₦airaland Forum

JJYOU:
you made a good case until you spoilt it with your ps message. can you explain what you think the difference is sir? I think it is unfair to compare a crime of Forgery with that of Rape or Armed robber.

Forgery by itself is not a very serious offense anywhere in the world, you will probably get a fine or a most a light jail term at the courts. It is the crime committed with the forged document that can be grave.

In England a lot of teenagers forge IDs. and birth certificated just to beat the age limit to enter clubs or buy alcohol and people forge documents like social security numbers to get jobs. Even in the US a lot of illegal immigrants forge documents to  get jobs, and when caught they are not put in the same category as rapists, armed robbers and terrorists.

biina:
The Nigerian societies has its issues, but I totally disagree with wirinet's attempt at blaming the leaders instead of the individual. If you will not credit same leaders for the accomplishments of Nigerians that excel in their chosen fields, you cannot then blame for the failure of those who chose to be criminals.

Each should be held accountable for his actions.

Biina, why do you not answer the questions of "what is the cause of those issues that you fail to identify?" and why are those issues so prevalent and wide spread in Nigeria. Why will someone sponsor his/her daughter to Italy to engage in prostitution and insist on her remitting his investments plus huge interest. Why do parent expect to reap the rewards of their children's illegal activities? and why will the pastor help shout hallelujah if maga don pay.

I await your response

I do not know what Rita-Lori have gone through and i do not know if any Itsekiri got threatening Text messages, But Rita-Lori has also done her bit in the Nigerdelta struggles. So her concerns and her grievances should be discussed if it is true she made those comments.

My problem with the Ijaws is that they feel Niger-delta starts and ends with the Ijaws. They feel other tribes are either non existent or they are not important. When they fight they call it Niger-delta struggles, but when it is time to share political positions they remembers it is an Ijaw struggle. They want all the political appointments allocated to the Niger-delta.

I honestly do not understand how they feel they can win the struggles without the involvement and support of other tribes.

The Itsekiris are still recovering from the unprovoked attacks of 6 years ago because of the location of the headquarters of a local government, so if the Itsekiri lady has concerns, they should allay her fears instead of attacking her.

ElRazur,

I see you are passionate about fighting and condemning crime perpetuated by your Nigerians brothers and sisters, I hope you are as passionate when condemning the cause of the problem, stealing elders and politicians back home.

I am not condoning what he has done, i am only attempting to explain it.

You should realize that if you live most of your life in Nigeria, where forgery means nothing, Police and court bail means nothing if you have influential relatives, breaking traffic regulations means nothing if you are loaded and inefficient police tracking system. Then the tendency is to continue with that mind set when you get outside the country. It has got to do with our Nigerian values. Also i wonder where his parents stand on all these, at least they would have benefited from his crime.

So please fight the value system also.

Interesting topic, here is my 2 cents.

Every body is missing the point and looking at the branches instead of the root of the problem.
The main reason why it looks like every Nigerian is corrupt are numerous but the main ones i will attempt to highlight below;

Destruction  of our traditional values, Our traditional values that had placed our societies for hundreds if not thousand of years was destroyed by colonization and evangelization. We adopted western system and values without the necessary institutions to check its misuse. We threw away our cultural and religious values that come with a lot of obligation and taboos, to the one of not obligation and no responsibility as long as you believe. All your sins are wiped out until next week, when you ask for forgiveness again. All these lead to the killing of our conscience, and a dead conscience is the greatest tragedy that can befall a society.

So gradually we slipped into the "make money at any cost" syndrome. Of cause the syndrome has afflicted all our institutions, including our families, clans and governments. Such that the ingredients that makes and sustains a society which is collective interest is dead, it is now just individual interest.

Added to this we all view a successful person as the person with the greatest acquisition of wealth,  A candidate for Oba or Emir is not the most eligible but the richest, even if he is far from the throne, almost all our national honours, chieftaincy  titles and  even religious titles, go to the person with the greatest wealth.

Now in all these what values are parents inculcating in their children, since the youth cannot get their hands on govt. money, they resort to other means.

I remember it started with drug trafficking in the 70s and 80s, then to credit card, banking and dole fraud, eventually 419 and internet fraud became the order of the day.

There was a time when lots of youth "checked out"  (remember Andrew). This was because Babangida's SAP devalued the Naira almost overnight and pound and Dollars became very attractive, so a lot of unemployed and underemployed youth flocked to london look for pounds. In order to stem the wave of Nigerians entering Britain, the Govt introduced Vasa restrictions in 86. Before that you could walk to the airport, buy a ticket and you are in London in 6 hrs. All you need was a passport and the fair was less that N400.

