@Cuntdestroyer, apparently, you're one PAUPER that dropped out of High school, YOU'RE FUTURE is so GLOOM, your LOG-IN name & reply said it all. Go & sleep, Loser!!!

@azpekuliar, look beyond GREEN CARD, and look for LIFE with QUALITY ( yolo ).

[b]I learnt that the US Visa Lottery will close in few days time and I want use this medium to remind those crave for a DECENT LIVING and SANE SOCIETY to hurriedly go and apply for the lottery. No matter what you read here or in the media, one thing is a FACT, LIFE IN USA and life in Nigeria, have no basis for comparison, yet, you can trust Nigerians with their empty vessel mindset, they always compare the two countries ( CAN YOU COMPARE DARKNESS & LIGHT? , ironically, the same people will rush down here LAMENTING about LACK OF BASIC AMENITIES of life, which USA, parade the BEST of it all over the world. You'll not even hear Brits, Chinese, Russians & all other developed countries comparing their countries with USA, I don't get it.

Facts, if you're Nigerian in USA,( LEGALLY )you're one million times BETTER OFF, even at your JOBLESSNESS, U'r good. You have a job? U'r good. U'r educated? U'r good. U'r a skilled man? U'r good. However, if you're here with that JACKED-UP Nigeria mentality of GET RICH QUICK,or to view certain jobs as a TABOO, U'r FINISHED. This society was not designed for such and you will not SUCCEED. It was designed for EQUALITY for all, people to be CONTENTED with whatever they have and the most important is, THE GROUND FOR SUCCESS and FAILURE is LEVEL playing ground, so it's yours to CHOSE.

A tip of what's at stake, don't be so carried away about yourself, consider your kids, BORN or UNBORN, I will touch two areas that matters to me as a person, EDUCATION & HEALTHCARE, say, you're a LOW-INCOME earner in USA, & your kids are BRILLIANT, with SCHOLARSHIPS/STUDENT LOANS/ FINANCIAL AIDS, there are 100% chances of them going to Ivy League schools in USA. Thousands of brilliant minds waste in Nigeria, simply cos POVERTY, but poverty can't stop your families EDUCATION in USA. Guess what? your kids will surely meet the kids of the Nigerian politicians ( ROGUES , in the same school they may NEVER had the opportunity to attend if they were to be citizens of the SLEEPING GIANT OF AFRICA.

Finally, irregardless of your social status & say, you're living in ABJECT POVERTY and you're SICK, you'll realize that GOVERNMENT has a different definition in USA, there's a Govt. LAW that protects you & YOUR FAMILY, meaning NOBODY should DENY you treatment simply cos you do NOT have HEALTH INSURANCE and chances are high that your hospital room will be next to Jonathan's wife, who flew in with private jet to get the BEST MEDICAL TREATMENT. FYI, I learnt that the Taraba State Governor was flown abroad, but, his AIDES are left behind in the local hospitals ( tell me that his case is critical huh? ), what did that tell you about you RULERS[/b][b][/b] GO & PLAY YOUR LOTTERY ooo, before they close the BORDERS.

Hey, Obinoscopy, do you mind exchanging emails, ( nice_naija104@yahoo.ca)? It's late have to go & sleep.

[b]With regards to the debate topic, IS AMALGAMATION A HISTORICAL MISTAKE? Personally, I think it's subjective, a Lord Lugard & his ilks will justify it. All the elites ( irregardless of his/her tribe ) that ENRICHED themselves through PRIMITIVE ACQUISITION of resources will not see anything wrong in AMALGAMATION. If amalgamation was successful in other regions of this world, what gave the british the confidence that it will work out well in the case of NIGER-area? If Igbos have been trading with Tiv's and the Yourba's traded successfully with the Nupe's or Hausa's during the PRE-colonial era, I STILL DON'T THINK IT'S ENOUGH JUSTIFICATION TO BRING THEM UNDER ONE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP or SYSTEM of GOVERNANCE.

