₦airaland Forum

Seun:
It's hard for government to save in times of plenty in a democracy. The opposition will accuse you of not doing anything to help the people.

^^^
How do the Norwegians do it then?

Norway has warehoused its revenues from oil exports, buying up assets across several countries. All this done in boom periods.

Its just common sense. Which of course, raises the question: why can't we do it?

OLADD:
Child like faith? That's a little bit derogatory and repugnant and I take serious exemption to it. Anyway, remember it's still under this "untrustworthy" Jonathan administration that the son of former PDP chairman and other PDP bigwigs were dragged to court for involvenent in subsidy scam and they are still under litigation. If Jonathan did not use his office to suppress their prosecution, I think he should be given benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, don't misconstrue my submissions for blanket endorsement of all the actions and inactions of Jonathan administration. He has had his ups and downs as a president but if his positives and negatives are placed on a wieghing scale, I can equivocally say he has done well as a president. I am one of those who detest corruption in all its ramifications but what I will not condone is unsubstantiated allegations fraught with political undertone. APC, the most vociferous accusers of Jonathan's govt are also enmeshed with corrupt practices. Lagos, for instance can be described as a nest of election rigging and financial misdeamenous and that informs why I will be last person to accept the party as a veritable alternative to the status quo. I rest my case here.

^^^
No sir. I refuse to accept your submission sir.

Ruling party chieftains and their offspring were charged for breaking the law in the administration of fuel subsidy. As you said, the matter is 'still under litigation'. I am sorry if my words will offend you sir, but I consider that phrase 'under litigation' to be a euphemism for 'stall the investigation until the noise has died down'. If after several months, the prosecuting authority has not been able to aggressively push a watertight case, then the government should be held accountable. After all, the police and the EFCC are agencies of the government, are they not? Why has there not been a successful prosecution and conclusion of the case, several months after arraignment? Why?

I am also very concerned with your comment about how Dr. Jonathan should be given the benefit of the doubt for not 'suppressing the investigation'. It worries me a great deal. This is a comment I hear often and it is troubling - it emphasizes the long journey ahead of us. Sir, we should be angling for a country in which Dr. Jonathan (or any president for that matter) could NOT suppress an investigation into criminal activity, whether or not he wanted to. That is the goal we should aspire to.

Sir, I am calling you out on the comments you made in the second paragraph of your post. You cannot detest corruption and support the current administration (and its PDP predecessors). I fear the effects of that cognitive dissonance on your wellbeing.

Interesting choice of words in your last comments - in comparing the current government to the APC, you say that the APC is also enmeshed with corrupt practices. So why not pick from the other 9 (or is it 11) parties? Must your political choices be from these two parties?

Curlieweed:
Great analysis!

However, I think that Mr Peterside underestimates the risks of taking difficult actions like firing civil servants and removing the ruinous oil subsidy. The risks may be beyond the "single term" presidency issue but given how fragile our democracy is (still), military interventions shouldn't be entirely discounted.

^^^^
I would like sir, for you to tell me what's so great about Mr Peterside's analysis.

While you are it, kindly give me a response to my questions on fuel subsidy on the other thread.

ManUtdholic:
People are entitle to their idea

^^^
True. And I'm also entitled to my idea about his idea. And you are entitled to yours about mine. The possibilities are limitless.

OLADD:
Friend, I am not here to launder the image of Mr. president or his party but as a citizen who tries as much as possible to uphold the truth(within the ambit of my human capacity), we owe it as a duty to hit issues on the nail with unambiguity. Sanusi as an astute economist and banker who prior to his appointment as the apex bank boss had held various managerial positions in the financial sector should not be caught in the web of unsubstantiated and ridiculous whistle blowing. It was disgraceful and appaling for a CBN governor( the no.1 banker of the nation) to accuse another government parastatal of unremitted funds without concrete figure and evidence to back up such claim. He did not only disgrace himself, he equally dented the image of the institution he governed. On the other hand, aside the oversight investigation carried out by a Committee of the Senate (made up of APC and PDP members) in which NNPC was exonerated of any financial impropriety, another internationally recognised Audit firm is currently undergoing a scrutiny of NNPC books. So, why not keep our fingers crossed and await the outcome of their audit. Be rest assured that GEJ will not sweep the truth under the carpet.