So we blame all Nigerian elders especially our Leaders and Politicians who show the way and are role models for the youth, and not the yahoo yahoo boys, the international prostitute and the drug courier, who is try to make their parent proud ( if they succeed)

PS: I think it is unfair to compare a crime of Forgery with that of Rape or Armed robber. What made they guy case serious was because he jumped bail and not because he forged his certificate. If his case was deemed serious, he would not have been granted bail. In Nigeria the crime of forgery is not even punished, we have so many fake doctors, fake nurses, fake lawyers, fake Engineers, etc. The National assembly is full of people with fake degrees and those caught are never prosecuted.

Moneygirl,
Of course we never said anything about parmanent flooding. The flooding takes place periodically at least twice a year. But each flooding always leaves some degree of damage, no matter how small. And after a few decades the cummulative effects of the flooding have large impact on structures and beaches on the coast line. Now Victoria Island (bar beach) can be excused, being strategically located and this Knowledge was unavailable then. But why take the risk by building on the ocean(reclaimed land), when billions of dollars had been sunk in Bar Beach ( and we are not sure of the long term ability to whitstand the ocean, tidal and rising sea forces.

Not all of Lagos is below sea level, Epe is above sea level, so is Ikorodu.

mikeansy:
Gusau was Nigeria's National Security Adviser under Obasanjo . . . . he has been credited for being involved in all Military Coups since the History of Nigeria.

He was instrumental to Yar'adua being selected as Governor of Katsina in the run up to 1999 and was very much close to the Governor of Katsina.

When Gusau speaks everyone listens . . . . .besides that he had a genuine case, if the evidence against Yar'adua at the time was weak . . Ribadu has no choice but listen to the National Security Adviser. (Governors use fronts but sometimes they are traceable)

I think the fact that you are even asking me about Gusau means you did not read the essay because u would have seen this answer there.

Ribadu supporters sometimes shoot their self in the foot, or is it in their mouths. Are you now telling us that the fact that Gusau was National Security Adviser or was involved with all military coups in Nigeria or even the fact that he was Yaradua's good father places him above Ribadu as far a investigation into corruption goes.

Ribadu then must be so incompetent, that his investigations and conclusions were rubbished by Gusau. How many other Governors were wrongly investigated and put on his list of 31 whithout a more competent investigator telling him to remove their name?

JIL:
Atheism is not only the greatest of evils, atheists are the most foolish of mind. Even a common fool realises that everything has a maker or creator. Look around and see if you can point out at anything that is not produced or made by somebody. According to atheist, simple and everyday things like coke, toothpaste, omo, cigarettes, guilder, clothes, shoes etc are made by someone or a group of people represented by a company but the majesty of the heavens, the stars, sky, planets, sun, beauty of the sea appeared from nowhere. BULLSHIT. There is something these guys are smoking that we don't know of yet.

I do not know where you are coming from, but you give theists a bad name. Your posts reeks of emotional disorientation, you need to see a shrink. You are not able to adduce any reasonable argument argument , and at best argue like an eight year old. I had enjoyed some enlightening intellectual jousts with some theists on Naira land, but you have no points to advance.

JIL:
Ladies and gentlemen, this brainless cadaver is talking about morality. Morality means nothing to an atheist and as an atheist eater it means nothing to me too.

Who is David, Is he also an atheist? Bring him on! I want to take every atheists one on one and show their parents how stupid they were to produce ugly ducklings like them.


Go and read your bible you fool. 'the other check' in an atheist-bible means an atheist backside. 



WORD OF THE DAY: Atheism is the real fuc*ing root of all fuc*ing evil.


Behold, I eat atheists for breakfast. They leave a bitter taste in the mouth & give an occational headache like Guilder.

Apart from your being an ignorant and mindless person, you are also not concerned with facts. Make a small research and find our which sets of people, theist or atheists that hold higher moral values, Also take a survey of countries with higher moral values before you reach a definite conclusion.

Clue: Google is available - it is free

After that then answer the following questions.
Which group of the two have cause more wars. Name an atheist that have started a war. Your Bible is full of wars started by the theists.

Which group had and continue to exhibit wickedness, exploitation and evil in the world and which group is trying to establish world peace and unity.

Which group looks at the whole human race as his brother or sister.

