₦airaland Forum

An Egyptian court has sentenced former
President Mohammed Morsi to death in
connection with a mass jail break in 2011.
Sitting in a caged dock, Morsi pumped his fists
in the air in defiance as the judge read his
verdict.
Another 105 other members of the Muslim
Brotherhood were also given the capital
punishment.
The defendants were all accused of plotting jail
breaks and attacks on police during the
uprising that overthrew longtime President
Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The cases, like any capital sentence, will be
referred to Egypt's top religious authority, the
Grand Mufti, for his non-binding opinion before
any executions can take place.
Morsi, however, was spared the death sentence
by the court on charges that he and his aides
passed state secrets to foreign groups,
including Palestinians' Hamas and
Lebanon's Hezbollah, to destabilise Egypt.
But the court sought capital punishment for
Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater and 15
others for conspiring with foreign militant
groups against Egypt.
Muslim Brotherhood official Amr Darrag has
condemned the ruling as politically-motivated
and called on the international community to
take action.
"This is a political verdict and represents a
murder crime that is about to be committed,
and it should be stopped by the international
community," Mr Darrag told Reuters in
Istanbul.
Morsi is already serving a 20-year sentence
following his conviction on 21 April on charges
linked to the killing of protesters outside a
Cairo presidential palace in December 2012.
He became Egypt's first freely elected leader in
June 2012 in the wake of the uprising that
ousted Mubarak. But he was removed from
power by the army in 2013 after protests
against his presidency.
Sky’s Middle East Correspondent Sherine
Tadros said the verdict is significant because it
marks the first time in Egypt's history that a
president has been sentenced to death.
"Of course Mohammed Morsi will appeal this
verdict, it will be a lengthy appeal, so don't
expect he will be executed any times soon,"
she added.
The army chief who overthrew Morsi, Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi, is now president after having
won elections last year. He has pledged to
eradicate the Brotherhood, once the largest
political movement in the country.
Human rights groups have accused Egyptian
authorities of widespread abuses in a
crackdown on Brotherhood supporters as well
as secular activists, allegations they deny.

http://news.sky.com/story/1485197/egypt-ex-president-morsi-sentenced-to-death

The controversy that has excited intense public recriminations over statements by Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, to the effect that Igbos are champions of stomach politics, bears closer examination. The offensivecomments are in the public domain and need no re-telling,not the least for the reason that they are so unedifying and most embarrassing to the foremost dramatist. Although Soyinka has come out to angrily deny making any such comments “regarding the Ndigbo voting pattern in the last elections,” this apparently, is an afterthought of a man who spoke before thinking. Even now, there is needto refocus on the implications of the overwhelming Igbo support for President Goodluck Jonathan in the wake of what evidently is a well-orchestrated campaign of vilification against the Igbos by certain groups, poised to hijack and imbue the incoming Buhari administration with the mentality that “this is our turn.” This is unacceptable. It is Buhari’s duty to protect the nation from cant and chicanery in pursuance of sectional interests. This is the challenge of leadership.From the public debate the issue has generated, no one ischallenging Soyinka’s right to free speech. Far from it! Themain grouse, and validly so, remains that, there is a concerted effort to cast the Igbo vote for Jonathan as a treasonable offence, for which they must be punished. Caught in a seemingly, even if unintended clannish grandstanding, Soyinka did not say anything new. If anything, his open celebration of bigotry only diminished his person. Without saying whether he was misquoted or that his remarks at the Harvard lecture were taken out of context, Soyinka said anyone who believes the “imbecilic pronouncements” credited to him is a slowpoke and mentallyretarded. Be that as it may; the fact is that Igbophobia - the systemic exclusion of Igbos from the commanding heights of authority in the nation, has been the hallmark ofgovernance in Nigeria from the end of the civil war to the present.However, in substance and manner, the reaction of Ndigbo was hasty, equally imprudent, in a way that advertises a herd mentality; a pious tendency towards self-centered pedestrianism, which reinforces the stereotype of the Igbos as garrulous, clannish, over-bearing, and always ready to rally in furtherance of anIgbo hegemonic agenda. The result is that, in the face of such extreme provocation, the Igbos failed to demonstrate maturity and political sagacity. The anger, name-calling and insultive grandiloquence that characterized reactions to Soyinka, was unnecessary. It isbad enough that Soyinka finds himself in this controversy;it is doubly embarrassing for him to openly express such contempt for public opinion even if there was a gap between what he said and what the media transmitted, ashe now claims. Calling people morons and mentally retarded is insultive and unbecoming of a man of Soyinka’s standing.The latest controversy comes in the wake of similar unedifying comments by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, shortly before the governorship and state assembly elections. Even though the palace, like Soyinka tried to walk back the unfortunate statements, made to some Igbo notables, who were the Oba’s guests, the royal faux pas went viral and generated enough bad blood to threaten the unity and peaceful co-existence between the Igbos and the Yorubas in cosmopolitan Lagos and across the country. The offensive statements tainted the Oba’s throne and portrayed him as a belligerent rabble-rouser. The Igbos had every reason to take umbrage at Oba Akiolu’s wish for the “settlers” to support his preferred gubernatorial candidate, failing which; the Igbos would be drowned in the lagoon.Before the Igbos crucify Soyinka, it is worth reminding them that their anger, however justified is misdirected. The allegations against the Igbos and their vote for Jonathan notwithstanding, the reactions of anger can make sensational headlines in the media, but it certainly will not resolve the “Igbo problem” which, to all intents and purposes has been institutionalized. The angry reaction was not even good politics. If at all Soyinka’s acerbic anti-Igbo remarks needed a response, Ndigbo should have formally given a measured one, which would have indicated seriousness commensurate to Soyinka’s weighty allegations, discomforting as such may have been. It is amazing just how anyone who loves this country and cares for its people can, reasonably, pretend not to realize that between the three major ethnic groups – Igbos, Yorubas and Hausa/Fulani – the Igbos have continued to be marginalized and treated with disdain as third class citizens in Nigeria.The travails Ndigbo has had to endure from sporadic outbreaks of anti-Igbo sentiments across Nigeria speaks directly to the bankrupt state of Ndigbo leadership and their failure to learn from the popular Igbo saying:“onye na amaghi ebe mmiri bidoro mawa ya, agaghi ama ebe o kwusiri”(He who does not know when the rain began to beat him would not know when the rain stops). The rain began to beat Ndigbo in 1914 when Lord Lugard amalgamated the northern and southern protectorates into the contraption called Nigeria. The Igbos became drenched in acid rain by systemic massacres: Jos (1945), Kano (1953) and the September 29, 1966 massacre in which thousands of Igbo men, women and children were slaughtered. This led to the civil war, which saw mass starvation and anti-Igbo genocide. And the bloody rain has continued to beat Ndigbo, resulting in anti-Igbo massacres - Kano (1980), Maiduguri (1982), Yola (1984), Gombe (1985), Kaduna (1986), Bauchi (1991), Funtua (1993), Kano (1994), Damboa (2000) and Apo 6 (2005). The ongoing nihilistic slaughter of Igbo people by Boko Haram is yet to be documented. But there is no question that a disproportionate percentage of the thousands of Boko Haram victims are Igbo people.The political expediency that dictated the emergence of the Hausa/Fulani-Yoruba axis of power has been consolidated by the overbearing disposition and insatiable greed of Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba political elite,who by deliberate and questionable policies have whimsically and arbitrarily emasculated the Igbos from political relevance in the commanding heights of authorityin the federal government and its agencies. Unarguably, either by design or omission, these policies have become institutionalized, with Ndigbo getting the short end of the stick. The numbers don’t lie. An analysis of the six zones comprising the federation has the following breakdown in number of states: Northwest (7), Northeast (6), North-central (6), Southwest (6), South-south (6) and theIgbo-dominated Southeast (5).Local governments by design are the machinery through which governance is brought directly to the grassroots. It is the tier of government whose functions are calculated to impact directly on the people. Here again, the numbers don’t lie; Northwest (186), Northeast (112), North-central (115), Southwest (138), South-south (123) and Southeast (95). The federal constituencies are so designed in such away that the transfer of resources is anchored on proportionality. Again the numbers don’t lie: Northwest (92), Northeast (48), North-central (49), Southwest (71), South-south (55) andSoutheast (43).Even the Senate, where logic demanded equal representation as obtained in the USA, whose presidential system Nigeria copied, theSoutheast is last with just 15 Senatorial districts;the Southwest, South-south, North-central and Northeast each have 18 districts while the Northwest has 21.These constitutionally entrenched structural injustices have far-reaching implications beyond questions of marginalization. These numbers represent the blatant reality that Ndigbo has refused to confront, preferring to revel in distractions about who said what against the Igbos. Forty-five years after the end of the civil war, the Southeast zone bears the unmistakable characteristics ofa conquered and occupied territory. This is a national shame not just for Ndigbo, but for Nigeria!




http://huhuonline.com/index.php/opinions/5532-editorial-wole-soyinka-and-the-igbo-question-1

@ Seun and who ever is in charge of this section.
this kind of nonsense shld be stopped. This kind of update doesn't need to be here, it shld have been removed

Please Seun do the needfull

Please I need information on UNIABUJA post graduate Programme form.

Greetings to you,
Please I need information on Post graduate programmes in University of Ilorin and University of Ibadan.