^^^

Fair point up there about the whistleblowing being a rather unedifying spectacle.

Correct me if I am wrong though - wasn't it an internal memo from Mr. Sanusi to Mr. Jonathan that was leaked? Was it originally for public consumption?

Do not lose sight of the fact that Sanusi's 'ridiculous whistleblowing', leaked or not, was what brought this matter to the public domain. If I were asked to choose between a staid central banker (who sees, hears and speaks no evil) and a shrill, squealing, rabble rousing, whistleblower of a central banker (who lets us all know about unspeakable wickedness in high places), I know which option I would pick. A ten billion US dollar 'reconciliation problem' is NOT a trivial matter.

More to the point - I do not attach any value to the so-called oversight investigation by senate members. The record of Nigerian lawmakers in public inquiries in the 4th Republic has been, to borrow your own words, 'appalling'. Anyone remember the Ndidi Elumelu led House Committee on Power? Anyone remember the Herman Hembe led House Committee on Capital markets?

Nothing short of a forensic audit by at least two well known audit firms and a (technically competent) ombudsman (not these discredited lawmakers) should be acceptable to Nigerians. And the audit firms and the ombudsman should sign a contract specifying very harsh penalties for them in the event of them being found guilty of having compromised their positions.

The tragedy here is that I cannot trust the present administration to carry out any of the measures I have outlined. For reasons that are obvious to all. That's why your childlike faith that the truth will not be swept under the carpet is so sad to behold.

Assuming of course, that this faith of yours is genuine and sincere.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-ugly-side-of-buhari-and-jonathan/200205/


[b]Guest columnist: Atedo Peterside

Opinion polls commissioned by ANAP Foundation and conducted by NOI Polls (using Gallup methodology) show that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) and his main challenger, Major-General Mohammadu Buhari (Buhari) are currently running neck-to-neck in the 2015 Presidential race. The difference between them in terms of potential votes nation wide is statistically insignificant because it is dwarfed considerably by the much larger percentage of voters who remain “Undecided” - and so the race is truly too close to call. This election will therefore not be decided by the loyalists. It will be called by the large number of undecided voters (these are the swing voters) and they have one thing in common - they do not like GEJ, but then they do not like Buhari either (they want change but see Buhari as the type of change that is both alarming and worrisome).

In such circumstances, efforts by both candidates to sell themselves forcefully to their core constituencies may simultaneously alienate the swing voters. When Hausa/Fulani elders and/or retired Generals and Muslim leaders shout forcefully that Buhari must have it, the rest of the nation recoils in horror. The same thing happens when misguided elements from the South-South zone and Christian leaders insist that their zone (or a Christian) must have two full terms in Aso Rock. The truth is that the Presidency is not anyone’s birthright and so it is naive and downright foolish to go down that route. Indeed some of these bold declarations by core supporters are akin to a kiss of death with swing voters.

Buhari publicly declared in 2011 that he will not contest again. Jonathan is said to have privately declared in 2011 that he would only stay for a single term. Let us therefore assume that they have both broken their word by contesting in 2015 and so there is little to be gained with the swing voters by dwelling on this.

Swing voters are moved more by what they do not like about either candidate. At the end of the day therefore they will vote “against” the candidate that they dislike more and their collecive actions will determine who wins. That is why this article focuses on the ugly side of Buhari and GEJ and not on their strengths.

Many of the swing voters are upset. They feel that our two major political parties have “cheated” them by forcing them to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.

During the course of the 2014 National Conference, where I was a delegate, I made a contribution to the effect that past military rulers, who toppled democratically elected governments, should still be tried for treason so as to serve as a permanent detterent to young and ambitious military officers who will the understand that the long arm of the law may get them even in their old age and even after they claim to have repented. Buhari dethroned a democratically elected government in order to become a military head of state at the end of 1983. Many of the swing voters are true democrats who abhor authoritarianism. Buhari was not a benevolent dictator either. He was a vicious and wicked one who used retroactive decrees to sentence youths to death and to jail journalists who dared to publish the whole truth. Can the leopard shed it’s spots overnight as some would have us believe?