Finally, If you are ready to slaughter atheists, then what will you do to other theists outside your denomination ie, moslems, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Sango worshipers and even devil worshippers (they are theists too, it is just that they prefer to worship devil than God). I am sure you will treat them worse that Hitler treated the Jews.

Your hatred for others with opposing outlook to life shows your own insecurity.

This was what i said on the 26th march regarding The Eko Atlantic City Project.

On face value and in the short run, this is a wonderful projects, it can turn Lagos into a mini Dubai. It will benefit the whole of Lagos state if not the whole of Nigeria, But there is a Caveat.

I lived over 25 yr in Victoria Island and i am a witness of how erosion brought the shoreline of the Bar Beach from over a kilometer away to Ahmadu Bello Way. Same for Lekki Beach and I hear Eleko Beach has also been Eroding. This is due to two main factors, the Beaches of Lagos are facing the full force of the atlantic ocean and so the waves are pulling the sands of the shoreline into the ocean. Also the polar ice caps are melting as a result of Global warming and the sea level is rising and is expected to rise further in the coming decades. So we can expect quicker erosion taking place.

I know how may billions had been sunk to periodically reclaim Bar Beach and they say that they have found a permanent solution ( i keep my fingers crossed).

I just think it is risky to site such a huge project so close to the beach line, it will require billions in the future to maintain just like Ahmadu Bello rd. They should have moved tho project a bit inland, maybe Ikorodu or Epe which is a high land.

And today this is the report on Thisday newspaper.

Lagos Bar Beach Overflows

Nature rode rough shod over the Lagos Bar Beach yesterday, when the elements defied the multi-billion naira shoreline protection barriers constructed last year by the Lagos State government, in the process, flooding almost the entire stretch of Ahmadu Bello Way, in Victoria Island.
The flooding resulting from the surging Atlantic Ocean, followed a slight rainfall at about midday on the Lagos Island.
Hundreds of motorists who use Ahmadu Bello Way, had to battle through the flood and resultant traffic jam to get to their various destinations.
The traffic crisis was compounded by the huge quantity of sharp sand deposited on the road after the flood waters receded into the ocean.
The sand left behind practically covered all the rock boulders constructed to protect the shoreline, including the walkway on Ahmadu Bello Way and the road itself.
“This caught us unawares. We thought it would never happen again after the government completed the shoreline protection work. We are really disappointed,” remarked a taxi driver caught in the traffic jam.
As at press time, officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Water Front Development were not available for comments.
But the director general of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Dr Anthony Anuforo said yesterday’s flooding might have been due to global warming.
“Ice has been melting in the seas and causing a general rise in sea level. Nigeria’s coastline is predominantly low level and because of rising sea levels, more and more areas are getting flooded and submerged.
“Another factor is the waves that are getting more violent due to the Green House Gas effect,” Anuforo said.
On how it can be curbed, he said reducing Green House Gas emissions is an important factor, adding that planting trees should be encouraged, “since they absorb carbon dioxide thus reducing the volume of green house gases emitted into the atmosphere.”

So Lagos State Government should heed the warning signs, or make sure they make provision for billions of dollars to control flooding in the future.

It is amazing that when you click the reply button, the page will hang until is times out, and when you go back and re-click, the same thing happens, only to see your post had been submitted three times. I hope the admin corrects that problem.

I am flabbergasted that some Nigerians, educated one at that, can see nothing wrong with appointing two members of the same family to head a  Govt parastatal. They go on to compare it to elective office where actual voters elect members of the same family to elective offices at two different elections. I wonder if such people have heard of business ethics before, where husband and wife are not allowed to work for the same company, even they are in different branches. Here we have a man supervising a son or a brother and some people feel it is ethically alright.

Having said that, even if they are the most qualified people out of the over 150 million other Nigerians, how do you reconcile it with our Federal Character Law enshrined in our constitution, which is in effect in almost every aspect of out national life, be it university admission, civil, service appointments, army recruitment, ministerial and ambassadorial appointments and so on.

I am flabbergasted that some Nigerians, educated one at that, can see nothing wrong with appointing two members of the same family to head a  Govt parastatal. They go on to compare it to elective office where actual voters elect members of the same family to elective offices at two different elections. I wonder if such people have heard of business ethics before, where husband and wife are not allowed to work for the same company, even they are in different branches. Here we have a man supervising a son or a brother and some people feel it is ethically alright.