In life, we all VIEW our ACTIONS as a MISTAKE or not, based on the END RESULT of it, WHAT IS THE END RESULT OF THAT AMALGAMATION?? If we can be HONEST with ourselves & stop playing the "OSTRICH" ( with naija go better attitude), we'll ACKNOWLEDGE that NIGERIA HAS FAILED ( you're free to argue otherwise) and everyone ( elites, foreigners, neighbors, terrorist,etc ) is taking FULL ADVANTAGE of that FAILURE.

In addition, there's a word called CONSULTATION, in hindsight, I can see that none of the tribes that made up the present day Nigeria, was consulted & asked , ARE YOU WILL TO ACCEPT/ TOLERATE THIS TRIBE THE WAY THEY ARE, under one government? ( you can't shave a man's hair in his absent ). No CONSULTATIONS, nor RIGHTS/RESPECT was accorded to anyone, hence, you will not have certain tribe thinking that they're BETTER than the other tribe, or hating on each other, simply because they were merged to be a country. For instance, an Igbo man has no reason to be HATING or attacking a Gabonese, simply because, he's a Gabonese, ( they're not under the same political leadership) and if all Gabonese, have been committing all sort of crimes abroad, the BAD NAME & DISGRACE is to his country & someone in Imo state, will not get on the social media to attack Gabonese, cos they have NOTHING IN COMMON.

Finally, prior to AMALGAMATION, the British failed to CONSULT, TALK & RESPECT the various tribes that made up Nigeria, before the independence, the so called "founding fathers ( SELFISH ELITES)" failed to TALK, CONSULT, & RESPECT the people at the GRASSROOT level, because, they were pre-occupied on how to kick the Brit's out and move into the GRA'S, BUY SHARES IN UAC,GBO, UTC, LEVER BROTHERS etc & be WORSHIPED like an emperor. NIGERIA, IS A TIME BOMB, whatever MISTAKE or societal ILL ( e.g, TRIBALISM ) that is rooted in the National consciousness of Nigerians, it didn't fall from the sky, the Brit's saw it, but the played OSTRICH, the post independence crew saw it, they played OSTRICH too, now, A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE CALLING FOR SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE, so that " WE THE PEOPLE" can talk and IRON OUT our differences, but, the ELITES & Northerners are busy playing the same OSTRICH, thinking that TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION, NEPOTISM, MEDIOCRITY, WRITING OF ELECTIONS RESULTS in ABUJA, BOMBING CHRISTIANS, ASSASSINATION OF POLITICAL OPPONENTS, KIDNAPPINGS, LAWLESSNESS,etc, will VANISH INTO THE SKY. Their famous line is that USA, didn't become DEVELOPED overnite, folks, we all know that USA, wasn't RETROGRESSING.[/b]

I'm STILL in shock, I never knew that a SUBJECT could be discussed on nairaland, solely with FACTS and INTELLIGENCE, without the usual name calling, insults & RAZZ people taking it over. I wish the owner of Nairaland, take advantage of this debate and use it to REBUILD the IMAGE of this SITE & TAKE IT TO GREATER HEIGHTS. If SANITY has been RESTORED, I hope to be back from my SABBATICAL. Obinoscopy and Katsumo, you guys IMPRESSED me.

Why do Nigerians complain about their bad leaders, yet, they displayed so much ignorance & tribalism at the smallest thing?? Most Northern Nigeria Muslims did not watch the anti-Muslim video, yet, they started protesting.

Subtly, many of them have displayed the same northern Nigeria IGNORANCE & BIGOTRY by protesting against a book written by China Achebe which they have not SEEN nor READ. Any intelligent & objective mind, irregardless of your tribal affiliation will see the book as an OBJECTIVE piece of work, because the title is " THERE WAS A COUNTRY". Folks, bury your sentiments & check all the news coming from Nigeria everyday, and the question will be " IS THIS A COUNTRY?

Before you criticize A HERO like Chinua Achebe, go to WIKI or GOOGLE & type in Chinua Achebe OR " THINGS FALL APART", thereafter, you can type in your family's name or Nigeria, print out all the results & show it to an INDEPENDENT FOREIGNER to DISSECT it & tell you who is a FAILURE.