Wickedness and callousness are not matters of style and/or fashion they are a reflection of a real personae. Buhari’s unguarded utterances about him supporting the institution of sharia nationwide and his “famous” statement that Muslims should only vote for Muslims and his threat that the baboon and the dog will be soaked in blood if elections were rigged are all consistent with his unelectable personae, hence his persistent search for devout Christians (with little or no political clout) as Vice Presidential candidates while he is on the capaign trail. Is he simply hanging on to political lightweights that he knows he can devour the day after he gets elected?

On the economy, Buhari was a disaster first time around. He was clearly an economic illiterate and thought he could run the complex Nigerian economy by controlling rations as was done in a military cantonment. He placed everything under import licence and empowered some individuals under him to prescribe what quantity of every good Nigeria needed and also sought to prescribe which individuals would import the item and in what quantity. Ignorance was on display all around and it was exploited through massive racketeering by persons in his government who called the shots. That he was deemed to be personally honest became irrelevant and so many of us cheered when soldiers (not known for honesty) put him out of his misery by kicking him out of office in less than 18 months and before he could torture the nation any further.

GEJ is unliked by many because he is seen as being weak and unable to control the excesses of some of his close aides and party chieftains. YES, he eventually stood up to ex-President Obasanjo (who tries to dictate to every serving President), but then who wouldn’t? All future Presidents (including those unborn) now know to avoid Obasanjo like a plague. What manner of ex-President will divulge details of his one-on-one meeting with a serving President to the general public ( in a book), without getting the latter’s prior consent?

NO, GEJ’s vulnerabilities are from the party chieftains and a few dodgy aides that he accommodates and/or tolerates. He also believed too much in assurances from our Security Agencies, Defence Ministers, Chiefs of Defence Staff, National Security Advisers etc. This entire group have lost credibility in the fight against Boko Haram. His most recent utterances suggest that he has realised now, how deadly Boko Haram are, but it is rather late in the day as the elections are a little more than a couple of weeks away. My own position on Boko Haram (BH) has remained consistent. The entire Nigerian elite continue to under-estimate BH at our peril. I would love to wish them away, but history and my head tell me that, like Colombia’s Farc Rebels, BH will still be around in some form or the other for decades.

Presidents who aspire to have a second term in Nigeria face this paradox; if they stand up to all the party Chieftains, over-bearing Governors and Security Chiefs, they will not get re-elected because the Party will throw up a Challenger. If they succumb to this motley/unholy lot, they will slow down economic reform, secure their Party nomination but alienate swing voters nationwide.
The only reason for the swing voters to vote for GEJ therefore is if he can convince them that he will be free himself from this motley crowd next time around. Afterall, a second Presidential term is a final term and nobody (except Obasanjo) will ever dream about a third term. In effect, GEJ must convince swing voters that, if they give him a second term, he will be man enough to bite many of the grubby hands that lurk around the higher echelons of his party.

Further complexities in the Presidential race arise because some of the ambitious and highly educated politicians from the North East (in particular) do not want an ageing and not so capable Buhari to ascend a throne which they aspire to occupy in 2019. Buhari was rejected consistently by some of his newer supporters when he was younger and more capable. Ironically, the older and less capable he becomes, the more he appeals to them because they hope to usurp his authority. He has agreed to be dressed up in sheep’s clothing now, but they should beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. They might be shut out of Aso Rock if he wins.

Ironically, if these power brokers (who are not known for honesty) come out now to publicly affirm that they will have continuing relevance if Buhari wins, then again the swing voters get turned off because they see corrupt persons surrounding an old and infirm “honest” man who is driven by a blind ambition to re-occupy a seat from which he was booted out prematurely in 1985, even though he recognises that he is not clever enough to understand 21st Century economic and financial transactions through which some of his new and unscrupulous friends hope to loot and/or corner the national treasury under his lazy and ineffective watch.

GEJ has also gathered all sorts of renegades unto his campaign ship. The enemies of his enemy have all become his friends overnight. They are strange bedfellows. In his second term (if he wins) he will need to cut off many of these hangers-on. If he does that they will try to resist, but a second term President is hard to bully. GEJ needs to convince the electorate that he can continue with his bold agricultural sector reforms, his power sector roadmap, overhaul and reform of the transportation sector (beyond the celebration of token and/or paltry railway services) etc.

