
For the most part, it takes guts to take the risks necessary to make it as a millionaire––a challenge most middle class thinkers aren't comfortable living with.
"Physical, psychological, and emotional comfort is the primary goal of the middle class mindset," Siebold writes.
World class thinkers learn early on that becoming a millionaire isn't easy and the need for comfort can be devastating. They learn to be comfortable while operating in a state of ongoing uncertainty."
Average people never make the connection between money and health. Rich people know money can save your life.
While the middle class squabbles over the virtues of Obamacare and their company's health plan, the super wealthy are enrolled in a super elite "boutique medical care" association, Siebold says.
"They pay a substantial yearly membership fee that guarantees them 24-hour access to a private physician who only serves a small group of members," he writes.
"Some wealthy neighborhoods have implemented this strategy and even require the physician to live in the neighborhood."
From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."
Average people believe they must choose between a great family and being rich. Rich people know you can have it all.
The idea the wealth must come at the expense of family time is nothing but a "cop-out", Siebold says.
"The masses have been brainwashed to believe it's an either/or equation," he writes. "The rich know you can have anything you want if you approach the challenge with a mindset rooted in love and abundance." From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think."


http://www.businessinsider.com/how-rich-people-think-differently-from-the-poor-2012-8?op=1

wetin dis one de yarn? This is the problem i have with most naija graduates. They do not read most times!!! i don't blame the London prof who said that the easiest way to hide something from the African is to put it in a book!




Nonsense, from the holier than thou catholic elders, CAN was never into politics but the bishop could meet with sultan over 2015 election.

The man got private jet, i don't care where he got it from, but that's the moment catholic started hating him, no one accused him of committing any sin before the Catholics decide to pull out. I'm sure there must be criteria used in selecting CAN leadership, if the man had meant those criteria and where voted for by members which does not comprise only of catholics then they should STFU and stop making noise.

My question to the catholics and their bishop, do they hope to return to CAN after Ayo's tenure as the head? what if the same Ayo use his influence to pull out Pentecostal churches if to be headed by Catholics? The past CAN leaders promoting inter faith dialogue yet Christians where killed at will. They better bother about the drug scandal in Holy See and pull out before i can take them serious. Nonsense[/quote]

Source: http://odili.net/news/source/2014/sep/25/841.html

by Bayo Olupohunda


Bayo Olupohunda

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I am going to begin this piece with a chance encounter I had with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the late 1990s. That experience will provide a background into appreciating the historical role of CAN leadership in the fight for social justice, promotion of good governance and the quest for an egalitarian society in Nigeria. It is also illustrative of the leadership degeneration that afflicts the present leaders of the apex Christian body -a tragic lesson in why politics and religion should always form a parallel line. It was in the thick of military dictatorship. Gen. Sani Abacha, Nigeria's maximum ruler, was at the height of his tyrannical powers. Having toppled the Interim National Government of Ernest Shonekan in a palace coup in 1993, Abacha had become very ruthless and vicious of any opposition to his regime. He had also become paranoid of every criticism and his plan to transmute into a life president. He unleashed his killer squad on dissenting voices.

The media and civil society critical of his devious plan ended up in his gulag. Leading opposition figures were being assassinated. Journalists disappeared with no traces. The Abacha regime was a dark period in Nigeria's history. As the opposition grew, Abacha became more brutal. Among the fiercest critics of the regime, one voice stood out-Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie. The Catholic priest became the symbol of the struggle to enthrone democracy in the country. He led other Christian leaders to advise Abacha not to succeed himself. Before this time, he had criticised the draconian policies of the Ibrahim Babangida regime. He never wavered. He was fearless. It was at the point of his fierce opposition to the government of Abacha that I ran into the unassuming priest, arguably a living symbol of true Christian values devoid of the debauchery and ostentations of modern day "men of God."

I had run into him at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos having crossed the road in his white cassock and trekked all the way through the TBS unaccompanied. He exchanged pleasantries, and prayed for some people along the way. At the time, he was the President of CAN. At a time when Nigerians had expressed fear that his criticism of Abacha might constitute a danger to his life, Okogie resisted all attempts to provide him with security. He once addressed a press conference where he condemned Abacha and the entire military. He urged them to begin a transition programme that would return the country to democracy. He was a thorn in the flesh of bad leaders. He condemned corruption and stayed away from politics and politicians. He never mixed his religion with politics. Okogie helped to redefine the role and relevance of the clergy in the quest for an egalitarian society.