Folks, how come other countries keep issuing TRAVEL ALERT to their citizens about Nigeria, some will out-rightly warn their citizens not to travel to Nigeria, but I'm yet to hear the Nigerian Government issuing TRAVEL ALERT to Nigerians or they did & I didn't get to hear it?

He has met the conditions given to him by the Northerners, but he has failed to learn from history. Simply cos he wants to hold onto power @ all cost. His days are numbered for sure.

NSA, must go was Bokoharam's first condition for negotiations and your president just met the condition.He failed to learn from history, obviously his end is near.

Anybody can say anything to cover up this disgraceful act,but, it will not erase the FACT that it's a DISGRACE. Have you thought about her husband's colleague, her friends & foes alike? It's what it is... and that was why the camera crew were like, WTF? and the camera man doesn't even know that she's from the DIRTIEST tribe in Africa, if only he knew, he will not be bothered cos her tribe will NEVER see anything wrong in it, typical of 'em

When they tell you that YOURBA people are the DIRTIEST people on earth just believe it. It's so funny that some of them will be hallucinating about how exposed their tribe is. Yourba? Smh

Illegal immigrant worked as airport security supervisor for TWENTY years under the ID of a man murdered in 1992
Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole was living as Jerry Thomas for about 20 years
The real Jerry Thomas was reportedly murdered in Queens, New York, in 1992
Oyewole oversaw 30 security officers at Newark Liberty International Airport in his position as a supervisor


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144390/Bimbo-Olumuviwa-Ovewole-arrested-Illegal-immigrant-worked-airport-security-supervisor-years-ID-man-murdered-20-years-ago.html#ixzz1uuF7dxB9

While I congratulate whoever that came up with this, I reserve my birthday comment, cos, for 7yrs, there should be an IMPROVEMENT on this site, to prevent some hooligans from taking it over with their DUMB tribalistic comments every damn day. NL, should be on the same league, if not greater, with TWITTER, had it been there was some LEVEL of sanity, one that automatically removes an UNintelligent comment that bothers on TRIBE,RELIGION,NAME CALLING,CRAP etc. Twitter & all other social networking sites have been used as an AGENT of change,people are proud of them. Nigeria is a failed country that's in DIRE need of change, NL, can play that role & stop being a site for TOUTS & FAILURES to come & abuse other TRIBES. NL, should not end up like Nigeria, THAT'S 51 & HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR it & only the thieves stealing its resources are proud of it. The TOUTS &FAILURES can be proud of NL, I can understand. But, a GREAT mind will challenge Y'all to do more. Goodluck! (not Jonathan though).

Nigeria, is a LIE and will continue to be a LIE. meaning, its a British experiment and will continue to be so.

I could not wrap my mind around this whole thing about Nigerians & their LOVE to celebrate INTERNATIONAL ROGUES locally.

Ibori was (is) worshiped in Nigeria,but a sane society identified him with the RIGHT name " A THIEF in the Govt. house"& have placed him where he belongs.

How can any SANE mind PRAISE, CELEBRATE, or attached GREATNESS to a COMMON THIEF like Obasanjo? If people know what a LEGACY is, the type someone like Mandela, left for his country & Africa & the world, they will lock down Obasanjo back in Jail.

Is it the public funds he stole thru Andy Uba, Dangote,Waziri Mohammed, his daughter, et al or the court judgments he disobeyed? or Governors that he illegally removed from office? &installed thieves as Sates Governors &presidents? or the constitution he disrespected through his 3rd term agenda? etc.

After all the daft praises on his purported birthday, I now believed the saying " A PEOPLE GETS THE LEADER THEY DESERVE".

What is good in Obasanjo (EVIL)?

NIGERIA is a secret; and she has seven secrets. For this country to become profitable to the majority of Nigerians the secrets must be exposed in the most lucid manner that not a few Nigerians shall know about these and hopefully catch the necessary anger required for either liberating mass action or induced constitutional re-structuring. Then, our eyes shall be open and we shall drive away our common enemies.

Secret 1: Nigeria was created by a lie to remain a lie.