GEJ’s biggest failure on the economic front was his inability to introduce earth-shaking reforms to trim our recurrent expenditure budget at the Federal level by instituting the massive lay-off of idle civil servants. He did not confront the National Assembly either on this thorny issue. Ironically many of those who accuse him of guilt in this area are guilty of the exact same allegation in their respective States and Local Government Areas.

I am sad that GEJ did not simply go all out to transform our economy in his first term at the risk of being a single term President. Instead he slowed down on some economic reform because he was pandering to power brokers within his political party, who would have a say in helping him to secure a second term.

I am sad that an ageing and incapable Buhari refused to play the role of a King-maker by identifying a single well educated and well meaning younger person 2 or 3 years ago (even if he narrowed his search to his own North West zone) whom he could have groomed and backed to challenge GEJ.

If I vote for GEJ in this election it is because his ugly side is less ugly than Buhari’s known and well-documented uglier side and nothing more. If you disagree with me please note that there is no need for us to fight - our only weapon should be the ballot paper and how we decide to cast it. Those who think they can intimidate swing voters, by threatening mayhem if their candidate does not win a close election, do their candidate a massive disservice because their careless utterances send the swing voters in the opposite direction in a race that is currently too close to call.

Before anybody dismisses ANAP Foundation’s opinion polls again, let me add that similar polls commissioned concurrently by us (using the exact same methodology) show Nasir El-Rufai of the APC with a significant lead over the incumbent PDP Governor (Yero), while the PDP’s Nyesom Wike currently leads APC’s Dakuku Peterside in Rivers State, but there is a large “undecided” element in the case of Rivers State.

ANAP Foundation will release more information on all the Polls we commissioned (including Lagos Governorship) over the course of the next few days, using a multitude of media channels.

• Peterside is the President and Founder, ANAP Foundation

[/b]

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-ugly-side-of-buhari-and-jonathan/200205/

^^^
Thinly disguised hagiography masquerading as balanced or fair commentary. .

Despite the errors and omissions in Mr. Charles Soludo's article, it was definitely a more balanced and more honest critique than Mr. Peterside's piece up here.

anonimi:
Vote wisely!!!

^^^

You can be sure I will.

We will meet at Philippi.

OgologoDimkpa:
Sabotage every where
As long as the likes of Mikano headed by Atiku is very much around in this country,
stable power generation will be a mirage

Let's I forget....

GEJ till 2019!!!

^^^
Poor response. Man up to your responsibilities.

Curlieweed:
The question of recurrent expenditure is a very interesting one. It's a bit like the fuel subsidy issue where you know the right thing intellectually to do but may not find the political capital to achieve the solution.

Two key issues drive the high recurrent expenditure levels; high personnel costs and the huge number of Ministeries and Parastatals. Regarding the high personnel costs, an obvious solution would be massive retrenchment of civil servants. I doubt if any civilian President can embark on that objective for clear reasons. The other side of the equation is the large number of Ministeries and parastatals, which are protected by law. This puts the obvious solution of rationalizing the numbers of government units (Oronsaye, I think, attempted to work on this) beyond the realm of what the executive can achieve unilaterally.

I believe that Ngozi's team is attempting to tackle this issue by increasing efficiency ( a more transparent payroll) and by diversifying funding ( non-oil revenue).

^^^
Its also interesting that you bring up the matter of fuel subsidy. i have argued on several threads here that Nigerians have not been told the truth about fuel subsidy. Just a few days ago, I saw for the first time, youtube clips of Messrs Tam David West and Muhammadu Buhari (recorded 3 years ago) in which they stated unequivocally that fuel subsidy is nothing but a scam. I would like nothing more than to see this matter settled once and for all.

I have always asked this question: what is the cost of producing a litre of refined PMS, AGO or DPK here in Nigeria, using Nigerian crude and Nigerian refineries? That is a question that I have never been able to get a clear answer to. Each time I try to get an answer to this, I am told the PPRA template can't be uploaded, or the website hosting it is down, etc. We need to know what that local production cost of PMS is. Is it more than, less than or equal to the pump price of 87 Naira?

Let's leave that for now. You talk about our leaders knowing what's right but not having the political capital to implement a solution. Then why aspire to lead? Leadership is making tough choices for the common good. Nigerian leaders have to choose this day whom they will serve: a minority of powerful vested interests or a powerless (for now) majority that is truly, really ignorant (again, for now) of its own strength.