By Femi Aribisala
NO doubt about it, the North betrayed Goodluck
Jonathan in the last election. The greatest ally of
the North in Nigerian politics has been the South-
South. Therefore, it was not asking too much for
Jonathan to expect the North to return the favour
under his administration; when he is clearly
carrying the mantle of the South-South.
Jonathan did not take Northern support for
granted. In his six years in office, he spent the
overwhelming proportion of resources at his
disposal on the North. The $1 billion Kashimbila
Dam, one of the biggest projects handled by his
administration, is in Taraba in the North.
Jonathan built over 150 Almajiri schools in the
North. He revived Nigerian agriculture, to the
primary benefit of Northern farmers.
Most of Jonathan’s political appointees were
Northern. He entrusted a Northerner, Attahiru
Jega, with INEC, bucking the tradition whereby
INEC chairmen tend to come from the South-East.
When the North complained about the Chief of
Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, Jonathan replaced
him. When the North complained about Festus
Odimegwu at the National Population
Commission, Jonathan fired him. Nevertheless,
when the election time came, the North betrayed
Jonathan and the South-South.
Northern PDP governors secretly worked for
Buhari’s victory. In Jigawa, Sule Lamido only paid
lip-service to Jonathan’s campaign. In Bauchi, Isa
Yuguda watched as Jonathan’s campaign train
was stoned. In Niger, Babangida Aliyu did not
care that no Jonathan poster was placed
anywhere in the state throughout the campaign.
The blunder of these recalcitrant governors was
in thinking they could be lackadaisical about the
PDP at the federal level, but passionate about the
PDP at the state level. They all ended up losing
their states to the APC.
Retracting on promises
In order not to scare off dodgy members of his
party with his anti-corruption rhetoric, Buhari
promised to let corrupt sleeping dogs lie if
elected. APC party chairman, John Oyegun,
declared that Buhari would not waste time going
after embezzlers of public funds before 29th May,
2015. He said: “The future of the people of this
country is too important for us to spend valuable
time trying to dig into the past.”
But now that the election has been won, Buhari
no longer feels any obligation to keep his word.
Instead, he said on TV Continental that, unlike the
Quran and the Bible, the APC position during the
election is subject to change. The signs indicate
that the APC is now inclined to engage in a
vicious propaganda campaign of maligning the
Jonathan administration and the South-South
through mud-slinging probes.
Buhari now says he will revisit the issue of the
allegedly missing $20 billion from NNPC
accounts. He said in Hausa to his Northern
constituency: “Imagine a situation where the
former CBN governor, who by God‘s grace, is now
the Emir of Kano, raised an issue of missing
billions of money, not in naira but in dollars, $20
billion. What happened, instead of investigating
whether it was true, they simply found a reason
to remove him.”
In short, in spite of the forensic audit of NNPC
accounts by the prestigious
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which concluded no
money was missing, Buhari has already declared
Diezani and the NNPC guilty and Lamido Sanusi
innocent. He claims the matter was not
investigated, which means
PriceWaterhouseCoopers is not good enough for
him. Who is he now going to ask to conduct a
new probe when we already know the answer he
wants?
Witch- hunting
What we have here is the beginning of a witch-
hunt. One of the first questions of interest is
where Buhari’s oil minister is going to come from.
Within the context of the cynical view that the
insistence of a cabal that power must return to
the North is not unconnected to pending oil bloc
allocations, the question remains whether our new
oil minister must also be from the North.
In Nigeria, the FCT Minister is always from the
North. However, the oil minister is not always
from the South. The North has no oil, but it longs
to control the lucrative oil industry. Under
Jonathan, oil minister Diezani Allison-Madueke
has come under prolonged attacks and
harassment, not only because she is a woman,
but also because she is from the South-South.
Under Yar’Adua, the Petroleum Minister, Dr
Rilwanu Lukman was from Kaduna. The Group
Managing Director of the NNPC, Sanusi Barkindo,
was from Adamawa. The Director-General of the
National Petroleum Directorate, Alhaji Bello
Gusau, was from Zamfara. The Executive-
Secretary of the Petroleum Technology
Development Fund, Mustapha Rabe Darma, was
from Katsina. Are we in for a Northernisation of
the oil industry again under Buhari?
If Buhari is now determined to probe the oil
ministry under South-South stewardship, contrary
to his campaign promise; he must also probe it
under South-West stewardship. President
Obasanjo doubled as his own oil minister for
eight years. If Buhari is now going to probe
Diezani, then he must probe his new ally,
Obasanjo, as well? Otherwise, if care is not taken,
Buhari’s war against corruption will quickly divide
Nigeria along ethnic fault-lines.
Once you decide to probe the Jonathan
administration, the Niger-Delta is going to insist
on a probe of the Obasanjo administration. Once
you probe the PDP, which represents Southern
rule, there is going to be insistence that you
probe Northern rule. Should Buhari decide to
probe NNPC, the issue of his own tenure as
petroleum minister and the 2.8 billion saga will
also be brought up. He cannot apply today the
discriminatory standard he used yesterday,
whereby vice-president Ekwueme languished in
jail while president Shagari relaxed under house
arrest.
If our president-elect wants to stay true to his
election campaign promise, he should stick to the
issue of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill
expeditiously, instead of opening the Pandora’s
Box of NNPC probes. He should also look into the
whole process of dismantling the NNPC itself, and
selling it off. Hankering after the past suggests
the APC is bereft of innovative policy ideas.
Witch-hunting Diezani is no substitute for lack of
policy.
Press censorship
The first thing General Buhari did on seizing
power in 1984 was to declare in a television
interview his determination to “tamper with the
press.” The first thing he has done this time
around, even before being sworn in as president,
was to seek to impose a ban on the AIT. AIT is
one of the press houses that did not support him
during the election campaign. Moreover, it is
owned by Raymond Dokpesi, a South-South man.
History, they say, has a tendency to repeat itself.
Those of us who were adults during the first
coming of General Buhari took great pains to
warn Nigerians of his antecedents. Those too
young to know about him were convinced we
were making up stories. Others denied the
relevance of Buhari’s pedigree. One man tweeted:
“Even if PDP shows a video of Tinubu and Buhari
on AIT robbing the Central Bank of Nigeria, it
won’t change our minds.”
A cease-and-desist order on Buhari’s censorship
of AIT came thankfully from APC Central. Sane
minds prevailed from the party’s headquarters,
mindful that any attempt to curb the press this
time around is likely to end Buhari’s honeymoon
with the media immediately. Suffice to say the
press operates everywhere as a tight union.
Attack on one is deemed an attack on all.
APC-friendly press houses had a field day
maligning Jonathan for over five years. No one
tried to muzzle them. APC itself came up with all
sorts of lies. APC publicity secretary for Lagos
State, Joe Igbokwe, wrote a libelous and
defamatory article against me entitled: “Behold
the Wind Chaser called Femi Aribisala.” Igbokwe
claimed I am a registered member of the PDP,
which is false. Among other lies, he said: “In
Osun Femi and his robbery gang came with
helicopters, guns, bombs, jackboots, tanks etc.
but ordinary people with bare hands stopped their
open robbery.”
I was not in Osun during the 2014 gubernatorial
election. I have no robbery gang. I have no
helicopters, guns, jackboots, or tanks. I could
have sued Igbokwe for all he has got. But I
decided to let it pass. However, until called to
order, our president-elect seems inclined to use
the apparatus of the state to settle personal
scores. This is a bad omen about his incoming
administration.
Election offenders
The same discrimination is already evident in the
president-elect’s stated position vis-à-vis election
offenders. President Jonathan was magnanimous
enough to concede defeat in a flawed election.
But APC is not prepared to let sleeping dogs lie.
Despite now holding sway in 22 states to PDP’s
13, the APC continues to cause trouble
everywhere. Once it is not declared the winner,
the election must have been rigged.
The president-elect has joined the fray. He
proclaimed his determination to prosecute
election offenders. But he only enunciated this
policy with reference states where APC is
currently disputing the results. Accordingly, he
instructed the governors of Edo, Imo and Rivers
to document all offences alleged to have been
committed.
These states happen to be those with APC
governors; and in the South-South and South-
East where the APC was routed. Are we going to
get corresponding prosecutions in cases in the
North, including the president’s home state of
Katsina where, surprise surprise, more ghost-
voters came out of the woodwork to vote in the
lackluster governorship election than in the high-
profile presidential election?
Mr. President-elect should be reminded that he is
going to be president of all Nigerians; including
especially those who did not vote for him. He
should be very careful how he treats the South-
South. Without a doubt, nerves are much frayed
now in that geopolitical zone; which also happens
to be the economic jugular of Nigeria.
My advice to him, for what it is worth, is that he
should leave the sons and daughters of the
South-South alone. Thanks to President
Jonathan, we have just missed the bullet of the
much anticipated post-election turmoil. This is no
time to start stepping injudiciously on South-
South toes in the name of anti-corruption.
Upheaval in the South-South will be far more
economically devastating for Nigeria, and for his
vaunted presidential agenda, than what we have
experienced under the onslaught of Boko Haram.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/cease-and-desist-no-witch-hunts-against-the-south-south/

culled from Independent, November 26, 2005
Born great and made to achieve greatness, Tafa
Balogun, the 21st Inspector-General of Police was
born on August 8, 1947 at Ila-Orogun in present
Osun State. He enlisted into the Nigerian Police
Force on May 1, 1973 after graduating from the
University of Lagos in 1972. Balogun was a
member of cadet Assistant Superintendent of
Police (ASP) Course 3. Having worked in various
Police commands throughout the federation, and
earning his promotions as at when due, Tafa, was
at a time, the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to
former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammadu
Gambo, Deputy Commission of Police Edo State,
the pioneer Commissioner of Police in Delta State,
later Rivers State and Abia State.
Tafa, a fellow of the premier highest military
institution in Nigeria, the National War College
later became the Assistant Inspector General of
Police A.I.G Zone One Kano, from where he was
named the 21st IGP of Police on March 6, 2002.
The Nigerian Police morale was at its lowest ebb,
when he assumed the mantle of leadership,
introduced, proactive policing, and the eight-point
crime control strategy on assumption of office.
Also, six Deputy Inspectors General of Police were
appointed to work alongside with him. These are
D.I.G "A", headed by Mr. Sunday Ehindero, now
the Acting Inspector General of Police, D.I.G ‘B’,
C,D,E and F all representing the six geopolitical
zones of the country. He christened the DIGs and
himself the management team of the police
hierechy. His eight point crime control strategy
was well applauded by members of the force and
Nigerians, as hoodlums were then having a field
day.
The eight point crime control strategy were
(a) massive onslaught against armed robbery,
gruesome murder/assassination and other crimes
of violence, the methodology for which, this will
be achieved, he christened "Operations Fire for
Fire".
(b) Fast and decisive crisis/conflict management
(c) Comprehensive training programme conducive
for qualitative policing
(d) Anti-corruption crusade both within and
outside the force.
(e) Robust public relations necessary for our
vision of "People’s Police".
(f) Community partnership in policing. The
modern approach all over the world.
(g) Inter service/agency cooperation at all level
and down the line.
(h) Improved conditions of service and enhanced
welfare package for all officers, inspectors and
rank and file".
By the year 2003, the morale of the force has
reached its apogee, as the men were ready to put
in the best to move the force forward. Between
2002 to 2004, the Nigeria Police arrested a total of
19,135 robbery suspects, 6,815 killed, 12,006 fire
arms and 472,020 amunitions were recovered
while 2,148 stolen vehicle were also recovered.
During the period 172 policemen were killed in
operation, while 151 were injured. Apart from
enhancing its operational capabilities, he also
ensured that police welfare was adequately taken
care of, this was through promotions welfare
insurance scheme and training.
In the area of promotion, over 170,000 policemen
were promoted between 2002 and 2004, which is
more than the promotions that had been carried
out in the force from 1930 when the Nigeria Police
force was founded. Also over 721 policemen
killed in operations have enjoyed the welfare
insurance scheme which is a line of succour for
the next of kin of killed policemen which is paid
within 14 days of death.
Tafa Balogun also did not take the training of
officers and men of the force lightly as over
147,347 officers and men went on various
courses locally between 2002 and 2004. On
corruption, especially in the area of extortion, Tafa
dismissed over 1,200 police officers for various
acts bordering on official corruption in his thee
year tenure.
He introduced regular payment of salaries and
allowances, the community policing which a
number of officers went on courses in United
Kingdom and the United State in 2004.
The erstwhile IGP, then started running a one
man show at the Loius Edet Force Headquarters
Abuja, as ideas and suggestions of his able
lieutenants were jettisoned, and it became a
glorified management team. No contribution from
them and constant interference in their
departments became the order of the day. At their
so called management team meetings, Tafa’s
directive whether goiod or bad was final as no
D.I.G ever challenged such decisions and this did
not go down well with the offices and rank and
file of the entire force.
Also, fraternising with all manner of people in the
society did not help matters in the force as
keeping to time for appointments and
assignments was not in the former IGP’s
dictionary. Journalists covering the police beats
had to wait as much as three hours for an
assignment to take place and that always put him
at logger heads with newsmen. Balogun’s track
record attracted some of the finest officers to
work with him; his image-maker, Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Chris Olakpe was always
there to defend his boss when the need arose, but
it soon became obvious that his boss was a bad
product to market. Also his Principal Staff Officer
(PSO), Solomon Arase, had to bear with his boss,
inspite of all his shortcomings.
The role of the police in the 2003 general
elections was also the climax of it all, as
Nigerians rose in unison to call for the removal of
Balogun as the IGP. But inspite of the intense
criticism, the former police boss, rose stoutly to
defend the police for being able to perform the
wonderful feat of transiting from one civilian
government to another, which had never
happened in the history of Nigeria. He was also
quick to brand his opponents as detractors who
wanted to bring down the government of
President Olusegun Obasanjo. It is his close
affinity with the seat of power that gave him so
much confidence that nobody could remove him
from office until 2007.
.During his three years tenure, Balogun always
ensured that nobody acted on his behalf,
whenever he was out of the country, but in times
of emergency the presidency in its wisdom,
always directed Ehindero, being the most senior
D.I.G to take charge as could be seen during the
attack on Governor Akume in March 2004.
By early January, it had become apparent that
Balogun was under financial probe by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) headed by an Assistant Commissioner of
Police Nuhu Ribadu, who had received a deluge of
petitions on the illegal activities of the former IGP.
The investigation which stated discreetly had
within two days turned out to be the shocker of
the year.
Balogun who never beleivd that his exit from the
force was at hand is indubitably devastated.
However, the undaunting task before Ehindero is
to once again rekindle the morale of the force
which has once again plummeted.
The jubilation that heralded the change of baton
by officers and men of the Force last Monday
when Ehindero became the 22nd Inspector
General of the Nigeria Police proved conclusively
that Balogun had squandered the enormous
goodwill he enjoyed at the beginning.
His was indeed a classical case of a fall from
grace to grass