Having said that, even if they are the most qualified people out of the over 150 million other Nigerians, how do you reconcile it with our Federal Character Law enshrined in our constitution, which is in effect in almost every aspect of out national life, be it university admission, civil, service appointments, army recruitment, ministerial and ambassadorial appointments and so on.

I am flabbergasted that some Nigerians, educated one at that, can see nothing wrong with appointing two members of the same family to head a Govt parastatal. They go on to compare it to elective office where actual voters elect members of the same family to elective offices at two different elections. I wonder if such people have heard of business ethics before, where husband and wife are not allowed to work for the same company, even they are in different branches. Here we have a man supervising a son or a brother and some people feel it is ethically alright.

Having said that, even if they are the most qualified people out of the over 150 million other Nigerians, how do you reconcile it with our Federal Character Law enshrined in our constitution, which is in effect in almost every aspect of out national life, be it university admission, civil, service appointments, army recruitment, ministerial and ambassadorial appointments and so on.

Like i said in another thread concerning the project, it is extremely risky siting such a gigantic project on land reclaimed from the Atlantic. It should have been sited inland. We have had enough problems with Bar Beach and Ahmadu Ballo way on V/I. Scientists have been shouting for decades that the sea level will rise significantly over the next 100yrs and affect most coastal cities of the world. We should be planning how to deal with that instead of adding more problems.

Read the following report for more information from yahoo news.

Greenland ice could fuel severe U.S. sea level rise
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York, Boston and other cities on North America's northeast coast could face a rise in sea level this century that would exceed forecasts for the rest of the planet if Greenland's ice sheet keeps melting as fast as it is now, researchers said on Wednesday.

Sea levels off the northeast coast of North America could rise by 12 to 20 inches more than other coastal areas if the Greenland glacier-melt continues to accelerate at its present pace, the researchers reported.

This is because the current rate of ice-melting in Greenland could send so much fresh water into the salty north Atlantic Ocean that it could change the vast ocean circulation pattern sometimes called the conveyor belt. Scientists call this pattern the meridional overturning circulation.

"If the Greenland melt continues to accelerate, we could see significant impacts this century on the northeast U.S. coast from the resulting sea level rise," said Aixie Hu, lead author of an article on the subject in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"Major northeastern cities are directly in the path of the greatest rise," said Hu, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

This is an even bleaker assessment than an earlier study indicated. A March article in the journal Nature Geoscience said warmer water temperatures could shift ocean currents so as to raise sea levels off the U.S. northeast coast by about 8 inches more than the average global sea level rise.

NOT LIKELY BUT POSSIBLE

However, this earlier research did not include the impact of melting Greenland ice, which would speed changes in ocean circulation and send 4 to 12 more inches of water toward northeastern North America, on top of the average global sea level rise.

That could put residents of New York, Boston and Halifax, Nova Scotia, at risk since these cities and others lie close to sea level now, Hu said in answer to e-mailed questions.

Not only would coastal residents be at direct risk from flooding but drainage systems would suffer as salty ocean water would move back into river deltas, changing the biological environment, Hu wrote in an e-mail.

"In a flooding zone, because the higher sea level may impede the function of the drainage system, the future flood may become more severe," he wrote. If cities are prone to subsidence -- where the ground sinks -- higher sea levels would also make that problem worse, according to Hu.

The ice that covers much of Greenland is melting faster now due to global climate change, raising world sea levels. But sea level does not rise evenly around the globe. Sea level in the North Atlantic is now 28 inches lower than in the North Pacific, because the Atlantic has a dense, compact layer of deep, cold water that the Pacific lacks.

Greenland's ice-melt rate has increased by 7 percent a year since 1996 but Hu said it is unlikely to continue. Still, he and his co-authors ran computer simulations that included this fast-paced melting, along with more moderate scenarios with ice-melt increasing by 3 percent or 1 percent annually.

Hu said it was hard to say whether the 7 percent annual increase could go on for the next 50 years but said it was possible since the current rate of increase in climate-warming carbon dioxide is higher than the high end of projections by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Source: [url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090527/sc_nm/us_climate_usa_sealevel_1
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Afam:
Why would Odili give up his dream or aspiration just like that if he was not corrupt?

Can you blackmail an innocent man?

Ribadu may have the listening ear of OBJ because Ribadu heads an important agency (EFCC) under that administration.

How these irrelevant issues and diversions are brought up to discredit a man that stood up to the powerful corrupt Nigerians beats my imagination silly.

If Odili felt he needed to run then he did not need to chicken out unless of course he had something to hide.