The current administration does not want to take on unproductive, corrupt civil servants. Correct me if I am wrong, but it does not want to advance legislative reform on key areas such as the Land Use Act or the PIB despite a clear party majority in parliament. It has not sponsored a bill for a constitutional amendment to reduce the sinecures that define public officialdom in the Federal republic of Nigeria. It does not want to do these things because they are 'too hard'. So why aspire to lead?

I would like to know if the Ribadu Report, the KPMG Report, the PwC Report, the Ralph Oronsaye Report, the Elumelu Report and the NNPC Audit Report have all been completed and formally released to the public. If they haven't, then why?

You talk about Mrs. Okonjo Iweala's attempts to alter the skewed nature of our budgets. I will like to see how successful those efforts will be in a captive state (which is what we are, make no mistake about it).

OLADD:
Compatriot, you have every right to like or dislike any government but what should be eschewed in entirety is the attitude of been economical with the truth when issues bothering on such govt are discussed. Nobody in Jonathan's administration has embarked on outright condemnation of Sanusi during and after he left office.When the history of Central Bank adminstration is written in Nigeria, Sanusi:s regime will be remembered for some laudable interventions. However, Sanusi allowed parochial considerations and political adventure to derail and undermine his office, he yielded to anti-Jonathan agents(APC specifically) thereby throwing his personal image and achievement into the mud. It's now in the achirve that the then sitting CBN governor in a desperate move to smear the image of his commander in chief went berserk by throwing up allegations ofsupposed missing NNPC money, fiddling with different figures at different fora, from $48b to $20b and finally to $10b dollars a claim that was eventually dismissed by the Legislative house as a ruse. From the ensuing allegations and counter allegations, it was obvious that Sanusi was playing out a script well written to label Jonathan's adminstration as corrupt while on the other hand project the image of the opposition. So when the downside of Sanusi is been mentioned, it's natural and expedient to also trump up his major highpoints in office.

^^^
No sir. What you have written up there isn't correct. Mr Sanusi claimed that scores of billions of US dollars in government revenues could not be accounted for. The figures were disputed and finally revised downward to $10 billion (still an unfathomably high amount to over 99% of Nigerians). Mrs Okonjo Iweala was a party in the reconciliation of these incredible figures and (if my memory serves me correctly) she promised an investigation and an audit of the NNPC.

In serious countries, the inability of a government to get to the bottom of such an important matter (with elections less than 12 months away) would have meant only one thing for such a government: unavoidable 'death' at the polls. But this is Nigeria. That matter has been kicked to the kerb. Like all the other mind boggling scandals of the last 16 years under the self-styled 'largest party in Africa'.

We are acting out a script. What worries me is what's coming up in the next Act.

Curlieweed:
Sometimes budget deficits may actually be more useful that surpluses to achieve certain policy goals. For example, if the economy is slowing down to the extent of flirting with deflation (opposite of inflation), budget deficits can be used to give a much need boost to the economy.

^^^
Fair point but deflation isn't and has never been this country's problem.

For half a century or more (give or take a few years), Nigerian governments have been running budget deficits. Where deflation is not a problem then what is the justification for 'permanent' deficits? And to drive home the stuupidity of it all, these budget deficits have all been used to finance unproductive recurrent expenditure. Not capital projects (which have a multiplier effect). No. Just wages and salaries for the boys. And girls.

Nigerians have refused to hold their leaders accountable in both politics and economics and for this reason they deserve no sympathy. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

OP,

I can't wait for the source link any longer!

I will take it as given that Mr. Soludo indeed put this article together.

I do not necessarily agree with all the actions that Soludo took while in office. For one thing, I think his proposed re-denomination of the currency, (a policy which never came to fruition) - was not very well thought out and was never fully explained to the public. How was the adjustment in prices expected to take place in a country with an informal sector accounting for over half of GDP? It is also incredible that Mr Soludo's said nothing about the Obasanjo administration's mind boggling record on official corruption. - the thinly disguised image laundering for that administration is repulsive.

But this article isn't about Soludo as such. And it must not be forgotten that he was the architect of the recapitalization of deposit money banks - one can only imagine what would have happened if our 80+ banks had been left in the state they were before the 2008 financial crisis. For that policy action alone, Soludo definitely should be given credit.