http://www.dawodu.com/agbambu1.htm

The Supreme Court has fixed May 27 for
judgment in the appeal filed by the governorship
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in the August 9, 2014 governorship election in
Osun State, Iyiola Omisore.
Omisore is challenging the April 2, 2015 decision
of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the
judgment of the Osun Governorship Election
Tribunal, which upheld the victory of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate,
Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in the election.
At the hearing Thursday, parties adopted their
briefs, after which the court adjourned to May 27
for judgment.
Omisore, dressed in white native attire, witnessed
the proceedings that lasted about three hours.
Alex Iziyon (SAN), who led five other senior
advocates for the appellant, urged the court to
set aside the concurrent judgments of the two
lower courts (the tribunal and Court of Appeal)
and allow the two appeals filed against the Court
of Appeal’s decisions on the main appeal and the
cross-appeal.
Iziyon argued that both the tribunal and the
Court of Appeal identified irregularities
characterising the conduct of the election but
refused to make the proper findings concerning
them.
He said:”The trial court said it identified
irregularities but the Court of Appeal did not
make any finding as it ought to do in respect of
alleged irregularities in the election. We
complained about the analysis of irregularities by
the court below, but our complaint was ignored,”
he said.
Iziyon further argued that the Court of Appeal
misapplied the doctrines of burden of proof/
onus of proof.
“We urge this court (Supreme Court) to hold that
lack of finding on the irregularities led to
miscarriage justice,” he said.
Former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF),
Akin Olujinmi SAN, who led Kola Awodein SAN
for Aregbesola, urged the court to dismiss the
appeals.
He asked the court to uphold the cross appeal he
filed.
He argued that there was nothing on which the
appeals by Omisore could be assessed because
all the evidence he led at the tribunal punctured
and his witnesses thoroughly discredited.
He argued that the appellant failed, before the
tribunal to discharge the onus of proving its case
beyond reasonable doubt as required.
Olujinmi also raised objection to the appeals and
urged the court to dismiss them on the ground
that the appellant changed the name of a party
to the case, APC to All Peoples Progressives
Party, without the leave of the court.
“This is a case in which the appellants called 43
witnesses and only seven were party agents. The
rest were called supervisors. The PW15 and
PW35 which they called experts said ‘we derived
our evidence from what our agents told us’.
“The evidence is clearly hearsay and there was
no way the tribunal could have made any use of
it other than to treat as a mere hearsay. The
seven party agents called were discredited. PW1
who was their star witness, said he was told
what he told there court.
“The so called experts admitted that their reports
were false. My lordship, there is no evidence to
rely on in order to sustain to the petition. My
question is there any element of evidence to rely
on to get this court allow these appeals? My
answer is none,” Olujinmi said.
Lawyer to APC, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN who
argued in similar vein, contended that the
judgment of the courts below could not be
faulted as the Court of Appeal held in its
judgment that the reports of the appellant’s
purported expert witnesses could not pass as
expert report.
“In rejecting their reports, the Court of Appeal
held that there was no expertise and that any
literate person could make the deduction. They
were not experts. There is no technical or
scientific deduction in the reports. The findings
of the court below cannot be faulted.
“No portion of the judgment where the court
agreed that there were irregularities. There is no
such finding on record at the tribunal or at the
court of appeal, there was no such finding,” he
said.
Akeredolu urged the Supreme Court not to tinker
with the concurrent finding of the tribunal and
the Court of Appeal.
Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Adegboyega Awomolo
(SAN), also urged the court to dismiss the
appeals and uphold the findings of the tribunal
and lower court.
He contended that, as against the argument by
Iziyon, INEC needed not to have led evidence
when the entire petitioner’s evidence was
discredited.




http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/supreme-court-to-deliver-judgment-in-omisore-s-appeal-on-may-27/208800/

Jerome Boateng is never going to live down
being absolutely mugged off by Lionel
Messi.
The Bayern Munich defender ended up
collapsing in a heap against Messi during
the Champions League semi-final first leg
defeat to Barcelona.
Messi scored the second after twisting
Boateng up, and after the memes flooded in
suggesting he killed him, somebody has
edited Boateng’s Wikipedia page to reflect
his death.
There was even an in-depth section
explaining exactly how he was killed, which
was swiftly removed by moderators.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/07/jerome-boateng-listed-as-dead-on-wikipedia-after-lionel-messi-destroys-him-during-barcelona-v-bayern-5184954/

and unfortunately, this kind of informative and educative update won't make front page on nairaland... @ Seun

Too often, we tend to base our judgement on what we think or what we understand and not on what happened, even with a total level of dignity we tend to celebrate those who achieve success through dubious manners making victims speechless and helpless.It was the evening of July 9th, 2006. This was the world cup final between France and Italy. More than 750millions football fans are ready to watch the match and also to see off one of the best footballers to grace the game. The stage was set for Zinedine Zidane to make his exit, he scored a well taken penalty and after the scoreline leveled to 1-1, that was when one of the most funny and heartbreaking scenario occur, the English commentator said "I can抰 believe this, Zidane's career is in disgrace'' because he head butted Marco Materazzi.Many took it personal because they couldn't understand why a footballer of such calibre will do that on the game's highest stage. With his action, Zidane抯 name was dragged to mud and not until after the match which was won by Italy; many do not care about what really happened between Marco and Zidane. 燤arco must have said something really offensive, because while Zidane was leaving the pitch he showed no sense of remorse at all.Marco Materazzi became a national hero after the 2006 world cup for Italy and Zidane became Judas who betrayedhis nation due to what many considered 損rotection of his own honour" over national honour.There are many stories attached to what really happened, many said Marco insulted Zidane抯 mother, while many said Marco insulted Zidane抯 sister, but according to a documentary titled : 50 MOST SHOCKING MOMENTS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY ,one of the commentators said there was a rumour about Zidane ,that 爓hile he was playing with Juventus FC , did something crazy with some merchants and Lippo was his coach then, which was the Italian side coach in the final against France had earlier toldMarco to mention this to Zidane just to see what the reaction would be and obviously we all saw his reaction.Zidane himself narrated his part on this issue and of course tendered his apology to the children who shouldn't see him do the head but especially on a world stage like that but he refused to apologise to Marco and agree to die than to apologise.In his words; "Things happen on the pitch. It's happened to me many times. But I could not stand it there. It is not an excuse. But my mother was ill. She was in hospital. This people did not know. "But it was a bad time. More than once they insulted my mother and I never responded. And [then] it happened. To apologise for this? No. If it was Kak�, a regular guy, a good guy, of course I would have apologised. But not to this one. "If I ask him forgiveness, I lack respect for myself and for all those I hold dear with all my heart. I apologise to football, to the fans, to the team."After the game, I went into the dressing room and told them: 'Forgive me. This doesn't change anything. But sorry everyone.' "But to him I cannot. Never, never. It would be to dishonour me. I'd rather die"Marco said he insulted Zidane's sister and not the mother, in his own words, Materazzi said that when Zidane offered to give him his France jersey after the final whistle, in response persistent shirt-tugging by the Italian, he had replied: "I would prefer your sister." Materazzi insisted however that he should not be blamed for sparking the incident. "I did not cause it," he told Gazzetta. "I answered verbally with a provocation to defend myself.� Yes, I was tugging his shirt, but when he said to me scornfully 'If you want my shirt so much I'll give it to you afterwards' is that not a provocation? I answered that I'd prefer his sister, it's true. "It's not a particularly nice thing to say, I recognize that. But loads of players say worse things ... I didn't even know he had a sister before all this happened," added Materazzi.All said and done, the question this author tends to answeris simple but very logic because in a scene like this many tend to blame Zidane far more than Materazzi who of course was the architect of this disturbing issue.Was Materazzi right to insult Zidane's sister, at least which was what he said? And was Zidane right to head butt Marco? 燴idane was wrong and his actions aren't justifiable but Materazzi deserves to be well punished for his utterances whether is against Zidane抯 mother or sister, what is wrong is wrong and nothing justifies what is wrong. His club and country took no action on his utterances, making him to be justified, the French society took it serious and many still hold Zidane responsible for the loss for protecting his mother or sister has the case maybe.The Italian society does not look presentable by celebrating Marco who couldn't act in a cultured manner byinsulting an opposition family member during a game of football, if Marco had been punished it would be a good signal to the rest of the world that Football is just a game but respect is not.




http://www.elombah.com/elombah/detail.php?world=32204

this should be in Jokes section not FP.

CC: Seun

yokiti:
Mabra0, titilayodeji13, Ifyzo and wentworth123, please, come and teach us how to explore the land of Honour with pride and dignity.

Kubwa camp is one of the best,camp activities will be at its peak tho many soldiers actually don't know who you are cos there will be sons and
daughters of top Nigerians and also make sure you part take in the camp and platoon activities, this really helped my reposting from Abaji to National Universities Commission.


All the best.

The Islamic State (IS) has released a new video,
eulogising Nigeria's Boko Haram, in the latest
sign of closer ties between the two militant
groups.
Images posted on IS-linked social media accounts
refer to Boko Haram as the Islamic State's West
Africa Province (Iswap) - a catchy name aimed at
showing that it has expanded beyond the Middle
East and North Africa.
IS accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko
Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in March, giving
the group its first foothold in sub-Saharan Africa
in its efforts to create a global caliphate.
The latest images glorify Boko Haram fighters,
describing those killed in battle as martyrs.
Unlike most previous pictures of people Boko
Haram claims as its members, the young men are
not masked and their faces are clearly visible.
Growing alliance:
Boko Haram has previously referred to itself as
Iswap in its increasingly sophisticated
propaganda material.
But it is unclear whether Mr Shekau approves of
the name-change, in an organisation with a
diffused leadership structure.
He still calls Boko Haram by its official name
Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad,
which in Arabic means "People Committed to the
Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and
Jihad".
Boko Haram is a nickname, given to it by
Nigerians when it was formed in 2002. In the
regional Hausa language, Boko Haram means
Western education is forbidden. It reflected what
was then the main focus of the group.
If IS becomes more active in Boko Haram's
affairs, the group's tactics could change and give
the conflict in Nigeria a new dimension.
But Boko Haram has in recent months
encountered a revitalised Nigerian army which,
with the backing of regional forces, has regained
dozens of towns in the north-east.
'Toughest battle'
The jihadists have since retreated to the vast
Sambisa forest - one of its last major hideouts.
However, it would be naive on the part of
Nigeria's authorities to think it is on the brink of
victory.
Even before it began its quest to control territory
last year, Boko Haram had already established
itself as a deadly group, carrying out numerous
attacks across northern Nigeria.
And Nigerian troops are already encountering a
mine-infested forest, slowing down their offensive
against the group.
It is likely that Boko Haram fighters understand
the terrain of this expansive and largely dense
forest better than the military does.
So the Nigerian military is likely to face its
toughest battle yet. In the past, it made
exaggerated claims of success and promises that
it could not deliver on.
For instance, it promised to secure the freedom of
the more than 200 Chibok girls captured by Boko
Haram - and even announced that a ceasefire had
been negotiated with the militants to pave the
way for their release.
More than a year later, the girls are still in
captivity and fighting has continued, killing
thousands of people and destroying whole
villages in the north-east.
So, military officials have become more cautious
in their public statements. They cannot afford to
over-promise and under-deliver once again.



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32435614

MrMcJay:
Hmmn...

That dude has been browsing her website for 5 years without putting a ring on it. Fiancee for 5 years?
If the 'courtship' is lasting for half a decade, when is the marriage gonna take place?

Oritsefemi has seen everything she has to offer and he is clearly not ready to walk down the aisle with her.

Just imagine.
Assuming he gets down with her 3 times a week, that is

3/Week X 52 Weeks X 5years

780 Times!!!

Even if na MTN free browsing he dey use, dem for don bock am!