EFCC was after Odili but Odili got a court order forbidding anyone to try him and the last time I checked EFCC does not control the courts in Nigeria.

Enough of the diversions and misinformation abeg.

Please reason beyond your cult worship. I never alluded thay Gov. Odili was clean, what i quarrel with was why Ribadu was using corruption as a blackmailing tool. For your information, the court did not stop Ribadu from disqualifying Odili through his corruption advisory list (which contained names of some people we were not aware were under investigation),before he was told by the court that he cannot do that.
What of Odili's replacement, can you exonerate Goodluck  Jonathan from Alams crimes. Jonathan's wife was found trying to lodge large sums of cash in a bank during the husbands tenure. What happened?. I am sure if the target had been Goodluck, Ribadu would have also blackmailed him into submission. My take is that all of them are robbers, but Ribadu made some robbers more equal than others.

The quote below credited to Mallam El- Rufai confirm what we have been saying all along that Ribadu was a political tool and was not really fighting corruption.

When this failed to change the combined minds of Obasanjo, Tony Anenih, Ahmadu Ali and Ojo Maduekwe, I came up with another "last resort". I sent people to wake up Nuhu Ribadu, then Chairman of EFCC to help persuade Obasanjo since all else appeared to have failed. It was not until about 5am that Ribadu succeeded in getting Odili off the ticket. The next morning, Governor Goodluck Jonathan was announced as the running mate to Umaru Yar’Adua instead of Peter Odili.

So you can see how Odili suddenly became "corrupt" during the primaries since his name was not originally on the corruption list submitted by Ribadu.

Afam:
Can you please point out the contradictions?

The content in bold refers, I disagree with the very difficult science part because it is not.

Being able to monitor and/or trace large sums of money is one thing, being able to tie them to individuals or groups is yet another. That the FBI is having problems tracing funds to people fronting for the likes of Al qaeda does not make the process a difficult science.

There goes one of your contradictions again. you said the FBI is having problems tracing funds to people fronting for the likes of Al qaeda but the EFCC should not have problems tracing funds to people fronting for Nigerian looters. Or are you implying that that Nigerian looters steal and transfer money using their names?

proudly9ja:
I think Ribadu's name has become a daily dose for Madam EFCC. If Tafa forfeited house no Bleep on yyy street and it was sold, is it not just straight forward to ask the person who paid for it into what account and what name he paid it into? If he paid it into EFCC account, then they should check their statement of account for withdrawals to know who withdew the money or monies in this case.

Me thinks that madam has appropraited the money accordingly. Infact I don't know why we are disturbing ourselves on NL as regards this woman and even the senate probing the issue. Since the issue was raised weeks ago, have we heard anything again? GMGs have changed hands and elbows have been greased. I have learnt one thing from the Nigerian senate, whenvever a probe is set up, the aim is not to discover the truth, it is to witch hunt somebody and also to blackmail people into paying them bribes. I am sure that has been done in this case. Did we learn nothing from the Elumelu saga?

Case dismissed. Next issue please!

Are you saying that it is the Nigerian Senate that has been given the mandate to investigate and try corruption cases in Nigeria? You are implying that if actually there was money looted under Ribadu's EFCC, than madam Farida is not empowered to investigate.

Some people said Madam Farida should just go to the houses sold and ask for receipt from the new owners. That is stupid, we already know that EFCC was mandated to sell the asserts, so naturally the money should be in EFCC accounts. The question should be who withdrew the money from EFCC accounts and where are the files relating to the property and cash. I am not exonerating anybody including madam, what i am saying is that Ribadu owes Nigerians his own side of the story.

Afam,

I think you have taken a position and want to defend that position irrespective of contradictions within that position. Like is done with religion.

The fact that EFCC is empowered to monitor, question or stop any movement of funds is not subject to argument, the problem is the how. It is only recently that EFCC is proposing to have a personel in head office of all banks to monitor transfer of fund outside the country. During Ribadu's time the EFCC relied on the bank officials themselves to report huge fund transfer (and you know how effective that was). EFCC did not become aware of Tafa and Alams loot and asserts because of their brilliant monitoring programs, they were caught because someone who felt cheated squealed (like the Ekiti bribe scandal). It is these people that give EFCC the account nos. and address of houses in Nigeria and abroad.

Tracing international funds transfer is a very difficult science, you need powerful computers and sophisticated software and skilled programmers. Even today FBI is having a difficult time tracing fund transfers of terrorist organizations like Al-quaida, which they use to fund their oversee operations. This is because money can be transferred between different account and countries before it is withdrawn in a country with weak banking regulation like Caymans Island. The money trail can became almost untraceable.