But as I said, this article isn't about Soludo. I think it is a fair, honest and clear assessment of the economics (and politics) of the Jonathan administration and its misadventures over the past half decade. And the hard choices facing us all (or most of us) in the coming months, regardless of who wins the election. My only regret is that this piece is coming out so late.

This is the kind of issues based public policy analysis that has been lacking in our environment. Why did it take you so long to put this together, Mr. Soludo?

OP,

Kindly provide a link to the source please.

bushdoc9919:
Sorry....but the chap you replied to is right.

PDP should have improved electricity power supply to 20000mw by now. They should have increased spending for vocational and technical education. They should have stopped funding universities....made them public private....and used the kudi for primary and secondary schools....and they should have increased funding for STEM.

bUT NO....PDP has chosen to run Dutch Diseased economy. Now...we are broke because oil price has fallen.

If PDP had done what they were supposed to do...that young man would have had a job!

^^^
Only now are you getting to the heart of the matter.

Apportion blame to the parties responsible - Nigerian governments from the 2nd half of the last century to date.

Most of the blame however, should go to the led. Men and women who stood idly by while a small, vicious elite took them by the nose and led them to the slaughter.

Even dumb animals have better instincts of self preservation.

bushdoc9919:
Welcome to the oil driven society.

Where the young people struggle for their share of the oil kudi....instead of struggling to invent new things, or develop new ideas.

Where there are no jobs...because the industries have been stifled and beaten back by imports fueled by oil lucre.

Where discussion about the economy is how we share the oil money rather than how we use our limited resources to make more money and resources.

Where every Nigerians thinks we are rich....BUT we are not. We are a poor nation who thinks that poverty can be alleviated by looking for resources to sell....so that we can share the money.

We won't invest in ideas. We won't work hard at something. We won't build our own planes, cars, air conditioners, lorries, tv sets, railway carriages, clothes, etc...BECAUSE...we prefer to chop the crumbs from Master's table.

And in this election PDP and APC....the guilty party here...have no ideas how to develop an oil free economy.

No....it is all worhtless talk.

Nigerians....am sorry...but this is what you get and deserve. Stomach infrastructure govt. Until you wake up and realise that there is no unlimited pot of gold....and you have to work hard to make a living

Oil is a curse.

^^^
You keep saying it and you will be challenged each time you say it.

Oil is not a curse. It is a natural resource. And like any resource, it may be put to good or bad use. It isn't oil's fault that Nigeria and a few other poorly managed countries chose to piss their oil revenues away and distort their economic base.

I have always said it and will continue to say it. For every Nigeria that chose to squander its opportunities and mortgage the future of its youth, there is a Norway. A Norway that chose to use its oil wealth to build the future of its young.

The facts are clear.

macsika:
another baby factory discovered in a nation where proper factories are lacking.

^^^
I don't think this could have been better put.


"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up into the light" - John Milton

Bigcake:
That's a good one for the police. Imagine the police telling the Airforce officer that he didnt notice he was flaged down. Can a police man accept such an excuse from another citizen?

^^^
Slapping her is NOT the appropriate response.

This is how (assuming this report is indeed true) these military people dishonour their uniforms. Louts.

He should save the aggression for the enemy at the front.

Good. We are getting somewhere. So we have a figure for the price of an imported litre of petrol once it has landed on the shores of Nigeria.

What is the cost of a locally refined litre of petrol in Naira today? This is a question I have been asking for months but the government people on here have not been able to answer.

The answer to this question will resolve the so-called subsidy matter once and for all.

kaya09:
Wake me up wen neither Gej nor Bujari wins.

^^^Other candidates don't stand a chance of winning when you refuse to vote. Do you get me now?

If you don't get involved, its going to be a long four year wait if you don't like whoever eventually wins. If you vote one of the other 9 candidates and he/she loses, at least you know you did your bit. But you can't refuse to vote and expect things to change. You can't.

Please find out about the other 9 candidates and make your choice.

kaya09:
APC dissapointed me when they chose Buhari,i lost all hope for Nigeria. I rather sit at home dan vote any of dem. GEJ nor BUHARI

^^^
There are 9 presidential candidates apart from Buhari and Jonathan. You don't have to vote Buhari or GEJ. They are not the only ones contesting.

You owe it to yourself to make a choice. Surely out of 11 candidates, 1 should meet your expectations.