Apologies or no apologies, she has a brain and she should know when to move on.

She is a very beautiful girl with a great future ahead, she shoudn't waste it on someone like Oritsefemi.

Abacha participated in his first coup at 23 years
Zuckerberg became a billionaire at 23
One 24-year od guy in Unilag got a Ph.D in Maths
Oritsefemi is nearly 40 and he hasn't yet decided the color to dye his beards.

Girl, move on with your life let him grow up.

This is what we are saying,just look at how this guy has out rightly eulogise his words and gave out a bold advice ,you are one of the reasons why this generation will be far better than other generations, You deserve a standing ovation for this.

If you have been following the debate during the just-concluded elections, then I don’t need to tell you my preferred candidate was President Goodluck Jonathan and not General Buhari. I wrote quite a number of articles warningNigerians about the candidature of General Buhari in particular and the APC in general. Now that the elections have been won by the APC and lost by the PDP, some triumphalist APC supporters have been asking if I intend to gointo exile.No such luck! Since they did not go into exile in the era of Jonathan, neither will people like me go into exile in the era of Buhari. I intend to remain here in Nigeria, the country of my birth, asking when the president-elect will make the naira equal to the dollar, as he promised grandiloquently during the election campaign; and when he will unilaterally increase the international price of oil.My self-appointed job will be that of APC Remembrancer. I will not allow our president-elect to forget that he promised to give a handout of 5,000 naira to the poorest 20 million Nigerians; that he promised to feed all the children in public primary and secondary schools; that he promised to create one million jobs for Igbo youths by revamping the huge coal deposits in Enugu State for electricity generation and export; and that he said he will give unemployment benefit to Nigeria’s jobless youths; among other highfalutin promises.Make no mistake about it; the APC will not be allowed to go scot-free from all the lies it told and mischief it caused in its suicide-bomber approach to the election campaign. Buhari’s supporters need to understand that the democratic process neither begins nor ends with elections. It is a continuing process, not amenable to winner-take-all constructs. When a new government comes into power, the opposition does not disappear. Neither does it become silent. No! The opposition goes into opposition. It keeps the government on its toes. It ensures that the new government remains accountable to the people and to its mandate.No hyperboleThe point needs to be made that Buhari did not win by a landslide. He only received 52.4% of the votes cast. This margin hardly provides grounds for the hyperbolic cheer-leading that has since overcome some of his more acerbic supporters. Contrary to their triumphant chorale, the other 47.6% of the electorate who do not care for Buhari and did notvote for him are not going to disappear because of his victory. Neither will they remain dumbfounded by Jonathan’s defeat.Then there is the other category of people like me who did noteven vote at all. Indeed, I for one did not even register to vote. Nevertheless, all of us remain vital parts of the democratic process. Freedom of expression in Nigeria was neither abrogated nor defeated by the election. Therefore, our voices will continue to be heard during the next four years.In short, president-elect Buhari should enjoy his honeymoon while it lasts. But very soon, he will come to know the difference between being a president and being a military dictator. What goes around comes around. If his supporters can call President Jonathan clueless for six years, they should not burst a gasket if some people decide to call President Buhari “mumu” for the next four years.Declaration of warWhat we have been confronted with in this election cycle is a political party determined to say and do anything, in order to capture the presidency. Accordingly, El-Rufai promised that: “The (2015) election is likely to be violent and many people are likely going to die.” Rotimi Amaechi said: “We shall teach them lesson. We will fight with our body, with our lives because there must be change this time.”In effect, in a single-minded lust for power, APC declared imminent war on Nigeria and served notice that it was prepared to set the country on fire and even form a parallel government if it did not prevail. It sent emissaries to our alliesabroad running down the country. It even used the national tragedy of the kidnapping of our Chibok schoolgirls as a political weapon with which to browbeat the PDP.Short shrift was made of democratic niceties. While APC supporters were free to campaign in the South, PDP supporters were molested up North. PDP campaign buses were set on fire. PDP billboards were destroyed. Nobody threatened Buhari in the South, even in places like PDP-controlled Cross River. However, Jonathan was stoned in the North, even in PDP-controlled Bauchi. As a result, foreigners packed their bags and headed home. Non-indigenes went back to their states. Investors sold their shares and took their monies offshore.APC publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, came up every so often with all kinds of ludicrous fabrications about how PDP planned to rig the election. One of the most outrageous to date was the allegation that PDP used disappearing ink on the ballot papers of APC supporters in Ekiti. The PDP was also alleged to have imported one Gyora Berger from Israel, with the mandate to jam all the card-readers in the North West and the North-East.INEC rigmaroleAnd yet, while all this outrageous allegations were being made, the real rigging had already been fine-tuned by INEC’s lopsided allocation of permanent voter cards. 30,447,943 PVCs were allegedly collected up North, while only 21,785,450 were allegedly collected down South. This means 60% of Nigeria’s voting population is now up North, while only40% is down South. Even the most contentious of Nigeria’s population census has never come up with this kind of supremacy for the North. Given the attacks, threats and intimidation of PDP supporters up North, it was obvious that this skewed PVC census was front-loaded to make the election of General Buhari inevitable.Thus, we watched as widespread under-age voting took placein the North. We watched as INEC changed the rules midway into the election, allowing manual accreditation up North, while millions of voters were disenfranchised down South through the contrived malfunction of the card-readers. We watched while Kano delivered 1.9 million votes to Buhari, miraculously without a single vote being cancelled. We watched as Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi and Jigawa delivered their heavy tonnage of votes, while states like Anambra, Imo and Abia became a shadow of past voting patterns.Nevertheless, all the brouhaha came from the South; and from the APC. The APC not only turned out to be dubious winners, they equally turned out to be sore losers. PDP chose not to contest obviously flawed elections where it was declared the loser. Even in Lagos, where the APC Oba turned the governorship election into an ethnic contest by threatening to drown the Igbo in the lagoon if the APC candidate was defeated, Jimi Agbaje chose to overlook the sharp practices of the APC and to accept his rigged defeat.In th end, the APC is said to have carried the day in some 21 states to the PDP’s 8. Nevertheless, the APC is not satisfied. It is the party that continues to contest the polls where it did not prevail. The PDP is prepared to overlook the questionable figures proclaimed for the APC in states like Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Buachi and Jigawa. It no longer draws attention to the widespread under-age voting that took place in the North. But the APC would like us to know that the election was rigged in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia. As far as it is concerned, the election is only free and fair when and if the APC wins.It is no wonder, therefore, that the hero of the hour is actually not General Buhari, who prevailed in a flawed election, but President Jonathan, who accepted defeat in a flawed election. That is something Buhari refused to do on three previous occasions when he was defeated. Indeed, after his last defeat in 2011, he gave speeches that provoked riots and killings. He went further to promise us that his defeat this time round would be attended by soaking dogs and baboons in blood. But Jonathan fulfilled his pledge not to allow his ambition to lead to the death of any Nigerian.Verdict of victoryThe jury is still out on whether those of us who supported Jonathan against Buhari were right or wrong. That verdict is not answered by election results. The verdict will only be revealed over the coming four years of the Buhari administration. Buhari and the APC made quite a number of promises during the campaign. Most of these promises were made for the singular purpose of winning the election. Some of those promises are already being jettisoned, even as we speak. There is already an insidious attempt to tamp down the unrealistic expectations of change the APC built up duringthe campaign.Buhari now says he might not be able to bring back our Chibok girls after all. How come we were not told this during the election? He says Boko Haram will be confronted with “the collective will” of the Nigerian people. But the same Buhari undermined this collective will in the PDP era. He maintained the insurgency was a Southern conspiracy maliciously designed to undermine the North. He even insisted that the insurgents be given the same golden handshakes as the Niger Delta militants. For his part, MurtalaNyako of APC declared outright that Boko Haram is “a phantom.”I make no apologies for choosing to rain so early on the victory parade of exuberant Buhari supporters. Nothing aboutthe election result has altered my view that the change the APC proclaims is counterfeit. APC has only succeeded in selling 15.4 million Nigerians a fake bill of goods. It did a masterful job in convincing some that it represents the change we have all been yearning for. However, as Nigerians now begin to open the cartons of the goods sold and bought during the campaign, they will soon discover that they have been conned. Sooner, rather than later, Nigerians will begin torealise what it means to vote against good luck.


http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/?p=167376

raayah:
That girls name is Cynthia , we went to high school together. I am not defending her but she has always been light skinned and beautiful. She didnt bleach

I think the brightness /flash in the camera makes the difference in the pictures.

adjust ur glasses dear

The Grammy-award winning rapper
Nelly was arrested on felony drug
charges on Saturday after a Tennessee
state trooper stopped his tour bus and
found illegal drugs, authorities said.
The rapper’s motor coach was stopped on
Saturday morning on Interstate 40 in
Putnam county for not displaying legally
required stickers, when a state trooper
smelled marijuana from the vehicle, the
Tennessee Department of Safety and
Homeland Security said.
A search turned up methamphetamine, a
small amount of marijuana and drug
paraphernalia, as well as several
handguns.
Nelly was charged with felony possession
of drugs, simple possession of marijuana
and possession of drug paraphernalia,
the department said. One other man in
the coach was also arrested and charged.
In 2012 authorities discovered marijuana,
heroin and a loaded gun on the rapper’s
tour bus at a border patrol checkpoint in
west Texas. A member of the singer’s
entourage took responsibility for the
items and was arrested. Others on the
bus including Nelly were released.
Nelly, 40, whose real name is Cornell
Haynes, has performed in several movies
and was named by Billboard magazine in
2009 as one of the top artists of the
decade.



http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/12/rapper-nelly-arrested-on-drug-charges

adioolayi:
E ni oriyo, o di'le ! Safety first

Safety always.

Corps Members Get N13,000
For Guber Poll – NYSC
— Apr 7, 2015 | 0 Comments
The National Youth Service Crps has
stated that corps members will
participate in the conduct of the
gubernatorial election will received
N13,000.
In a press release signed by the NYSC
Director of Press and Public Relation,
Mrs Olubunmi Aderibigbe, explained
that corps member was entitled to a
sum of N13,000.00 only which breaks
down to N9,000.00, N3,000.00 and
N1,000.00 for honoraria, transportation
and feeding respectively.
stated as false information making
round that the allowance due to corps
members that participated in the 2015
General Elections was N53,500.00.
“The attention of the NYSC
Management has been drawn to an
online publication misinforming Corps
members that the allowance due to
them for participation in the 2015
General Elections is N53,500.00. The
originator of the false publication is
also mobilizing them to shun the next
election on 11 April unless this total
sum is fully paid.
“Our preliminary investigation has so
far indicated that this publication did
not emanate from our Corps members
and it is a mischievous circulation by
some unscrupulous elements to
discourage Corps members from
participating in the next election for
whatever reasons best known to them.
“To correct the misinformation,
Management hereby wishes to put the
record straight for public awareness
and restate to Corps members in clear
terms their true entitlement for the
elections. The allowances for each
Corps member is as follows:
“Training allowance of Four Thousand
Five Hundred Naira (N4,500.00) only
paid directly by INEC to Corps
members for the training held before
elections.
“For each of the two elections, a Corps
member is entitled to a sum of
N13,000.00 only which breaks down to
N9,000.00, N3,000.00 and N1,000.00
for honoraria, transportation and
feeding respectively. This implies that
for the two elections, the total
allowance due to each Corps member
is N26,000.00 only,” it said.
It added that the fund for these was
approved by INEC and remitted directly
into each of the NYSC state
Secretariat’s account a week before the
Presidential and National Assembly
Elections.
The statement revealed that the
amount of N13,000.00 for the
Presidential and National Assembly
Elections has been paid and urged
Corps member who could not receive
the payment to make complaint
through the necessary channels.
“Also, Management has directed that
the N13,000 allowance for the 11 April
Gubernatorial and State Assembly
Elections should be paid in advance by
all NYSC State Secretariats latest by
Friday 10 April 2015,” it said.
It however warned that Corps members
who was suppose to participated in the
April 11 election and opted out after
receiving the advance payment, the
paid amount will be deducted from
their April 2015 monthly allowance.


