₦airaland Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z8dp3AgosU

this is complete misrepresentation of facts. a lecture that was attended by two governor (Theodore orji and Rotimi Amaechi) was not shuned in any way. There have been a lot of programmes in Ojukwu burial and you expect all the 10 governors to attend all of them
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/37837-amaechi-odili-orji-eulogise-ojukwu.html?print

what we should be talking about is the through cost of governance, Its criminality for a president to spend over 1billion naira on food and remove fuel for the poor, if they want make cuts, it must start from the top, they buy bullet proof cars and office furniture every year, award inflated contracts to themselves and their friends every day and in fact your president spends 45million to buy newspapers every year. This is just too outrageous. He has no moral ground to remove subsidy if he cant effectively deal with corruption and profligacy in government.

7 out of 10, It is better than some of the newspaper web sites in nigeria, buy u ve to start getting news urself not just copy and paste

This article is brilliant and a lot of her points a true although some of the things said are inconsistent with facts

* saying that agricultural revenues from the north was used to sustain the whole country before oil was found is a blatant lie.  Nigeria had 3 major cash crops cocoa, groundnut and palm oil; two of these are from the south. Oil was found in Nigeria in the 1950s that was before independence.

* saying that most of the victims of boko haram are northerners cant be proven and it does not exempt northern leaders from having a hand in the operation of boko haram. This guys have been well motivated, coordinated and funded. Some influential elements in the NORTH are effectively backing them. The prime targets of boko haram are not northern Muslims, they are Christians and southerners.
It is left for northen leaders to resolve the issue of boko haram because only they can. They should stop making unreasonable excuses ( like poverty, oil derivation, killing of muslims , corruption ) for boko haram.

great write up, I hope mr dibia responds to this article plus this should be on the front page

you are definitely joking,

nigeria got it right here. the Gadaffi govt had lost popular support in his country even before NATO intervention. I dont what S A stands to gain by supporting Gaddaffi but as for Nigeria we have nothing to gain. There is nothing like colonialism here because any day the nigerian govt orders the army to kill us, then i ll be more than happy for NATO to intervene as well. nigeria stands in a better position than S A to dictate AU policies. just look at the way they hanled the problem in zimbabwe, if SA were allowed to mediate in cote divoire gbagbo will still be president and ouatara the prime minster rubbish.

we are proud of you NOI, more this please

Despite rumors swirling on the Internet that Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu has died in a London hospital, Saharareporters has ascertained from his direct family as well as sources within the hospital that the former Biafran leader remains alive.

In a telephone interview, Okigbo Odumegwu-Ojukwu, one of Ikemba’s children, stated, “It is not true that my father died.” Mr. Okigbo Odumegwu-Ojukwu resides in London and is constantly in touch with the hospital personnel caring for his father.

Saharareporters also spoke to a UK-based medical doctor involved in Ikemba Ojukwu’s care – and he also debunked the rumor of Chief Ojukwu’s death.

he is not dead according to his son

there is only one place in nigeria where non indegenes are secure in nigeria and that is d east
how many times have you heard that hausa/yoruba people were masacared in d east?
nobody has time for any body in the east.

so nobody in the crowd was able stand up for the guy or at least called the police, buy the way where was the fu.king police. so nobody in that useless crowd has regard for human dignity. this is just to show how barbaric nigerians are. useless government and cannibalistic citizens. useless police, army, sss, useless everything. i am so angry.

i think the videos are more helpful than d pics
any way i go with miss abuja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peXE_JzGAZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peXE_JzGAZ4

.

I will give it to Zik of africa, he stood for the unity of nigeria as whole and is respected accross Africa

dis is a very nice thread, I believe dat these ideas need to infilterate our government houses if not they will remain dreams. I believe we can

The guy has ensured that women can now join the NDA , certainly CHANGE IS COMING.

GEJ is d most trust worthy candidate. Buhari is out of touch with the current scheme of things in Nigeria
all he is talking about is how he is going to imprison people( his enemies)
jonathans biggest problem is pdp,

guys we have to remain optimistic because this is part of the sacrifice we are paying for our democracy to grow, one thing is certain and that is THIS ELECTION MUST BE DIFFERENT.
change is in the air.

hahahaha, dis is very interesting. dis interview looks so BUHARI.

I am glad Jonathan threw the invitation to participate in NN24/NEXT presidential debate into the tainted dustbin in the villa where it rightly belongs. NEXT has never hidden its rabid dislike of Jonathan, at every opportunity the paper never fails to disparage him and portray him in the most sullied way possible. The paper even claimed in its front page recently that Jonathan as Governor of Bayelsa state, came to Edo state and voted four times. How sickening!  Now that Jonathan has agreed to participate in a more respectable debate organized by a coalition of media houses I expect a more interesting contest than the hopelessly suffocating one held by NN24 and NEXT.