If you sit at home and refuse to vote, you have lost the right to complain when things get rough in the next 4 years.

Go out there and perform your civic duty.

SeverusSnape:
Thank you sir...you're a rare breed. I like people like you, Unlike others that would just resort to unnecessary insults, good night sir. Peace

^^^
No problem. We can agree to disagree. Good night to you too, sir.

SeverusSnape:
Stop ranting and go tell your people to stop being violent, In the south, We don't kill and burn Muslims properties at any slightest provocation, But the North takes killing people of other ethnicities as food, You guys should work on your selves. You guys are the most backward of all the regions. Illiteracy, Violence, disease and other vices are the order of the day in the North.

Go and preach to your brothers, not me. Rubbish!!

^^^
Save the hysterics for those who care.

According to you, I should "tell 'my' people to stop being violent?" You also went further to state that you "don't kill and burn Muslim's properties".

I have no idea who you are or what you do. Or where you are from. Or what idol you worship. You are a faceless and nameless entity to me typing behind a keyboard somewhere. And the same holds true for me too - I am nameless and faceless to you as well. You haven't a clue what my religious persuasion, ethnicity or even nationality is. Anyone can claim to be anything and anyone online. So your claims up here are meaningless to me.

I have said one thing and one thing only: those whom you have denigrated have undoubtedly taken note of your comments in support of your principal. And you will need their votes. Whether they are savages or noblemen.

Make of it what you will. Time will tell.

SeverusSnape:
Don't start killing innocent citizens because of what I said. Because that's what you guys know best.

^^^
Don't be stuppid. Death and destruction are not casual, trivial topics for me. I take exception to your easy, almost indifferent reference to bloodshed.

It is a measure of who and what you stand for that you have placed me in a group defined by your 'you guys' (whatever that means) reference.

Keep up the 'good' work. You will get your 'reward' in due course.

SeverusSnape:
It doesn't mean he's my "principal".

^^^
No problem. Those whom your words were directed at have surely taken note.

We shall see.

SeverusSnape:
I DON'T HAVE ANY PRINCIPAL.

^^^
Yes you do. A brief look at your posts proves this.

Oblion:
This northern abok.is, when una go get common sense For it to have happened near the pdp office means, apc thugs carry them walaha go find them that side, btw... I'm so sure this pdp thugs ain't risking their life for jonathan, but for the pdp governor candidate of zamfara......

^^^
Stick to the romance section for your own good.

SeverusSnape:
These northerners are savages.
I hope they don't blame GEJ

^^^
They are 'savages' but your principal needs their votes. They are reading this stuff. And waiting...

Rossikk:
My friend please take your rotten attitude and go sit down somewhere. Why is it now that the problem has been corrected that you start insulting the country? What normal person does that? Is Nigeria not going through a political evolution? We've witnessed the longest period in our independent history without military dictatorship (1999-2015), and democratic principles are taking root across the country. Elections are much more transparent these days compared to the blatant rigging of yesteryear. Our last presidential elections were adjudged by local and international observers to be free and fair, and on the whole, the elected are more accountable to their consituencies than they've ever been in our modern history. Why can't you see THAT SIDE of the country instead of this doom and gloom vision of yours?

^^^
My old foe Rossike. After all these years, still kicking against the pricks.

My initial thought was to ignore you. After all, you did not rise to the challenge I threw to you on several old threads where you shamelessly peddled your hypocritical, pseudo Pan-African nonsense. Unfortunately those threads are gone forever. But you can be sure I will call you out on any new nonsense you come up with. Today. Tomorrow. And the day after.

I tell you sir, that you are STILL a hypocrite, shamelessly propagating your accursed bigotry of abysmally low expectations. For years, several small businesses in this country have expended their limited resources in verifying the claims made by newly recruited employees. These businesses go through the proper channels to confirm the educational qualifications of their staff. Nigerian universities also do the same thing (although far less efficiently) to their newly matriculated students. Isn't it common sense? Does INEC (with its billion Naira budgets) need to be told to do this?

Sixteen years after the advent of the 4th Republic, what excuse does INEC have for failing to perform this simple task? Are you getting all hot and bothered because the finger will eventually be pointed at your principals (who have been in power for one and a half decades and yet can't even run a snail farm properly?)