http://leadership.ng/news/423787/corps-members-get-n13000-for-guber-poll-nysc

Oba of lagos, Rilwan Akiolu has warned that any Igbo residents who vote against the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Akinwunmi Ambode in Saturday’s poll in Lagos willdie.Akiolu, who summoned all Eze Ndigbo in Lagos State to his palace on Sunday warned that he would not have anyone or Igbo men stop Ambode from becoming governor.“On Saturday, if any one of you goes against Ambode who I picked, that is your end. If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I am a bastard and it’s not my father who gave birth to me.“Jonathan is my son and I speak to him every day, by the grace of God, I am the owner of Lagos for the time being. This is an undivided chair. The palace belongs to the dead and those coming in the future. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear inthe name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water.“I am not ready to beg you. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi is my blood relation and I toldhim that he can never be governor in Lagos for now. The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody, but what you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere, if you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosperous for you, if yougo against my wish, you will perish in the water,” he stated.According to Akiolu, he is for the progress, growth and development in Lagos and that Ambode is a cerebral, “he’s a symbol and he is going to deliver the message which I the Oba of Lagos have said. And he will govern the state for another eight years. He is going on a mission and God will give him the wisdom and knowledge to fulfil that mission.“Almost a year ago, I declared that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos and it will not change. From time immemorial, the previous occupiers of this house will say what they wanted after consultation with other people. And this hasn’t change and it will not change at this time.”Akiolu said politicians don’t quarrel but disagree to agree on issues that concern the development of the country, saying that if not for the appeal from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Awujale of Ijebu-Ode, “all these that is happening today is not the cause of the present government. The man who caused everything knows himself.”“They are part and parcel of us, after he must have been defeated, if he (Agbaje) has any good thing for the state he should present it. They are all the same thing. Politics has come and it will go. I don’t wish him bad because he is part and parcel of this state. There is no going back on Ambode,” he said.“And because of Ambode, I went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia and I gave all the groups there $250, 000 to pray for Ambode. So, how can I say something andsome people will go against it.“For the Igbos and others in Lagos, they should go where the Oba of Lagos head to. When they were coming to the state, they didn’t come with all their houses. But now they have properties in the state. So they must do my bidding. And that is the bidding of the ancestors of Lagos and God,” he said.On Buhari, Akiolu said it was God who chose him, saying that the God who chose him would be with him as it was God who decided the outcome of the polls, appealing to him not to let the trust bestowedon him by Nigerians fail.“All that Lagos has lost since 1960 till now, with this, God has opened the way and it will begin to come. I know he is a capable hand and God will be with him. It is government of progress,” he said.

http://www.africanexaminer.com/oba-of-lagos-to-igbo-youll-die-if-you-vote-against-ambode/

Participating Corps member for the forth coming elections are to be paid 32,000 naira

source The Nation Newspapers, of the 25th of March,2015 page 5

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ߓ⢚ʊDear friend, Please be informed of an impending security exercise tagged “SHOW OF FORCE” by government security agencies across the country.
Exercise is being carried out as part of efforts to ensure maximum security before, during and after the forthcoming general elections.

Thus, kindly find below important information and security tips tips.   

1. As at today, the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies have been put on high alert and they are expected to conduct periodic and random searches on people, vehicles and various hotspots. Thus, we are therefore advised to cooperate with them during this period; do not abuse security agents, obstruct their work, or resist them unnecessarily to avoid unfortunate repercussions. We have been informed that the Show of Force exercise also authorizes a Shoot-at-Sight order, if necessary

2.    There will be restricted movement of people in the hours leading to, and during the March 28th Presidential elections and April 11th Gubernatorial elections. Thus, we are advised to observe and comply with these directives for our personal safety

3.    We are advised to adequately stock our homes with required food items during the election period, in case of emergencies, imposed curfews or other threats that may arise after the elections

4. If you are registered to vote and have your Permanent Voters Card, you are advised to go early to the Polling Centers, get accredited, cast your votes and leave the vicinity immediately for your homes to await the results

5. Please do not cluster around polling centers and stay away from groups and bunch of people, no matter the discussion or incident that may have attracted them together

6. Begin now to gather information about your environment and feel the pulse around your intended voting center. Study your polling unit, and if it's packed with miscreants, thugs and unknown faces, steer clear; remember that your life matters more than the vote

7. Dress responsibly and avoid adorning any political attire, party logos etc. to prevent mistaken identity and possible victimization. Please remember that no campaign is allowed during elections. Avoid wearing politically branded T shirts, caps or bearing handbills, posters, pamphlets and banners of candidates. This can pose as a risk.

8. Avoid joining in on inciting discussions at the voting center which may be capable of fanning the embers of political discord amongst the political parties and their agents

9. Stay away from parked cars and abandoned packages, luggage etc.

10. Do not buy drinks, snacks, etc. around polling centers, nor should you share/receive consumables or gifts from anyone at the polling centers. If you sense danger or suspect any foul play, report to the approved Security Agents. Don’t take the law into your own hands!

11. Avoid taking your vehicle, kids or expensive jewelries and other personal belongings to the polling centers

12. As part of security arrangements, church halls should be vacated after every church service within 1 hour. Brethren should not be allowed to hang or cluster around the church hall or entrances after services or programs

13. Vehicles should not be allowed to park close to the entrances of the church facilities for pick up or drop off
You are encouraged to be extra-vigilant and law-abiding during this period.

Further information will be provided as the elections draw near.

Take this information very serious. Kindly share this information and REMEMBER: YOUR VOTE IS NOT FOR SALE. VOTE WISELY!

if you plan on sticking with your spouse, then you're also stuck with your in-laws,here is my advice for dealing with your new extended family:*.There can be no divided loyalties.
When you get married and start your own family, that's where your primary loyalty needs to be.*.

Good fences make good neighbors. Your in-laws need to be your neighbors and there need to be really good fences up. Set boundaries about when they are and are not invited into your lives.*.Y f you plan on sticking with your spouse, then you're also stuck with your in-laws. Here's Dr. Phil's advice for dealing with your new extended family:*.There can be no divided loyalties. When you get married and start your own family, that's where your primary loyalty needs to be.*.Good fences make good neighbors. Your in-laws need to be your neighbors and there need to be really good fences up. Set boundaries about when they are and are not invited into your lives.*.You've got a finite amount of physical and emotional energy. If your in-laws are draining you, you may need to change the boundaries. Reassure them that you are not closing them out, you are simply focusing on yourselves.*.Once you've set boundaries, talk to your parents about them. They're not as fragile as you may think.*.The other woman in every man's life is his mother.If your husband starts in with: "Well, my mother does it this way ..." then tell him to go over and sleep with her.*.If a wife has a problem with her mother-in-law, it's the husband who needs to step in and help fix it. Likewise, if a husband doesn't see eye-to-eye with his in-laws, his wife needs to step in. The person with the primary relationship (the son or daughter, not the in-law) needs to be the messenger.*.Negotiate with your own partner the role that you want your in-laws to have. Don't assume you're on the same page until you talk about it.*.Try not to criticize your spouse for his/her relationship with his/her parents. It may only lead to more clinginess or complications.*.You need to love your parents, and have a rich andactive relationship with them, but any time that you turn away from your partner to resolve a relationship issue, that's a bad thing. If you have a problem in the marriage, you need to resolve it in the marriage.*.Keep in mind that your parents only know what you tell them. If you go to them every time you're angry, and frustrated and having problems in your marriage, they hear that, but they don't hear when you make up.From The Show ou've got a finite amount of physical and emotional energy. If your in-laws are draining you, you may need to change the boundaries. Reassure them that you are not closing them out, you are simply focusing on yourselves.*.Once you've set boundaries, talk to your parents about them. They're not as fragile as you may think.*.The other woman in every man's life is his mother.If your husband starts in with: "Well, my mother does it this way ..." then tell him to go over and sleep with her.*.If a wife has a problem with her mother-in-law, it's the husband who needs to step in and help fix it. Likewise, if a husband doesn't see eye-to-eye with his in-laws, his wife needs to step in. The person with the primary relationship (the son or daughter, not the in-law) needs to be the messenger.*.Negotiate with your own partner the role that you want your in-laws to have. Don't assume you're on the same page until you talk about it.*.Try not to criticize your spouse for his/her relationship with his/her parents. It may only lead to more clinginess or complications.*.You need to love your parents, and have a rich andactive relationship with them, but any time that you turn away from your partner to resolve a relationship issue, that's a bad thing. If you have a problem in the marriage, you need to resolve it in the marriage.*.Keep in mind that your parents only know what you tell them. If you go to them every time you're angry, and frustrated and having problems in your marriage, they hear that, but they don't hear when you make up.