I expect Jonathan to do well in that debate. No I do not expect him to come across as the best spoken, nor do I expect him to come across as the wittiest nor as the one with the sharpest sound bite, but Jonathan will in his own way tell Nigerians why with the massive investments in the power sector over the last five years, the time to reap the rewards of these investments is at hand. He will tell Nigerians why and indeed how he has been able to hydrate the Nigerian economy with the basic fuel products which successive governments had found thorny and intricate to do. I still expect Ibrahim Shekarau to win the points for communication and composure and I still expect Buhari to foul up as usual because he has nothing to offer this country. Talking about Buhari, the questions I always ask the awe-struck political zealots that swear by his name are simple, what does the man have to offer? What does he say he has to offer? Till today I have never received a simple sensible answer.

His worshippers say he is honest and I say really? Honesty means being fair to all and Buhari has not been fair to all. Some of my friends say I am too critical of Buhari, they say give him a chance but I always reply that he had his chances twice and he blew them. As Head of State Buhari was widely regarded as weak and ineffectual. It is widely known in knowledgeable circles that Buhari has never and is incapable of being his own man. Because he is incapable of professing ideas, Buhari always defers to those around him who come up with the ideas and who in effect become the ruling power with Buhari serving as the dormant figure head. Those who brought Buhari to power in 1983 immediately regretted their action after he abdicated authority and power to his second in command Major-General Tunde Idiagbon and others including his aide de camp Major Jokolo. It has been well documented by credible eye witnesses to power that after decisions were agreed upon at the Supreme Military Council, a concentric circle of conspirators around Buhari would easily convince him to go against these universally agreed decisions and unilaterally adopt contrary conclusions. It was no wonder that it took less than two years for those who brought him to power to kick him out and the rest his history.

Buhari’ other score point in the eyes of his devotees is his management of the PTF. In my view this more than any other activity and action would stand against Buhari in the April 9 elections. During Buhari’ ‘rulership’ of the petroleum Trust Fund, a fund meant to develop the whole of Nigeria, a fund whose sole source of funding was from the Niger-Delta, Buhari made sure that very little work was done in the South-East and South-South regions while the bulk of the work of the organization including road construction, hospital rehabilitation, drug procurement and provision were concentrated in the North-West where Buhari comes from and the North-East. Even the North-Central apart from areas heavily populated by certain ethnic groups got little of the PTF cake. In Jos, Gangare road were Buhari had friends and relatives was given a well tarred road by the PTF while Bukuru roads which were bigger and more motored were left unattended to because they are in the area not dominated by Buhari’ people. Buhari’ PTF head office was nearly almost peopled by a particular sub-ethnic group, visiting the PTF in those days was akin to walking around the state secretariat of one of the north-west states. It was no surprise that these people who worked with Buhari as Special Assistants, aides and consultants became multi-millionaires overnight, set up newspapers where “truth is a burden” and in appreciation of the General looking the other way while they looted the PTF, the newspapers today declare war on anyone and anything that dares to disagree with their patron saint. It is for nothing that they are called the Buhari Old Boys Association. One of them, the chief consultant to Buhari, another Fulani from Yola who decided who got what, when and where at the PTF died from a heart attack the same day General Abdulsalami Abubakar announced the scrapping of the organisation. I am so glad that Buhari will always run but will never win.

Once in my life time, I had seriously considered voting for Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. I liked him then and I still do but after teaming up with the Bola Tinubu of the Toronto fame, a man he once dismissed as heavily corrupt and labeled an international criminal, he will certainly not get my vote. To my disbelief Ribadu has only shown himself o be that typical Nigerian politician willing and able to accommodate crooks and criminals in order to achieve his selfish ambition. If Ribadu forgets so easily, his friend and defender the irrepressible rights activitist and good governance crusader Chief Gani Fawehinmi went through thick and thin to have Tinubu prosecuted for brazenly lying about his academic records after he claimed he had received a degree from the University of Toronto. Tinubu got away from being jailed for this felony because of his immuned status as a governor but not after having Gani Fawehinmi attacked, stoned and his car destroyed at one of the court hearings. Certainly Gani the man who Ribadu claims to look up to will no doubt be as shocked as I am to see this unequal relationship between light and darkness. Obviously the only person that has profited immensely from this unequal yoke is Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has had his unhygienic credentials glistened and glittered by his secure bonding with Ribadu. I wish Ribadu had listened to the saner voices of his friends and admirers but alas when you dine with the devil you pay with your mother.