When the British created a chimera called Nigeria in 1914 she did not intend for Nigeria to evolve into a nation. Nigeria was designed to last as long as it served the interests of the British. An internal switch was built into the design sketch; this was and still is the “Northern Administrator”. A low level British Administrator during the colonial days of Nigeria, Mr. Harold Smith said this in 2007: “Our agenda was to completely exploit Africa. Nigeria was my duty post. When we assessed Nigeria, this was what we found in the southern region; strength, intelligence, determination to succeed, well established history, complex but focused life style, great hope and aspirations… the East is good in business and technology, the west is good in administration and commerce, law and medicine, but it was a pity we planned our agenda to give power ‘at all cost’ to the northerner. They seemed to be submissive and silly of a kind. Our mission was accomplished by destroying the opposition at all fronts. The west led in the fight for the independence, and was punished for asking for freedom. They will not rule Nigeria!”

Just as the late Ikemba Ojukwu once said, political power, or the real power is more important than economic power because with it you can also get economic power. By setting and exalting one section of Nigeria against the rest a great injury was done to Nigeria’s future. When I talk of the North, I do not refer to the geographical North; rather, what the British did was to vest power in the Royal North, the emirs and their offspring, who still hold the real power and dispense it to whoever they will and think will serve their interests. The northern “Talakawas” (commoners) were not the ones the British foisted on Nigeria although a deliberate policy was crafted by the British to enrol northerners massively into the Nigerian army with accelerated promotions because they knew that eventually, political power in Nigeria would be routed through the military establishment. Is it any wonder that the Ikemba, an Oxford graduate of history decided to enlist into the Nigerian army at the cadet level at a time that, as one of Ojukwu’s military colleagues put it, the Nigerian military was generally for school drop-outs?  Is it surprising that the north (Royal North) controlled the emergence of Nigeria’s military rulers, whether of geographically northern extraction or not?

Nigeria was and still is a lie; that is, Nigeria is a project of the British leased to the Royal North to manage and fetch dividends for the master, the British. There is a misunderstanding among some Nigerian scholars when they talk of the “North”. There are two kinds of North – The British Royal North and the geographically northern Talakawas, who were placed under the Royal North; it is beyond mere semantics.

In 2009 I addressed a group of Igbos in Tokyo, Japan on the Nigerian situation in my attempt to provoke necessary synergy for the true liberation (the 1960 declaration of “independence” was only an unannounced substitution of colour; it was the replacement of white colonial masters with a new group, the Royal North). After my talk, I attended to questions from the audience. A remark was made by one of the Igbo brothers that, “unless the North is involved in any attempt to bring about change in Nigeria no attempt shall succeed.” There is this sense of surrender that overwhelms not a few Nigerians when talking about changing Nigeria away from the British-designed course. I wish to agree with the remark if the North in reference means the northern Talakawas.

In the discussion on a sovereign national conference for Nigeria, the talk has generally conveyed the impression that the “North” (including even the equally oppressed Talakawas) must be “resisted”. So long as this remains the perception the journey towards convocation of a sovereign national conference  or towards a better union shall remain torrid and unending. My brother, Major Gideon Orkar fell into this unfortunate error. Let us not miss the reality of ambivalence; the recruits of the Royal North abound across the breadth and length of Nigeria. In creating a plot to defeat the prospect of the conference, some of those recruits may adopt a belligerent approach, seeking to turn off the moderates, exclude the northern Talakawas whose participation in the call for the conference is very essential, and then ultimately defeat the objective.

Recruits such as the national legislature will, as a body, remain opposed to Nigerians talking about their British-induced union and overthrowing the structure that is fashioned on falsehood – false population figures, false constitution, false federalism, and ultimately false democracy, which is devoid of accountability, the rule of law, and good governance.

But I see two things happening successively. One, the elastic limit of endurance shall soon be reached by the Nigerian commoners when they get irretrievably peeved at the obscene display of ill-gotten wealth by the Royal North and their recruits across Nigeria while they themselves continue to wallow in increasing degrees of poverty. I understand that more than 112 million (two-thirds of) Nigerians live below  the poverty line. Two, there shall be conflict among the oppressors, some of whom shall urge negotiation to prevent loss of all they have acquired corruptly.