At critical moments in our nation's history, the leadership of CAN has stood against injustice, corruption and bad governance. Under the leadership of Reverend Sunday Mbang, Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola and Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the organisation became the voice of the masses no matter their faith. During former President Olusegun Obasanjo government, Onaiyekan, who was CAN president, continued the activism of CAN. He stood against Obasanjo's Third Term agenda. His successor, Akinola once denounced the corruption in Obasanjo government at the National Christian Centre. Obasanjo was right there in the audience. The history of CAN as the moral conscience of our nation has long been established. The '80s and '90s were the defining periods in Nigerian history. The CAN leadership under Mbang and Okogie stood as leaders who used their moral authorities for the emancipation of Nigerians. Sadly, this is no longer the case today as CAN under the leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has become overtly politicised. To many observers, the once united CAN, the bastion of hope, the voice of the voiceless in Nigeria, has become another arm of government. It no longer speaks with one voice against corruption.

If we must call a spade by its name, Oritsejafor has been a polarising, instead of unifying, figure in the body leading an entire block-the Catholics-to pull out from CAN. Is this the CAN we used to know, many are wont to ask? Certainly, this is not the CAN of Okogie and other clerics who laid the foundations of the body as a critical advocate of our collective rights. CAN leadership's dalliances with politicians in recent years have blunted its powers to speak truth to power at a time the country is in need of prophets.

It is instructive that Oritsejafor, since his assumption of office, has always been in the news for the wrong reasons. First, it was the controversy that surrounded the gift of a private jet to him by a shadowy "church member" that shocked Nigerians. Historically, the leadership of CAN has been a unifying force. In the past, the body had been the bridge between Christians and Muslims promoting inter-faith dialogue necessary for peaceful co-existence. But, the current CAN has stoked more controversies than the promotion of peace. Rather than follow the tradition of his predecessors, CAN President hobnobs with politicians. It is therefore not unexpected that the CAN president's private jet is now enmeshed in a cash-for-arms deal scandal in South Africa. Truth be told, the cash-for-arms scandal is an embarrassment to the Christian community in Nigeria. It's even worse that Oritsejafor's name was mentioned in the first place. Why must it be the CAN president - a man who should be the symbol of Christian values devoid of scandals injurious to his faith and position?

I think that the Christian Association of Nigeria is in great need of the prophets of old who led the organisation on the part of respectability. Those who equate sweating and laughter with anointing leading millions further down the road of deception and delusion. Instead, we need men in Christian leadership who will stand on the side of the masses and speak truth to power.

Our country needs men of vision who are not selling out the church so they can become celebrities in the religious conference tour in the guise of evangelisation. We need men of proven integrity; not the ones who brazenly tell us to pray for our leaders so they can continue to wine and dine them. The current crisis in CAN has further necessitated the imperative of ensuring that the church and the state are separated. At this critical point in our nation's history, solutions to complex issues like corruption, poverty, health care and growing insecurity will require greater vision than what is currently possessed by those in power and those seeking to replace them. That is why CAN must revert to its traditional role as the nation's watchdog. The action of its current leadership brings the once revered association into disrepute.

http://www.punchng.com

How does he even sleep after creating (or even thinking about) such a divisive and disproportionate number of polling boots? It beggars belief, indeed!!