Certainly April 9 is unquestionably Jonathan’. He has campaigned well and hard and walked through thick and thin. He has garnered and maintained goodwill amongst Nigerians and he has a campaign team peopled by battle hardened and experienced campaigners like the suave Dr Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, devil may care and irrepressible Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the highly skilled and competent Chief Tony Anenih a man whose political obituary has been written many times but like the phoenix always rises from his ashes. Like him or loathe him, the Edo Chief has made Presidents after Presidents from Chief MKO Abiola to Olusegun Obasanjo to Yar’adua and is on the verge of making the Jonathan dream a reality for Nigerians. I like Anenih, I like him a lot. I have never met him but he strikes me as the reticent go-getter and high-flier who works hard to get what he wants, a razor-sharp contrast to the earsplitting, loquacious and boisterous Tinubu. No wonder Presidents and politicians always seek him out to strategise and manage their projects.

I am glad Jonathan is set to win presidential polls. He is not the most capable person in the country but of all those that have thrown their hats in the ring he is the best of them all. Like the revered Oba Rilwan Akiolu said, Jonathan’ star is shining and nothing save GOD ALMIGHTY can stop him. He has done well so far and this election will mark his initiation into political eldership as he will become that politician that came of age through a hard fought campaign. Good luck to Buhari as he continues to remain an ethnic champion incapable of winning elections outside his North-West. Good luck to Ribadu as he is about to realize the atrociousness of the blunder he has committed. As for me and my household, it is Jonathan we know. Good luck to Nigerians.

While our first lady is out there bulldozing territories and taking no prisoners, people are busy laughing and forwarding BB, Facebook and YouTube messages of her grammatical carpet bombing to each other. Keep laughing all of you that think the Dame is grammatically lame and a better national comedian than an ambassador that can’t sing the national anthem. If you think she is too uncouth to be our next first lady, keep laughing while she undauntedly bludgeons her way to victory.
If I tell you I have not cringed at some of the Dame’s choice of words during public speeches, which sometimes are comparable to a man wearing a custom’s shirt on police trousers, I would be lying. But through her entire lexis and structure comedy, I have also seen a solid woman – no pun intended, please – building a formidable grass roots base and garnering supporters for her husband.

This brings me to the issue of the other women, the other presidential aspirants’ wives. Where are they in this whole political drama unfolding round their husbands? Shouldn’t they be marching and publicly campaigning like the Dame? I am very anxious to experience the Michelle Obama in the ‘refined’ breeds. I am interested in witnessing their finesse that will make the Ozigono market woman vote for their husbands, the Queen’s English that will sway the Abonima woman to cast her vote to unseat a pilfering behemoth party. Staying behind the scene and waiting for their husbands to kill the elephant before bringing out their stainless steel cutlery in state dinners is not going to move this caterpillar campaigner. Many voters are waiting to relate with the other wives, but they are hiding either behind hijabs or away in some country following their husband’s campaign via BlackBerry messenger. Or better still, laughing at the affable ‘Umblerra’ woman’s grammatical explosions.

If you don’t want to hear the Dame referring to orphans as widows in the next four years – roll up that designer skirt, drop that LV bag you are hauling around in Dubai, remove your high-heels and hit the ground running like the Grammar Queen. And while you are at it, save your ‘pepperless’ English and speak what majority of the Nigerian people will understand. And if you don’t understand me, check the statistics of Nigeria’s literacy figures and go figure. FYI, the Dame’s Sozaboy-meets-Zebrudaya kind of English is just perfect for a very large percentage of voters. Those that speak Oxford-type English are analyzing the risk of attending political rallies in their cosy offices and homes or thinking of jetting out of the country come April.

Why do I find the first lady’s antics intriguing? Because I myself was ‘once a children’ in the village and I can relate with her type – they don’t give up to a mere handicap. She belongs to a breed that is not easily intimidated by hecklers. In short, the fuel that galvanizes them comes from people’s jests.

I have seen women like her ‘bought’ their husband’s fights and rub men’s noses on the ground. I have seen women like her throw away their wrapper, left with only obeniku and fight assailants to a standstill, regardless of who is laughing. They are the type that stand solidly behind their husbands and help them build palaces and castles. And, in my place, such women are called Ojekwebhudu. If you ask me, I think Jonathan’s better luck is marrying Patience, because we now know that her outspokenness compensates heavily for our president’s quietness.

I laud our double-barrel-shot-gun-campaigner, our grammar queen, the superstar of our new curfew, the dame, the Okrika amazonian first lady – because according to her immortal words to Nigerians both home and abroad, especially those that have dual-nationality, “We should have love for our fellow Nigerians irrespective of their nationality.”
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Columns/5685319-182/story.csp