I am not a supporter of Mrs Farida as I  feel she has a lot of skeletons in her cupboard (all police personel do). What I am saying is Ribadu was not fighting corruption, but was grandstanding. His being personally corrupt, i cannot say. But he was knee deep in the corruption machinery.

Afam:
Ridabu traced looted funds from all corners of Nigeria regardless of the position of the looter.

If the present chair of EFCC cannot trace the money she claims she is looking for then she has no business being in EFCC because Ribadu simply traced looted funds and proceeded to try the looters. He did not go to Channels TV to ask looters to come and show him where they kept the looted funds.

I guess we have gotten used to lies, rumors and misinformation in this country to the extent that insistence on facts, logic and common sense is now becoming an impossible proposition.

The irony of it all is that the person who may be missing the point would be the first to accuse others of doing just that.

It is either you are economical with the truth or you do not know how the EFCC operates. EFCC acts on petitions from the public ( political opponents, Media Reports, Civil societies, and even some Judases). EFCC do not have the skills and resources to trace funds round the globe(financial forensic experts). It is even difficult for countries with the necessary tools like US and Britain.

If as you claim that Ribadu is a good financial forensic expert, why was Gov Tinubu(an avid enemy of Ribadu's oga) able to disgrace Ribadu, despite whistle blowers in his cabinet.   What about all other Governors like Nnamani,  Yerima, Akala etc, was he able to trace their loot.

This Ribadu cult is gaining notoriety for spreading falsehood.

It is strange that some people can worship Ribadu to the point of being a Religion. Maybe he should start a Religion, I am sure he will have ample followers.

Instead of people responding to the allegations, his acolytes are either in denial or beating around the bush. Can any of you answer what happened to Alams and Tafa loots. If my memory serves me right, Tafa returned about 17 billion naira worth of asserts and cash to the EFCC, and Aloams returned something similar

Was Alams money returned back to where it was looted, that is the Bayelsa state Govt. And was Tafa loot returned back to the Police. Was the money paid into the Federation account, where it will be shared by the three tiers of Govts.

Can Ribadu help us with the information or one of his followers on Niaraland.

mikeansy,

I told you i watched an interview on channels a few minutes ago and you asked me for video showing the things Farida said, it think that is beyond logic. If you want the video, i think the logical thing to do is to get in touch with channels TV.

Efcc chairman, Mrs Farida was on Channels this morning and the summary of her submissions are as follows;

1. That records of asserts and money collected from Tafa Balogun, Alams and others cannot be found, so nobody can trace them. She said she asked her immediate predecessor Mr. Lamode about them and he said he does not have the records. She said she had been trying to get the records from Ribadu since she assumed office, but Ribadu had not been forthcoming, instead he has taken the EFCC to court over the issue, the voluntarily withdrew the case.

So can Ribadu's Fans help him out and tell us where the asserts and monies are.

2. On the allegation that EFCC had not been able to Secure any conviction since she assumed office, She said EFCC is only empowered to investigate and prosecute. The job of conviction belongs to the judiciary and so the question should be directed at the Judiciary. She says the defense lawyers and the judiciary stalls and frustrate their cases. The court grants bail to the suspects immediately they are arraigned, then the lawyer challenges the jurisdiction of the court (high court) to hear the case and then further on go and secure a perceptual injunction, stopping further arrest and investigation of the suspect. The jurisdiction case would then go from the high court to the appeal court and even to the supreme court. All these can take 6 - 10 yrs and the case had not even began. The suspect would be enjoying his loot and traveling the world all these time. She said she has been trying to enlist the support of the NBA and National Judicial Council to stop all these nonsense.

So you can see that Ribadu was able to secure questionable conviction (because non of the convictions resulted in actual prison terms as they were in detention for the trial period) because OBJ allowed him to use unconstitutional means.

On the corruption charges against her by saying that she was staying in a small cubicle before her appointment and it became inadequate after she became EFCC chairman as the cubicle could not even accommodate a small desk. She now went on to say she paid N5,000,000 deposit for the house, and that after working in the police for over 35 yrs, she should be in a position to afford the N5,000,000.

I noticed a contradiction in that statement because if she had N5,000,000 in her account before she became the boss at EFCC, she would not be living in a cubicle. That said, I do not want to judge her now, the whole truth about the Abuja house and others will be exposed by her successor, once she is no longer EFCC chairman, as is always the case.