You accuse me of 'insulting' the country. For the record, what I am doing is holding my countrymen to a standard. A standard far higher than anything you can conceive of. I have no apologies for doing this.

You were a more worthy opponent when you argued on principle (however misguided those principles were) in those threads of long ago. Ever since you became an online pen for hire, the quality of your submissions has gone downhill.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

olrotimi:
when next ur travelling, and you encounter a military check point, pretend to be making a call. Come back later and gist me ur experience. Lets not argue on things that's not worth it. You could also sue the Nigerian army for mounting road blocks or harassing you for misbehaving in a military zone. The judge would ask you if you weren't oriented in place & person. If the judge isn't in a good mood, he would fine you for 'wasting the time of the court'. There is a reason why most military checkpoints have this caveat : MILITARY CHECK POINT 100M AHEAD. It's for those who have eyes to read & take note.

^^^
You don't even know how to deceive your own self.

When the military evicted medical personnel unjustly after withholding their wages, you opened a thread complaining about it. https://www.nairaland.com/1900697/soldiers-evict-medical-interns-apartment#29868877

Your exact words in that thread were 'nigerian army and impunity is like nigerian politics and corruption'. Yet you now come up in here defending the indefensible.

Make up your mind.

olrotimi:
nigerian army and impunity is like nigerian politics and corruption

^^^
Make up your mind. Your comments on the other thread show that you don't know what you want.

olrotimi:
when next ur travelling, and you encounter a military check point, pretend to be making a call. Come back later and gist me ur experience. Lets not argue on things that's not worth it. You could also sue the Nigerian army for mounting road blocks or harassing you for misbehaving in a military zone. The judge would ask you if you weren't oriented in place & person. If the judge isn't in a good mood, he would fine you for 'wasting the time of the court'. There is a reason why most military checkpoints have this caveat : MILITARY CHECK POINT 100M AHEAD. It's for those who have eyes to read & take note.

^^^^
Nonsense. Attack the substantive issues I have raised.

If you do not consider yourself to be a rational, sentient adult male or female who deserves to be treated in a fair, reasonable manner by Nigerian soldiers (soldiers who by the way, are clothed and armed in your name) then I don't have much more to say to you.

You may be one of those people with a psychosexual complex who 'respect' military authority precisely because it brutalizes and dehumanizes them. Count me out of it.

You deserve the country you have.

olrotimi:
@op,this obviously is ur first encounter with a military zone, be it ad hoc or permanent. This also is ur first encounter with the visit of a high security personnel. what you encountered is standard security protocol:
^ You don't make /receive phone calls @or around a military check point. How many times do we have to go over this? With the tense security situation in the country, a simple call can can set off a remotely placed bomb & also inform nutheads about security formations & arrangements. MAKING/RECEIVING PHONE CALLS IN SUCH ENVIRONMENT IS A FAUX PAS.
^ Those you saw lying down committed varying offences. In such military zone, you don't behave lousy, you move in a regimented manner(don't unnecessarily cross the road), don't drive ur bike through(get down and push the bike along)
^ Road blocks are normal, to check flow of traffic & divert traffic from the vicinity of the event. It's standard Nigerian military protocol and didn't start in 2011.
^ The military men you encountered were nice & in good spirit. ur lucky they didn't make you frog jump 100m before asking you who you were. Take your grievance to any Nigerian court and you would end up wasting money on lawyers cos you would never win such a case.

^^^
This bit about not making phone calls near military checkpoints is news to me. And I have seen hundreds of military checkpoints in my lifetime.

More to the point, the tone of your post appears to justify the excesses of Nigerian military personnel. What do you mean by 'don't unnecessarily cross the road'? How many times does a person have to cross the road for it to be unacceptable to your friends? Once? Thrice? Ten times?

You then end your post by saying that anyone who seeks redress for unlawful treatment by soldiers is wasting his/her time.

Keep up the 'good' work. Instead of you and your friends to find out how and why dangerous weapons are getting into this country (and into the hands of criminals) you are flexing here against ordinary Nigerians trying to earn a living under very harsh conditions.

P. S. I am not holding brief in any way, shape or form for the OP. I do not necessarily agree with his post and the claims therein. What I have a problem with is your post which supports the entitlement mentality exhibited by so many Nigerian soldiers.