Success ahead

ONE month ago, the APC had whipped its
supporters into frenzy in believing it is bound to
win an election it really has no chance of winning.
In truth, if the election had been conducted then
for chairman of the EFCC, Muhammadu Buhari
would have been declared winner by a landslide.
However, with postponement of the election, a lot
of water has passed under the bridge. Even
Buhari’s self-styled credential as Mr. Integrity has
unraveled.
Buhari’s entire campaign posture for the 2015
presidential election stands on two shaky
grounds. He fashions himself as Mr. Integrity; the
implacable enemy of corruption in Nigeria. He is
the one who reportedly is going to ensure that
corruption is a thing of the past in Nigeria. He is
also the one who is going to destroy the Boko
Haram in the twinkling of an eye; even though a
number of months ago, he was negotiating for
amnesty and golden handshakes for the
insurgents, and they nominated him as their
preferred middleman in any truce negotiation with
Nigeria.
Buhari’s disappearance
Things have not gone too well for the Buhari
campaign since the postponement of the election.
He did not help things by disappearing off the
political radar for virtually two weeks. By the time
he re-surfaced, Boko Haram was toast. We no
longer needed Buhari’s vain promissory notes to
deal with the insurgency. One after another, town
after town were recovered from the Boko Haram.
In many respects, they have been routed as the
Nigerian army came into its own after having
received its new consignment of weapons.
As a result, we are no longer hearing anything
from Buhari about whipping Boko Haram. All he
had left was his anti-corruption mantra. But that
one also came to grief with the airing of AIT’s
tripartite documentary entitled: “The Lion of
Bourdillon.” This alleged that Bola Tinubu, the
self-styled national leader of the APC, is steeped
in corruption. It claims Tinubu is the biggest
landlord in Lagos, and maintains he has acquired
so much property through very sharp practices.
While the veracity of these allegations is yet to be
ascertained beyond reasonable doubt, the
documentary has brought to the fore the flies in
the anti-corruption ointment of Buhari. The truth
is that corruption in Nigeria is not the exclusive
preserve of the PDP. It is also the chronic ailment
of the APC. Neither is corruption only the malaise
of the Federal Government; it is equally the
malaise of state governments, including those
ruled by the APC. Indeed, Murtala Nyako of the
APC was impeached and removed as governor of
Adamawa State partly because it was alleged that
he had corruptly enriched himself with
government funds.
The question then is this: Does Buhari’s so-called
zero-tolerance for corruption extend to his APC
colleagues? Will Buhari, in the unlikely event that
he becomes president, go after APC thieves as
well as PDP thieves? Or will he turn a blind eye to
APC thieves and molly-cuddle them? Suddenly,
the anti-corruption searchlight turned on to Buhari
and his friends, and just as suddenly, we
discovered what some of us have always known:
that Buhari, the Emperor of Anti-Corruption, has
no clothes.
Buhari’s response to the issue of corruption in
APC ranks reeked with sheer hypocrisy and
double-standards. Like charity, Buhari’s anti-
corruption must begin at home in the APC if it is
to be credible. However, Buhari is not inclined to
prosecute his friends. Instead, he came up with a
pronouncement that virtually rubbished his anti-
corruption posture. He said: “Whoever that is
indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of
swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to
draw a line, anybody who involved himself in
corruption after I assume office, will face the
music.”
Insurance for corrupt supporters
This means as long as you steal money between
1999 and 2011, you have nothing to fear under a
Buhari presidency. This is, of course, an
insurance policy for his corrupt supporters,
assuring them that they would have nothing to
fear by giving him their vote. Buhari did not come
out in strident support of Bola Tinubu. He did not
come out to tell the world that, contrary to the
AIT documentary, the Bola Tinubu he knows is a
man of unimpeachable integrity. Instead, he told
the world that if there are thieves among his
friends, they can rest assured that he would
pardon their thievery.
When President Jonathan pardoned the former
governor of Bayelsa, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a
man who had been convicted of corruption and
was a refugee from justice from Britain, Nigerians
were incensed. This was rightly seen as the
president condoning corruption. One would have
thought this kind of thing would not occur with a
man who talks anti-corruption day and night.
However, in the case of Buhari, he would not only
pardon one corrupt associate, he would pardon
them all.
When asked how he was going to get funds to
revitalise the economy, Buhari stated that he was
going to get all corrupt past leaders and officials
cough out their stolen money. This was nothing
but a nonsensical policy. It is bizarre and odd for
Buhari to think he can run Nigeria, revamp the
educational system for example, by recovering
stolen money. Where will he get this money
from? Who will give it to him? Would such
recovered money not amount to a storm in the
teacup?
But now that he has dumped this anti-corruption
charade in favour of a blanket pardon for the
corrupt, it is clear that political reality is beginning
to erode Buhari’s highfalutin campaign
grandstanding. It is equally significant that
Buhari’s new stance on corruption comes
coincidentally after AIT documentary on “The Lion
of Bourdillon,” where one of his most important
allies was accused of corruption. Clearly, it is high
time Buhari stopped deluding Nigerians that he is
genuinely anti-corruption and that he can
eradicate corruption in Nigeria by sending corrupt
politicians to jail.
Buhari was Nigeria’s head-of-state for a period of
18 months in the 1980s. At the time, he ran so
rough-shod over the Nigerian judicial system that
the Nigerian Bar Association proscribed Nigerian
lawyers from appearing in any of Buhari’s
kangaroo courts. Buhari sent both corrupt and
non-corrupt politicians to jail, sometimes for up to
300 years. Nevertheless, corruption was not
eradicated. It continued unabated because it was
not addressed structurally. Even the practice
under Obasanjo of shooting armed robbers by
firing squad in Bar Beach failed to stop armed
robbery. All it did was to brutalise the Nigerian
public.
Jonathan’s effective approach
Surely, the more reasonable and effective method
is to remove the avenues for corruption. This is
what Goodluck Jonathan has been doing. He has
sanitized the payroll system by removing some
50,000 ghost-workers, saving the country a
whopping N200 billion in the first instance. He
has removed the fertilizer middlemen; saving
Nigeria hundreds of billions of naira. He has
sanitized the electoral register. Over three million
ghost voters have been removed; one million in
Zamfara State alone. He is going after corruption
in the oil sector with the Petroleum Industry Bill.
In the vainglorious case of Buhari, it did not help
matters that he fought corruption with corruption.
He interfered blatantly in the judicial process. The
judge who sent Fela to jail later went to apologise
to him in hospital afterwards that he did it under
government duress. Nevertheless, some members
of the Nigerian public, baying for the blood of
corrupt politicians, hanker back to the high-
handed days of the Buhari era, when the human
rights of innocent Nigerians were violated on the
altar of anti-corruption, and some Nigerians were
even judicially murdered under heinous
retroactive decrees.
What Buhari is not telling them is that he has no
power to do this under today’s democratic
dispensation. Buhari goes on the stomp and
says: “When we come into power, anyone who
steals Nigerian money will end up in Kirikiri
Maximum Prisons. We are going to make sure
that Nigeria’s wealth belongs only to Nigerians.”
But the truth of the matter is that, in a
democracy, the president does not have the
judicial power to send anybody to Kirikiri. If the
EFCC does not prosecute, the president cannot
become the chairman of the EFCC. If the judges
do not convict, Buhari cannot transform himself
into a judge.
Deceived electorate
All those who have been deceived into believing
that Buhari will just become president and begin
to lock up corrupt politicians left, right and centre
are dreaming. In the unlikely event that Buhari
becomes president, he will neither have the power
to do so, nor the inclination to do so. The reason
is simple: many of the thieves are his friends and
allies in the APC. Buhari talks change, but he is
running around with the old breed of politicians.
You can always tell a lot about a man by the
composition and character of his friends.
Buhari fashions himself as Mr. Integrity,
nevertheless, he was not averse to serve under
Sani Abacha, one of the most corrupt heads-of-
state in the history of Nigeria. Even more
significant, Buhari insisted that Abacha was not
corrupt at all. On the 10th anniversary of
Abacha’s death, Buhari told incredulous Nigerians
that all the allegations of looting the treasury
leveled against Abacha were “baseless.” He said:
“ten years after Abacha, those allegations remain
unproven because of lack of facts.”
Buhari held this position in spite of the millions of
dollars of Abacha’s loot recovered from banks
around the world, and in spite of the fact that the
Abacha’s family signed a formal agreement to
return over $1 billion of such monies to the
Nigerian government. We can see therefore that,
from the point of view of Buhari, only the PDP
has the copyright on corruption. Every allegation
of corruption leveled against his friends and
financiers must surely be “baseless.”
It is this kind of double standard that prompted
Buhari to jail Vice-president Ekwueme while only
putting President Shagari under house arrest.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti poked fun at this in one of his
songs. He said: “Driver commit accident Buhari
lock conductor.” Given the many corrupt drivers
that abound in Buhari’s APC’s, we can anticipate
that he will only be interested in locking up
conductors in the unlikely event that he ever
becomes president.



www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/buhari-and-the-lion-of-bourdillon/

IN all my years of studying elections, I have never
seen a campaign as bogus as that of
Muhammadu Buhari. It is amazing that, for a man
who is running for election as president for a
marathon fourth time, Buhari is so bereft of ideas
as to how he would do anything if he were to
become president. Campaigning in 35 states,
Buhari has spoken for a total of less than 60
minutes in all. Surely, he wants to be president;
but he clearly has no presidential agenda. Buhari’s blueprint for the presidency is similar to
his Cambridge/WASC certificate; it is yet to be
discovered. It is an article of faith of things hoped
for by his admirers, the evidence of things neither
seen nor articulated. No man becomes president
of Nigeria on the basis of vain platitudes. No man
becomes president as a result of social media
blogs and soundbites. No man becomes president
by giving two-minute speeches in craftily-
packaged rallies, one minute of which is spent
introducing his entourage.
Empty promises
What would Buhari do differently to fight Boko
Haram? He would study the situation and restore
morale to the military. What would he do to
restore the economy? He would increase the
international price of oil single-hahnded. What
would he do to create jobs? He would build
interstate highways in the middle of a drastic
slump in Nigeria’s income in order to energise
motor-mechanics and bukaterias.
Buhari says: “I will revive and reactivate our
minimally performing refineries to optimum
capacity.” How does he propose to do this? “I will
provide one meal a day for children in public
primary schools.” Where is the money to do this?
“I will generate, transmit and distribute electricity
on a 24/7 basis whilst simultaneously ensuring
the development of sustainable/renewable energy
by 2019.” Is he now going to nationalise the
GENCOS and the DISCOS?
“I will make direct cash transfer of 5,000 naira to
the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable
citizens, if they immunize children and enrol them
in school.” My o my! Did Buhari do the maths
before coming out with this pie in the sky? This
amounts to a 125 billion naira handout; nearly
equal to the entire annual income of Edo State.
Style without substance
Goodluck Jonathan’s APC opponents like to
denigrate him as “clueless.” But what shall we say
of Muhammadu Buhari, a general who did not
know the name of his running-mate; calling him
Yemi Osunbade instead of Yemi Osinbajo. Buhari
referred to Imo State as Ibo State. In an interview
on CNN, he called INEC the Independent Nigerian
Electoral Commission. He also called his party the
All Progressives Confidence. No wonder President
Jonathan observed that Buhari cannot remember
his own phone-number.
Let’s face it: General Buhari has become an
embarrassment to the APC. He should not be
allowed to become a Nigerian embarrassment. An
absent-minded old man is not the kind of person
we need as president. Electing Buhari amounts to
jumping from the frying-pan into the fire.
Buhari’s campaign elevates make-believe over
reality. It asserts the primacy of propaganda over
commonsense. It proclaims the superiority of
fiction over facts. Buhari and the APC need to be
told some home-truths. You don’t build roads by
attacking Goodluck Jonathan. You don’t create
jobs by attacking the PDP. You don’t destroy the
Boko Haram by undermining the authority of the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces. You
don’t proclaim a mantra of anti-corruption
slogans, while being surrounded and funded by
corrupt politicians.
Shouting change changes nothing. Change is
championed by the young, and not by a 72 year-
old retired soldier receiving cheers from a coterie
of dyed-in-the-wool political dinosaurs. How can
Buhari represent change from the PDP, when a
large chunk of his change-sloganising APC
members are poached PDP turncoats? How does
Buhari’s endorsement by Obasanjo, a former PDP
president, commend him as an agent of change
from the PDP?
Counterfeit change
Instead of change, Buhari’s agenda is the “same
old same old” of the mundane and the sub-
standard. I challenge APC supporters to point out
one; just one, single original idea that has
emanated from him. The truth is that it does not
exist. Buhari is the master of the fluff and the
bluster. He will fight corruption, but he cannot
say how. He will revive the economy, but cannot
say how. He will end the Boko Haram insurgency
in no time at all, but he cannot say how.
In effect, Buhari is asking Nigerians to elect him
on the basis of some voodoo that he will only
concoct after the election. Nigerians should not
fall for this ploy. Buhari is an old has-been:
banking on the forgetfulness of Nigerians and on
our disregard for history. The APC has spent far
more time strategizing on how to manipulate
public opinion than on policy-formulation. Its
manifesto is shallow and phony; a very poor
cousin to Goodluck Jonathan’s well-articulated
and unfolding transformation agenda.
On the basis of his performance in office,
President Jonathan has done much better than
any of his predecessors. His legacy is there for all
to see in agriculture, aviation, road construction,
education, health (especially Guinea Worm, Polio
and Ebola eradication), railways, electricity and
political reform through the National Conference.
Those who are insisting he should not be given a
second-term need to come up with cogent
reasons why we need to change the stewardship
of an economy recording one of the highest
growth-rates in the world.
No wonder therefore that Buhari is running away
from a presidential debate. His reticence confirms
the view that he has nothing concrete to offer.
Every excuse he and his handlers come up with
only further exposes their vacuity. One thing is
for sure; Buhari cannot agree to a debate
because his campaign is all smoke and mirrors.
Chartham house
Indeed, nothing exemplifies the bankruptcy of the
APC presidential campaign more than the
decision of Buhari to deliver a vapid speech in
London, rather than engage Jonathan in a
presidential debate in Nigeria. I am still looking
for someone to explain to me the relevance of
Buhari’s London junket to a Nigerian presidential
election. Britons don’t vote in Nigerian elections.
Even Nigerians living abroad don’t vote. So what
was the point of that charade?
Instead of giving a speech at the Nigerian
Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, Buhari
chose the Royal Institute of International Affairs,
in far-away London. Nevertheless, nobody would
mistake Buhari for a scholar. The APC
presidential candidate has never written a book.
He does not even have an article in a journal or
newspaper to his name. We have yet to sort out
the nagging issue of his missing school-leaving
certificate. Indeed, his trip might have made more
sense if it had involved a dash to Cambridge to
secure a bona fide copy of his fictitious 1961
WASC results.
Buhari’s Chartham House speech was
intellectually empty. It was full of bells and
whistles signifying absolutely nothing. There was
nothing newsworthy in it. It only made the news
abroad because there was protest against him in
the streets. From beginning to end, his speech
was a flimsy rationalization of his dubious
transition from dictator to democrat; and from
coup-plotter against democracy, to presidential
candidate in a democratic election.
Buhari is certainly not a Maitama Sule or a
Barack Obama. By no stretch of the imagination
can he be called an orator. His delivery was poor
and laboured. His heavily-accented diction
mutilated the English language, as usual. It did
not help that he read his prepared text word-for-
word; scarsely looking up at his audience. It is
too late now to advise his handlers that he
should have been hidden behind tele-prompters.
Questions begging for answers
There were elephants in the room at Chartham
House; nagging questions begging for answers.
How would Buhari react as president if a military
coup were to be undertaken against his
government? Would he accept this in good faith,
since he was also guilty of the same offence? The
truth of the matter is that, as a former coup-
plotter, Buhari does not have the moral right to
seek election as president under a democratic
dispensation.
How can he justify jailing Odumegwu Ojukwu in
1984, even though Ojukwu did not hold any
political office? How can he justify jailing
septuagenarian Pa Michael Ajasin, an honest and
upright governor of Ondo State that did not steal
any public funds? How can he justify seizing
Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s passport, thereby
preventing the old man from seeking medical
attention abroad; while he sent his own wife and
children for medical treatment in the United
States?
How can he justify killing Nigerians for
committing a crime that did not attract the death
penalty when they committed it? How can he
justify the jailing of journalists, even for writing
truthful reports? Buhari is determined to avoid
addressing such probing questions. But such
questions are precisely what a political campaign
is designed to answer. Frankly, Buhari’s past
record is malicious and indefensible. He can keep
running away from it, but he cannot hide from it.
Questionable health
One question was answered fulsomely at
Chartham House: Buhari does not have the good
health or stamina required for the job of
president. After campaigning for barely one
month, he needed a long rest in London. He
literally disappeared for two weeks to recharge
his batteries, bang in the middle of an election
campaign. This is nothing short of bizarre. A man
who cannot withstand the rigours of a one-month
presidential campaign is not fit to be president of
Nigeria.
Ekiti governor, Ayo Fayose, put it succinctly: “A
man who campaigned for four weeks, speaking
for less than one hour in all the rallies put
together and needed to rest for 15 days should
just stay at home and be playing with his
grandchildren rather than struggling to take up a
job that he does not have the required mental
and physical strength to do.”
When Buhari finally returned back home, APC was
foolish enough to organise a so-called One Million
Man March (attended by barely one hundred
thousand people) in Lagos; when it knew its
presidential candidate was too old to march.
Buhari was glaringly absent from the event. To
use the local expression, “he was nowhere to be
found.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/why-buhari-will-not-agree-to-a-debate-with-jonathan/