So over to Ribadu's fans

On face value and in the short run, this is a wonderful projects, it can turn Lagos into a mini Dubai. It will benefit the whole of Lagos state if not the whole of Nigeria, But there is a Caveat.

I lived over 25 yr in Victoria Island and i am  a witness of how erosion brought the shoreline of the Bar Beach from over a kilometer away to Ahmadu Bello Way. Same for Lekki Beach and I hear Eleko Beach has also been Eroding. This is due to two main factors, the Beaches of Lagos are facing the full force of the atlantic ocean and so the waves are pulling the sands of the shoreline into the ocean. Also the polar ice caps are melting as a result of Global warming and the sea level is rising and is expected to rise further in the coming decades. So we can expect quicker erosion taking place.

I know how may billions had been sunk to periodically reclaim Bar Beach and they say that they have found a permanent solution ( i keep my fingers crossed).

I just think it is risky to site such a huge project so close to the beach line, it will require billions in the future to maintain just like Ahmadu Bello rd. They should have moved tho project a bit inland, maybe Ikorodu or Epe which is a high land.

May i add that to analyze the finger prints of ballot papers used in some states in the last election, experts were called in from UK to help us prove that the thumb prints belong to one person (What i believe a trained police officer with just a magnifying glass should be able to do). So are we going to also bring in experts from UK to help us analyze the photos of the CCTV to identify the armed robbers?

People are over exaggerating the usefulness and importance of these cctv cameras. Now if you tell me the cameras will help Lagos State Govt. control the traffic situation in Lagos, i will agree to some extent. But i laugh when people tell me it will help improve the security situation, may I as how the cameras on it own without other vital components like a centralized database, necessary software like face recognition software, trained personnel, necessary legislation, etc.

In Nigeria armed robbers do not cover their faces, they enter banks in broad day light in full view of everybody including police officers and the Bank's CCTV camera, steal, kill and take their time, then get away by shooting in the air to clear the road of people and police (who take cover in bushes, gutters, etc). The robbers are never caught even when the banks have their full portraits.

I view the "live" pictures and its usefulness is further compromised the quality of the pictures, i guess the pictures were degraded because of our slow and epileptic internet services we have in Nigeria. If the quality is improved it might take hours to open and then change. Also the pictures are delayed by 15 mins, that would reduce its efficiency in traffic management .

sashbaby:
the issue here is why a sitting governor should claim allegiance to another country. why is yar'dua not saying anything about the act. but he is more interested in sending military forces to quell the uprising in the southern oil rich states.charactersistic with nairaland, people deviate from the actual discussion to name calling.i hope those arab nations wont use nigeria as a training ground for terrorist. we have so much plagueing this nation right now

No we are not deviating from the issues. You are saying the same thing i am saying. If terrorists us Kano as a training ground, the world would say Nigeria (including your home village) is a terrorist training camp.

The reason Kano can owe more allegiance to Niger or saudi Arabia is because the people of Kano has closer cultural Links with Niger including same language and religion than say Bayelsa, Warri and Imo. The only thing linking Kano to the southern parts of Nigeria is Federation Account.

You cannot force allegiance, it happens naturally.

Jairzinho:
You messed up your good points with name calling-take your time o !

Sorry Jairzinho, but that is the truth. I know the truth is bitter.

It was the Yorubas that introduced corruption to governance in Nigeria. Of all the politicians  the first republic, it was the Yoruba once that became super rich. The Awolowos and the Akintolas were buying up all the properties and shares of big companies even though they did not engage in any business outside governance. Then the other politicians from other parts like Tafawa balewa, Zik and Ahmadu bello did not have any wealth because they did not steal. Even when the Northerners took over during the Gowon administration other tribes had not learnt the art of stealing. Even Gowon did not have any sizeable wealth after being over thrown. During the Muritala/Obasanjo regimes the richest Nigerians were Super rich super permanent secretaries who are mainly Yorubas with some bendelites. I could not remember only a few northerners of sizeable wealth then like Yaradua and Danjuma. It was during the Shagari administration that the hausa (and some Igbos too)learnt the art of official stealing and we started hearing about many northerners stealing money like Dikko, Chioma, etc. and others like Iwanyanwu, Igbenedion, Ibru.

By the time of IBB it was an all comers affair and everybody was trying to out do each other in terms of corruption. Still yet you cannot beat the Yorubas.