In order to free Nigeria from the yoke, the creation and order of the British must be broken. The Royal North must be crushed. There seems to be an understanding and growing resentment of this class of Nigerians who exercise so much control over their people and remain the custodians of even lands on which the commoners (the Talakawas) can only farm by their grace. Not a few powerful politicians in Nigeria (including the president) owe their survival to this class of Nigerians. And those politicians in turn are avowed defenders of the status quo because it serves their true masters and by extension them, who owe their political careers to the magnanimity of the Royal North. The protests in the northern part of Nigeria that greeted the 2011 presidential election revealed an emerging pattern of anger and disdain of the Talakawas against the Royal North and its stooges. The fuel subsidy protests of 2012 in northern cities such as Kano and Kaduna revealed what is possible and imminent.

Secret 2: Destroy the opposition

“I was very sorry for the A.G. (Action Group); it was a great party, too much for African standard. We planned to destroy Awolowo and Azikiwe as well as the west and the east, and sowed a seed of discord among them. We tricked Azikiwe into accepting to be president having known that Balewa would be the main man with power. Awolowo had to go to jail to cripple his genius plans for a greater Nigeria.”  These are the confessions of Harold Smith. Nigeria has always been against brilliant minds. Those are intimidating to not only the Royal North but also to the British whose interest in Nigeria remains fresh. Did you not wonder that President Jonathan a few days ago, while visiting in the Niger Delta, turned into the spokesman for oil companies such as Shell BP? He told Nigerians that the oil companies “are not charity organisations.” That is not for the president to say, especially when he has not taken any steps to compel oil companies to clean up the environment and pay compensation for environmental damages they have caused. A president who cannot influence the passage of an important bill such as the Petroleum Industry Bill to bring succour and much benefit to host communities in oil exploration and exploitation areas should be ashamed to make such a defence on the employment policies of oil companies who are raking in obscene profits at the expense of human lives in Nigeria.

But it is the unwritten policy of the British, represented by the Royal North, to not allow brilliant minds in the driving seat of the nation.  I agree with Mr. Smith that now is the time to “see people of intelligent minds with an open and inclusive agenda for all Nigerians in power…people who will really look after Nigeria’s large population.” From the NPC to NPN  and then to PDP, Nigeria has had the misfortune of the over weight of political parties that were designed to resist change, being sustained by the Royal North. Renegades such as Aminu Kano, Abubakar Rimi, Balarabe Musa, who emerged out of the northern Talakawa constituency to question abrasive and undermining authority were shown the rough side of the serrated dagger of suppression. Until today, the weapon of opposition to all kinds of opposition is used ruthlessly in Nigeria in order to maintain the status quo that was bequeathed to Nigeria by her founders.

I would discuss the other five secrets of Nigeria in the sequels. But let me say that Nigeria shall not change without a sovereign national conference. I have read a position which suggests that people like me who are advocates should work through our “representatives” in the National Assembly. This is one suggestion outside the day light of understanding. You don’t ask your master to set you free; you seize freedom. We are gradually approaching the day of reckoning. Some mockers allege that our demands are incoherent and inarticulate. This is a mere provocation that shall not dissuade us from our path of sustained pressure for a sovereign national conference. I should assert without any lining of doubt that without the convocation of a sovereign national conference the status quo shall not change; worse still, Nigeria shall only know increasing degrees of violence and poverty.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79365:shilgba-snc-nigerias-seven-secrets&catid=38:columnists&Itemid=615

The British created this MONSTER in 1914. The evil legacy foisted on Nigerians in 1960, is here to stay. Nigerians will either correct it or live with it.

"Messi is the best ever. I played in a great LFC team of the late 70s and early 80s which ruled Europe but I must say i think this Barcelona team would batter us." Former Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott

"Messi is a joke. For me the best ever." Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney

"Fella's a genius! Best ever by a distance in my lifetime! Never really saw Pele." Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker

"Not old enough to see some of the greats but I can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi." Manchester United striker Michael Owen

Culled from bbc.co.uk/sports