Creation of more polling units: Ekwueme, Clark others ask Jega to resign
on September 11, 2014 / in Headlines 12:00 am / Comments
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By Okey Ndiribe, Henry Umoru & Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA—SOUTHERN leaders, yesterday, asked the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega to resign, accusing him of plotting to thwart the 2015 general elections by creating additional 30,000 polling units. Jega was accused of allocating 70 per cent of the additional polling units to the North.
Led by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme; one time Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark; Senator Femi Okurounmu and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi, the southern leaders on the banner of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, SNPA , said Jega was promoting an ethnic agenda by favouring the North against the South, with the North getting 21,615 polling booths and the South being allocated 8,412 units.
However, Jega, yesterday, said the additional polling units had not been created.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has not yet created the additional polling units. It has simply approved the framework and guidelines to facilitate the creation of these additional polling units by the Resident Electoral Commissioners and the state officers of INEC,” he said at a press briefing in Abuja.
This came as South-West leaders backed President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 and asked Jega to stop the creation of the additional polling units in the interest of the country.
Southern leaders’ angst
In a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day emergency joint meeting of the Elders Council and Management Committee of the SNPA, held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, southern leaders urged President Jonathan to urgently reorganise the composition and structure of INEC if Nigerians must be provided with the platform for conducting free and fair elections in 2015.
In a six-page statement signed by Dr. Alex Ekwueme (co-chair, South-East); Chief Edwin Clark (Co-ordinating Chairman, South-South) and Senator Femi Okurounmu, (leader, South-West delegation), they said:
“The Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly condemns in the strongest terms the creation of additional 30,000 polling units which have been lopsidedly allocated in favour of the North. We do not subscribe to it. We do not see the necessity for it and we stand stoutly opposed to the process of its creation as it lacks any fundamental basis and therefore we do not accept it.
“We have lost confidence in Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman of INEC as we cannot vouch for his neutrality in midwifing the 2015 general elections. Since he has shown his obvious inclination to ethnic chauvinism and protectionism, Professor Jega does not deserve to remain on the INEC chair a day longer.
“The Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, therefore, demands the immediate resignation of Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. We call on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to, without further delay, reorganize the composition and structure of INEC to provide Nigerians the platform for free and fair elections.
“We recognize the determination of President Jonathan to leave a legacy for free and fair electoral contest as we have witnessed in the elections conducted under his watch. Since Professor Jega has shown the potential to thwart the noble objective of free and fair elections in 2015 to which Mr. President has shown appreciable commitment, he does not deserve to remain as the electoral umpire a day longer.
“Who does Professor Jega think he is deceiving? As a Professor of Political Science, if this concocted manipulation of polling units is his clever design to give undue political advantage to the North, having clearly in mind the 2015 presidential election, we wish to remind him without equivocation that he has failed woefully in his decrepit mission. May we hastily remind him that he has lost his credibility, if there was indeed any, and he has lost the trust, confidence and respect of Nigerians. We do not need the lenses of prophets to remind Professor Jega that he is, as a matter of fact, presently doing overtime on the INEC chair having shown his tendencies for ethnic bigotry, partisan parochialism, and primordial chauvinism.”
INEC’s shocking announcement
They continued: “Nigerians were rudely awakened to a shocking and indefensible announcement by the electoral umpire, INEC to the effect that additional 30,000 polling units have been created and allocated to states using the parameters of proportional representation and equality. According to Professor Jega’s INEC, the arbitrary creation of additional polling units to bring the total polling units in the country to 150,000 will purportedly serve the purpose of: a) de-congesting the polling units ahead of the 2015 general elections; and easing the logistics challenges of the Commission during elections.
“As plausible as these reasons may sound to the architects of this voodoo and arbitrary allocation of polling units, the people of Southern Nigeria and indeed the Southern Nigerian Peoples Assembly view this invidious act as a script perfectly crafted for Professor Jega to implement, in continuation of the well-known hegemonic agenda by enemies of our hard won democracy. The people of Southern Nigeria are not only appalled but strongly reject Professor Jega’s claims and averment, whatever persuasions may have motivated this very callous, insensitive, disparate, oppressive, and in-consonant decision to give the North a clear political advantage over the South contrary to the reality on ground.
“Before Professor Attahiru Jega’s sudden and whimsical reconfiguration which had no historical and scientific foundation, the existing 119,973 polling units were delineated on the premise of the about 73 million registered voters. Despite Prof. Jega’s claim of overcrowded polling units, Nigerians have been witnesses to the conduct of very successful, peaceful, hitch-free elections recently in Ekiti and Osun states. But given the perennial claims of ghost voters which have been the cause of electoral fraud, INEC introduced what it called the Automated Finger Identification System (AFIS) and the outcome has ostensibly been a reduction of the registered voters to 57 million.
“While Nigerians welcome this enchanting development that is intended to usher in sustainable era of free and fair elections, a fact that has been aided by the distribution of permanent voter’s cards (PVCs), Professor Jega, with one Dr. Yakubu as an accomplice, decided to assail our sensibilities by saying a reduced voter strength of 57 million registered voters need more polling units of 150,000 as against 119,973 polling units when the total registered voters were reportedly 73 million.
“Professor Jega cannot exculpate himself from being a proponent of ethnic agenda; we are the least surprised that he has been recruited to perfect the ploy of some persons from parts of this country to truncate our nascent democracy. With the indefensible employment of proportional representation and equality as parameters, Professor Jega decided not to equilibrate but to marginalize the entire Southern Nigeria by arbitrarily and capriciously allocating 21,615 polling units to the North as against 8,412 polling units to Southern Nigeria.