It seems one man didn't get the message
and meaning of International Women's Day
this weekend.
Lebanese TV presenter Rima Karaki cut
short an interview with Sunni Muslim scholar
Hani al-Seba’i after he told her to "shut up"
and that it was "beneath" him to be
interviewed by her.
Karaki was talking to al-Seba’i about reports
of Christians joining Isis in the Middle East.
Responding to her question, al-Seba’i, who
is based in London, began to talk about the
history of Christians joining Islam rather
than engaging with the question at hand.
As al-Seba’i starts mentioning the Red
Brigades in Italy and the German Baader-
Meinhof Group, Karaki says, "Dr al-Seba’i,
let's focus on the present. At present, what
slogans are used to attract (Christians) to
these groups?"
This seemingly innocent intervention riles
the scholar, who responds, "Listen, don't cut
me off. I will answer as I please…what kind
of behaviour is this. I will not answer the
way you like, because I'm here to serve the
idea in which I believe."
Rima Karaki said, 'In this studio, I run the
show'
Karaki remains calm and replies, "Please
don't get all worked up. We respect you and
know you want to give a complete answer".
That does little to appease the angered al-
Seba’i who accuses Karaki of acting "high
and mighty".
Karaki says she will give the scholar more
time to respond to the question, adding, "Go
on, but do not call me names. In this studio,
I run the show".
"Are you done?" the London-based scholar
retorts. "Shut up so I can talk. It’s beneath
me to be interviewed by you, you are a
woman who…"
Hani al-Seba’i told the TV host: 'Shut up so
I can talk. It's beneath me to be interviewed
by you, you are a woman'
His microphone is then disconnected and
Karaki concludes, "Either there is mutual
respect, or the conversation is over".
Karaki is a presenter on the Lebanese
channel Al-Jadeed TV and has received huge
praise on social media for her handling of
the interview and the way she responded to
al-Seba’i’s taunts.
@KarakiRima I respect your decision to
reassert control of your own interview. #
thumbsup
— Jeff Abramo (@JeffAbramo) March 6,
2015
@KarakiRima You are an absolute legend,
icon to women for how to stand strong
against being disrespected, whilst doing
so with grace. Bravo!
— Lorena Guzman (@LorenaGuzman_)
March 9, 2015
@KarakiRima I saw the interview you
carried yourself w such grace and class
on international womens day you are
definitely one to look up to
— Veronica Cofre (@veronicacofrevb)
March 8, 2015


www.independent.co.uk/news/people/female-tv-host-cuts-off-interview-with-male-guest-after-he-tells-her-to-shut-up-10094899.html

WHEN Muhammadu Buhari overthrew a
democratically-elected government in a coup
d”etat in 1983, Sani Abacha declared in his
infamous radio broadcast: “(Our) health
services are in shambles as our hospitals are
reduced to mere consulting clinics without
drugs, water and equipment.”
However, Buhari did not address the
shambolic Nigerian health system in his two
years in power. In a Vanguard article of 7th
February, 2015, Ambassador Ignatius
Olisemeka said of Buhari: “He entrusted to
me the care and welfare of his family- he
sent his wife and two children to me in
Washington D.C. for medical treatment. His
family were with me in Washington D.C.
when the General was overthrown in a coup
d’état.”
Thus, while Buhari was grandstanding as Mr.
Fix-It, he sought medical care surreptitiously
for his family in the United States, instead of
fixing the Nigerian health system. This
typifies the hypocrisy and insincerity of
Buhari as an agent of change. It is all smoke
and mirrors. It is the same duplicity whereby
he claimed to be the apostle of anti-
corruption even while being complicit in the
smuggling in of 53 suitcases at Murtala
Mohammed Airport, Lagos in the middle of a
currency change.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhar
Buharinomics
Buhari’s grandstanding must not be allowed
to go unchallenged today, now that he is
seeking election under the same kind of
democratic system he truncated and trashed
in the past. We must not allow Buhari to
sweep his ignominious past under the carpet
of a bogus mantra of “change.” Indeed, there
is something anomalous about presenting a
72 year-old former military dictator as a
change candidate. What kind of change can
be represented by an old has-been?
In his first coming, the “changes” Buhari
brought were to Nigeria’s detriment. Under
him, the Nigerian economy went from bad to
worse. Our national debt rose from $14
billion to $18 billion in less than two years;
with the result that Nigeria was no longer
able to meet its financial obligations to
global bankers. We had to queue for
essential commodities, such as bread and
milk, which were hard to find. Raw materials
and spare parts needed to keep factories
running were scarce. Rather than create
jobs, tens of thousands of workers lost their
jobs. Inflation rose to the astronomical level
of 40%; while it is now 7.9% under
Jonathan.
When Buhari seized power in 1983, Nigeria’s
GDP was $444.45. When he was overthrown
in 1985, Nigeria’s GDP had dropped
dramatically to $344.14. That is not the kind
of change we want. When Goodluck
Jonathan became president in 2010,
Nigeria’s GDP was $369. By 2014, it had
grown dramatically to $510.
Buhari is going around complaining about
the recent devaluation of the naira. However,
when he took over in 1983, one dollar
exchanged for 0.724 naira. But by the time
he was overthrown in 1985, one dollar
exchanged for 0.894 naira. That is 23%
devaluation in barely two years. However,
when Jonathan took over in 2010, one dollar
exchanged for $167 naira. Five years later, it
is now $202.55. That is a devaluation of
21% in five years.
It is not surprising, therefore that, when
Buhari was overthrown in 1985, there was
wild jubilation throughout the length and
breadth of the country.
Unleashing the dogs and the baboons
One of the first things Buhari did when he
seized power in 1984 was to gag the press.
Decree 4 was promulgated making even the
publishing of the truth a criminal offence.
Under it, Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson
were jailed maliciously in a manner designed
primarily to intimidate the press.
Under Buhari, the SSS came looking for me
because I published an article in National
Concord entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s
Future;” criticizing the government’s return
to the stone age economic policy of trade by
barter which resulted in even greater fraud
than import licensing. Buhari is now angling
to return to power under a democratic
setting. But has this leopard changed its
skin? In spite of his carefully crafted
makeover by his American handlers, has
Buhari changed from his anti-democratic
ways?
All the evidence suggests he has not. Buhari
is not even president and he is already
fighting the press. Recently, he threatened to
back out of the Abuja Peace Accord
concluded with Goodluck Jonathan and the
PDP because he was upset about the insults
and attacks he was receiving. He warned
that no one should regard his “patriotic
commitment to maintaining national peace”
for weakness.
Buhari’s handlers declared: “We cannot
continue to guarantee the tolerance limit of
our teeming supporters nationwide who are
daily being inundated with death wish
commentaries on the person of General
Muhammadu Buhari.” What exactly does this
mean? Is Buhari now going to unleash his
infamous dogs and baboons on Nigerians?
This is why it would be foolhardy to
mortgage the freedoms we have come to
enjoy under the democratic dispensation by
handing power back to a man who is
intolerant of criticism.
Let us juxtapose Buhari’s short fuse to the
disposition of Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan
must be the most wrongly vilified president
in the history of Nigeria. He has been called
all kinds of names by his traducers. He has
been abused, reviled and condemned by
APC stalwarts. His motorcade has been
stoned. His campaign posters have been
torn down. His campaign ground has been
bombed. His wife has been maligned. How
has he responded to all this?
Jonathan responded by signing the Freedom
of Information bill. In effect, instead of
gagging the press, in the tradition of
malevolent dictators like Buhari, he has freed
the press even more; allowing it to criticize
his government without hindrance. In every
way possible for the past five years,
Jonathan has assured and reassured
Nigerians that freedom of expression is our
inalienable right.
The myth of Buhari’s northern popularity
One of the lies of the Buhari campaign is the
pretense that he has cornered the Northern
vote. Nothing could be further from the
truth. As a matter of fact, in this election,
Buhari is not the choice of the North. The
Northern political elite don’t want Buhari to
be president. The North did not vote for him
in the APC presidential primaries. The
Northern vote went instead to Rabiu
Kwankwaso and Atiku Abubakar. Buhari was
elected primarily with Southern ACN votes.
Let me ask some pertinent questions. How
many Northern elites have we seen recently
campaigning for Buhari? We have seen
Tinubu following Buhari around. We have
heard Obasanjo and Soyinka pitching their
tents with him. But the Northern elite have
largely kept mum. Governors Fashola,
Oshiomole and Amaechi of the South have
been busy singing choruses of praise about
Buhari, but Northern governors are mute.
Atiku and Kwankwaso have largely kept their
distance from him.
Why are they not shouting on the rooftops
for Buhari? The truth is that the Northern
elite have never liked Buhari. Therefore, it is
not in their interest for him to become
president. Buhari’s grandstanding on anti-
corruption resonates with the poor, but not
with the Northern elite. Should Buhari
become president, most of the current
Northern presidential hopefuls can no longer
be president in their lifetime. Eight years of
Buhari presidency would swing the
presidency back to the South for another
eight years. But these Northern bigwigs
don’t have 16 years to wait in the
wilderness. Some of them would even have
kicked the bucket by then.
It is better for them to wait for Jonathan to
finish his second-term in 2019, at which time
they would be able to contest for the
presidency without having to deal with an
incumbent president. What they need now is
the assurance that it would then be the turn
of the North. In that eventuality, South-South
support for a Northern presidential
candidate would be imperative. 2015 is not
the time to jeopardize this.
The strategic partnership of the North and
the South-South has been the enduring
decimal of Nigerian elections. The South-
South has supported the North in every
election, except when its own son, Goodluck
Jonathan, was on the ballot. The North must
be careful not to betray that partnership, if
for no other reason than that it will need it
again in the near future. It must be careful
not to betray that partnership because
Jonathan has done far more for the North in
his five years in power than he has for any
other part of the country, including the
South-South. In short, there is no excuse for
Northern denial of support for Jonathan in
2015.
The federal government’s mid-term
assessment of its development investment
shows that the investment in the North-West
and the North-Central zones alone amounted
to 792 billion naira; nearly double those of
the South-West, South-South and South-East
put together, which amounted to 403 billion
naira. If the North fails to support Jonathan
in the coming presidential election, in spite
of Jonathan’s obvious discrimination in
favour of the North, it can bid farewell to
South-South support in the future.
With all the noise about Buhari’s popularity
with the talakawa in the North, we have not
heard anything that he has ever done, or
would do, for them. When he was head of
state between 1984 and 1985, he did
absolutely nothing for them. In the unlikely
event that Jonathan becomes president, it
would not take long before there would be
rioting among the Northern poor out of
dashed and betrayed hope.
The man who has transformed the life of the
poor in the North has been Goodluck
Jonathan. Jonathan built 125 Almajiri
Schools in 13 states in the North; something
Northern rulers like Buhari failed to do. At
the commissioning of the first Almajiri Model
School in Gagi, Sokoto State, the Sultan of
Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, observed
that Jonathan’s action was unprecedented in
the history of Northern Nigeria.
Jonathan also established ten new federal
universities; seven of them in the North.
Jonathan has made far more appointments
of Northerners than he has of Southerners.
His transformation of agriculture from
subsistence to commercial farming has been
of primary benefit to the agrarian North.
Therefore, it will come as no surprise if
Jonathan wins more votes in the North in
2015 than he did in 2011.
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/why-nigerians-must-reject-the-second-coming-of-buhari/