“Whereas we have clearly argued the lack of need for any additional polling units given the reduced number of registered voters consequent upon the Automated Fingers Identification System (AFIS), creating a phantom 30,000 polling units and whimsically allocating them to favour the North is the height of insult to the people of Southern Nigeria.
“From what Professor Jega and Dr. Yakubu published, the following additional polling units were allocated with impunity: North West – 7,906; North East – 5,291; North Central – 6,318; South East – 1,167; South West – 4,160; South South – 3,087 on the basis of 15% equality and 85% proportional representation. Juxtaposed against the earlier polling units as shown hereunder, we are both perplexed and anxious as to the true import of Professor Jega INEC’s action.
“If with registered voters of 13,188,864 the South West had 24,673 polling units as compared to North West registered voters of 18,607,496 with polling units of 29,961, (and this gives a proportionate variance of 29 per cent for registered voters and 17.7 per cent for number of polling units), what was then responsible for the 47.4 per cent disparity in the number of new polling units allocated between the North West and South West if the claim of proportional representation holds? Or how could FCT that has only 892,628 registered voters with 562 polling units be compared to South East with 7,178,185 registered voters and 15, 529 polling units (giving a proportionate disparity of 87.6% for registered voters and 96% for polling units in favour of the South East) suddenly be allocated only 1,167 polling units compared to 1,200 polling units for FCT? How does this advance Professor Jega’s theory of proportional representation?
“Given the above elucidation, we are constrained to ask the following questions:
lGiven the reduced number of actual registered voters to 57 million, how can INEC justify increasing the number of polling units, particularly for states like Zamfara which total registered number of voters had been reduced by more than half and yet allocated additional 1,000 polling units? Is this not an invitation to rigging?
*How can INEC justify that the North-West and FCT put together have more of the additional polling units than the entire Southern zones?
*How can INEC explain that the North-East zone from which people are fleeing in large numbers get more of the additional polling units than any of the zones in the South?
*How can the additional polling units for the South-East be so minimal when it is a well known fact that the Igbos have been relocating back to the South-East from the North East since 2011?
*Is Prof. Jega not giving fillip to conjectures that there is a tacit design to “clean-off” registered voters from areas (particularly the South East) that are perceived to be strong holds of the present administration ahead of the 2015 general election?”
INEC yet to create additional polling units –Jega
Speaking on the issue yesterday, Jega, who justified the need for more polling booths, however, said:
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has not yet created the additional polling units. It has simply approved the framework and guidelines to facilitate the creation of these additional Polling Units by the Resident Electoral Commissioners and the State Officers of INEC.”
He explained that INEC had already, in collaboration with other government agencies, especially the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGOF, produced maps with the location of existing polling units nationwide. He further stated that this was done in order to provide the states a rational, scientific basis for the practical exercise of re-configuring and locating additional polling units.
According to him: “It is only when the states have used the framework and guidelines and have proposed the new polling units for each state, that the Commission will create the polling units.”
Jega explained that the basic aim of the exercise “we are presently undertaking is to ease the access of voters to the ballot box in the 2015 general elections and beyond, by de-congesting over-crowded polling units and dispersing voters as evenly as possible among all the polling units; locating polling units more effectively within commuting distances of voters, given that movement is usually restricted on Election Day; relocating the polling units from private houses, and such other unsuitable places to public buildings or where this is not possible, to open public spaces where tents can be provided; locating the polling units inside classrooms or such other suitable enclosures, in line with international best practices; splitting large polling units such that they have an average of 500 registered voters; and creating additional polling units to cater for the splitting of large polling units as well as new settlements not serviced by any existing polling units.”
Throwing more light on why it became necessary to create new polling units across the country the INEC boss said that “the present structure of polling units in the country was created in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), which created 120,000 polling units and 8,809 wards. This structure of polling units has been used for the 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011 general elections. We are all witnesses to the congested polling units on election days in 2011 and since then in many parts of the country.”
He further explained that from 1996 to date, there has been an exponential growth in Nigeria’s population and severe demographic shifts resulting from new settlements in major urban areas.
He said: “For example, in 1996 when the current polling unit structure was established, the estimated population of the country was about 110 million. In 2006, after a national population census, the population was 140 million. In 2011, when the voters’ registration was undertaken, the population was estimated to be about 160 million. Today the population is estimated to be around 175m. This represents nearly 60 per cent rise in the population since 1996.”
South West leaders back Jonathan, set agenda
Meanwhile, South-West leaders, yesterday threw their weight behind President Jonathan and urged him to declare his intention to run for a second term.
They said they took the bold to support Jonathan’s re-election against the backdrop that the Yoruba nation must be encouraged to return to the mainstream of national politics.
These were part of the decisions taken by the leaders at the end of a meeting, under the aegis “Egbe Iyipada Yoruba” and held in Abuja. Prominent Yoruba leaders from the six states of the zone were in attendance.
Present at the meeting were former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim; National Secretary of the PDP, Professor Adewale Oladipo; National Auditor of the PDP, Adeyanju Adewole; Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko; Chief Ishola Filani; Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun; former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; former Minister of works, Adeseye Ogunlewe; former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel; Senator Iyiola Omisore; Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; former Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade; and former Lagos State Deputy governor, Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele among others.
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