Open Letter To The First Lady, Dame
Patience Faka Jonathan, By Inibehe Effiong


Dear Dame Patience Faka Jonathan,
I hope all is well with you and your family?
Let me begin by apologising for conveying
this message to you through this medium. If
it were possible, I would have preferred to
converse with you directly to obviate the
public backlash that may likely be
occasioned by this open letter.
However, I just had to perish the thought of
communicating my concerns to you ‘one on
one’ owing to the unbeatable protocol
associated with you and the countless
combat ready armed security officers that
follow you all the time except maybe when
you are passing feces or attending to your
conjugal obligations. That is if you still have
time for that given your deep involvement in
state affairs. Let me also apologise for the
frequent use of the pronoun ‘I’ in this letter.
It is not indicative of ego or self –
glorification but unavoidable in view of the
very nature of this piece.
Madam, be rest assured that before writing
this long innocuous letter, I had
dispassionately ruminated over the possible
consequences of an ‘ordinary’ citizen like me
engaging the most ‘vociferous’, powerful and
dreaded woman of the most populous black
nation on earth. I equally adverted my mind
to the fact that you are not only a married
woman but the wife of the President and
Commander – In – Chief of the Armed
Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I
did that because in my culture, it is not
permissible to express perceivable insolence
towards a married woman.
Let me quickly state that this cultural
immunity is not rigid. The immunity is liable
to be disregarded, taken away or waived.
When a married woman exudes total
contempt for acceptable cultural, moral,
ethical and legal prescriptions and standards
without reference and regard to her marital
status she is deemed to have waived this
immunity and will be treated like any other
person. Madam, as someone who aspires to
be with God in Heaven on the last day, can
you honestly say that your public conduct
and utterances entitles you to this cultural
marital respect and immunity?.
Just in case you are oblivious of the non –
recognition of the office of the First Lady by
the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria (as amended) and by any other
law in Nigeria, may I humbly put you on
notice that a ‘First Lady’ whether of Nigeria
or of a state of the federation is and remains
and unconstitutional being. It is a creation of
the society and the political class not law.
Being the wife of the president or governor
does not make one a public officer; it does
not confer any legally cognisable privilege or
right. You were quoted by a section of the
media sometime ago while deprecating your
state governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi for
demolishing waterfront settlements in Port
Harcourt as saying that you are “the highest
political office holder from Rivers State”. If
indeed you said so, then something is
wrong. If you doubt my submission, please
consult your lawyer for legal advice.
Whatever respect and recognition is
accorded you and wives of governors by
other citizens of this country is purely out of
courtesy. It is not because they stand to lose
anything if they don’t respect you. It does
not also imply that they regard you as
anything more than what you are; a woman
that happens to be the wife of the president.
Recall that Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole
Soyinka had admonished you in the past to
first be a lady before being a “first lady”. He
also described you as a “mere domestic
appendage “. Mr. Soyinka actually spoke the
minds of millions of Nigerians especially we
the “collective children of anger”.
Madam, in the past few days, you’ve been
polluting the already murky waters of our
politics with inciting, reprehensible and
nauseating utterances targeted at an
individual that has not offended you in any
way; an individual whose only
‘transgression’ is his patriotic aspiration to
rescue our nation from the very agonising
precipice that your beloved husband has
taken it to. This man to the best of my
knowledge has never said anything offensive
about you. His wife, has never disparage
your darling husband.
During one of your recent needless
campaign tour(s), you reportedly described
the presidential candidate of the opposition
All Progressives Congress ( APC ), General
Muhammadu Buhari as “brain dead”. An
unfortunate outburst that has been upheld
and reiterated by the spokesperson of your
husband’s second term campaign
organization, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode who is
presently standing trial on corruption
charges. Haba Madam! Is it not you that is
called ‘Mama Peace’? Are you no longer the
founder and president of the African First
Ladies Peace Mission?. So why instigate
violence and rancour? Why are you making
statements that are capable of derailing our
electoral process?
It is widely reported in the media that you
are at war with the governor of your
husband’s home state, Bayelsa, Mr. Seriake
Dickson. We understand this cold war has
adversely affected the electoral fortunes of
your husband in the state and there appears
to be no sign of resolution at the moment.
Cases of political rivalry abound in other
parts of the country because of your
meddlesome and autocratic actions in the
politics and affairs of this country.
Please do not get me wrong, it is not my
wish that you or the future wives of
presidents and governors of this country be
confined to the kitchen. Indeed, I am an
advocate of women emancipation. I don’t
subscribe to any kind of gender
discrimination because we are all children of
God with fundamental right under
Constitution. I believe that women have
equal leadership capabilities with men and
should not be relegated in politics.
However, in saner climes, first ladies only
play ceremonial roles. They don’t arrogate
governmental powers to themselves to the
detriment of their country. So why is your
case different? Is it because your husband
has contributed in making Nigeria a lawless
nation where anything goes? Or could it
possibly be because one dishonourable
member of the Rivers State House of
Assembly referred to you as his “jesus
christ”?
Dear first lady, you are not the first woman
on planet earth whose husband is privileged
to be the president of a country. Others were
before you, and many will be after you. So
there is nothing peculiar or spiritual in being
the wife of the president of a country. I am
emphasising this point because it’s time you
stop tormenting the soul of this country. It’s
time you retrace your steps and retreat from
your inglorious war of attrition and
campaign of calumny against weak and
innocent people. Why should Lagos, Rivers
and other states be shut down because of
your visits? Why should innocent citizens be
subjected to untold hardship because of
your movement(s )?.
God forbid that I should willfully set out to
crucify or denigrate you. If not for anything,
you are old enough to be my mother. But I
cannot imagine a woman that gave birth to
me recklessly exercising totalitarian,
absolute and arbitrary powers at the peril of
innocent people simply because her
husband is the president of the country. No
self – respecting woman will act and talk in
a manner capable of portraying her husband
as weak and irresponsible.
There is a school of thought that postulates
that the wife of a president is the ‘mother’ of
the nation. Supposing that postulation is
plausible and tenable, then you’re the
mother of Nigeria. If that is the case, please
treat other citizens as your children. When a
child is hungry ( as Nigerians are ) it is the
duty of a responsible mother to give them
food not sorrow, tears and stones. Please, I
urge you in the name of whatever you
venerate to treat and address people with
respect and dignity so that they can
reciprocate same.
Always be mindful of the fact that Nigeria is
greater than the first family. It is greater
than Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Without
Nigeria, there will be no country for your
husband to lead. And without your husband
you will not be the wife of the president.
Also, please take out time to appease those
you have wrongly hurt these past years
because your days in Aso Rock are
numbered. Nigerians are tired of the lies,
excuses and failings of your husband.
Nigerians are not prepared to tolerate
another four years of the locust. In 2011,
your husband told us the story of his
humble and undignified childhood; that he
had no shoes. We were seduced, we voted
for him in the hope that he will appreciate
the historical significance of his election.
Instead of paying us back with responsible
and God fearing leadership, he took away
our tattered slippers and gave it to the dogs.
Now again, he thinks his ethnic, religious
and hypocritical messages will secure him a
second term.
Chai, there is God ooo!
Inibehe Effiong is a Human Rights Activist
and Convener of the Coalition of Human
Rights Defenders ( COHRD ).


http://www.africanexaminer.com/open-letter-to-the-first-lady-dame-patience-faka-jonathan-by-inibehe-effiong/

An England football player has reportedly
been arrested on suspicion of having sex
with a 14-year-old girl, following a police
raid on his mansion.
Three police cars arrived at his £1.85m
property at around 9:15am this morning.
A neighbour has been quoted by The Sun as
saying: "You could tell they were police
officers, they were all dressed in black.
"I haven’t seen the player all day. I just
assumed there had been a burglary."
The player has appeared for England and
plays for a Premier League club according
to the newspaper.



www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/england-footballer-arrested-over-underage-sex-allegations-10080723.html

Thousands poured into Moscow’s streets Sunday, as a long-planned rally against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s management of the economy has turned into a mourning for one of Russia’s well known opposition leaders. Boris Nemtsov, shot in the back four times in the shadow of the Kremlin on Friday, is one of a list of at least six other Putin critics who have died since Putin’s first term as president in 2000.

Putin has claimed that he has taken the investigation into Nemtsov’s murder “under personal control,” as the crime scene was power washed. Here are the others who have fallen.

Anna Politkovskaya

Journalist and vocal critic of Putin’s war in Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya was shot and killed inside her apartment in October 2006. In June 2014, Moscow courts sentenced five men to prison terms, including two life sentences, for her murder. However, it still remains unknown who arranged the contract killing, and many feel that justice has never been truly served.

Alexander Litvinenko

A former agent of Russia’s Federal Security service was poisoned with highly toxic radioactive materials after he became a whistleblower for the Russian government’s secret involvement in terrorism, and publicly accused Putin of ordering the assassination of Politkovskaya.

Two men have been named as prime suspects by the British police, but Russia has refused to extradite them.

Sergei Magnitsky

The accountant and auditor was imprisoned in November 2008, after exposing a $216m (133bn rubles) tax fraud on the part of the Russian officials. He was found dead in his cell a year later. Authorities said his death was caused by a heart attack, but supporters claimed Magnitsky was beaten to death.

Stanislav Markelov

The leading Russian human-rights lawyer had represented Politkovskaya and other anti-Chechen war dissidents. He was shot to death outside the Kremlin in January 2009.

A Russian national extremist was sentenced to life in prison for the killings.

Natalya Estemirova

The human rights activist and documentary filmmaker was abducted and executed in July 2009. Both Putin and Chechen warlord president Ramzan Kadyrov have been suggested to be responsible for the attacks.

Alexei Devotchenko

The popular Russian actor renounced two awards Putin had granted him, claiming he felt shame. “I’ve had enough of all this czar-state stuff,” he wrote in a blog post. Devotchenko was found dead in his apartment in November 2014.




http://fusion.net/story/56516/not-just-nemtsov-six-other-putin-critics-who-have-died/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thisisfusion&hootPostID=013496e7d37e7ae460219f3555b37dae