Since the Igbos cannot compete with the Yorubas in Official corruption because they cannot get hold on power, they institutionalized the unofficial ones like Fake drugs, fake everything else including piracy and Fake Banks and 419.

That is why today the Richest and most influential Yorubas are politicians or civil servants (serving or retired) with no visible business and the richest Igbos are either Politicians with Yoruba godfather or former 419, brug baron, etc.

Even in the Private sector the Fraud going on in companies with Yoruba management structure cannot be compared to others with other tribes, eg cadbury, Coca cola. That is why most blue chip companies and even smaller ones opt for foreign management staffs eg, indians, Europeans and even Lebanese.

What is happening in kano has a lot of implications for the Nigerian Federation. It exposes the lies and deceit on the country called The "Federal" Republic of Nigeria. We see the flaw in aggregating people of contrasting culture, background and religion and forcing them to live together under a Quasi- unitary federation.

Ordinarily what Kano is doing is what should be the norm, but in a system where people are stifled, and not create structures in tandem with their development agendas, then you will get stagnation and reverse development we are suffering today. This forced federation of Nigeria has given the country ever conceivable negative identity around the world, some of which are,

1. One of the Most corrupt nation in the world, because Yorubas are masters of Official and administrative corruption, and the Igbos the leaders of unofficial corruption.
2. One of the most armed robbery prone nation - Because the Niger Deltans especially the Edos and some Igbos are versed in armed robbery
3. The highest exporter of International prostitute solely because of Benin girls
4. A country of Islamic fundamentalists because of the Sharia northern states.
5. A country of Militants because of the Ijaws

And so many Others.

Now if we we still operating a confederate system or a true federation would every tribe or state not answer for their crime instead of hiding under Nigeria and painting all of us with their crimes.
Sorry for the digression, not let me get back to the topic.

If Kano State is Generating its own revenue, then nobody can can dictate how they spend their money. They can introduce Taliban style Sharia for all i care, because as a Niger Deltan, nothing will take be to Kano. And if I decide to go to Kano then the incentive must be enough to make me like under their Sharia law, like those working in Saudi Arabia.

In a true Federation practicing resource control everybody would go back to his father,s land to exploit the resources or create new opportunities. It is criminal for Kano to collect money from the resources or taxes of other states and use it to fight the indegenes of those states or make their land hostile to indegenes of those states.

So if it is alright for Kano to make Laws to regulate how other Nigerians live in their territory ( as it should be), why can't the Niger Deltans regulate how both Nigerian and Foreigners behave in their Land.

Every body here is missing the point. The reason why people are comparing and contrasting development of lagos and other urban areas is the skewed nature of our federalism which we inherited from the British. you can not compare the way American cities developed to the way our cities developed. Most American cities developed along with their capacity to generate wealth, and the common wealth (taxes)is used to develop the capital, but here the wealth generated from the states and local Govt are seized by the federal govt. and used to develop the capital to the detriment of areas generating the wealth.

For example it is criminal for the federal Government to generate revenue from Taxes on cigarette and alcohol and use the revenue to develop Abuja while leaving the state govt to grapple with the problems caused by cigarette and alcohol.

Because of the sharing of cheap revenue from oil, most of the states are not ready to work to generate revenue and are therefore unviable states. Also every local govt. wants to be a state not because of the revenue they can add to the national purse but because they want a larger share of oil money.

The major tribes (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) are so selfish that they feel that once their interests are satisfied, every other person can go to hell. Well let me tell you that it is the Minorities that keep Nigeria together and made all the sacrifices neccessary to keep Nigeria going.

I am appauled the the reasoning of people from the Major tribes on this forum, I made mention that the Lagos State Government had stopped all dredging in Lagos and Sand has to be sourced from Ogun State for about 2 yrs now due to EIA and no body in this room has condemned the Lagos State Government. So I do not really understand why an EIA is so much of a big problem with the Lower Niger Delta. If Lagos was on the Niger Delta, would the Yoruba allow the federal Govt. to just dredge their rivers without a risk assessment?

My village is along the Banks of the Niger Delta and I know how much we are suffering as a result of oil drilling in the name of one Nigeria of which we benefit nothing. My village has sunk further so much so that the last time i visited out wooden stilt huts we us as houses had to be built with taller stilts. Moving around the Village had to be done with very high rain boots.

The most annoying thing is most people opposing this Environmental impact Assessment had never been to the villages of the Niger Delta and cannot survive a day under the condition the people are forced to live in. So our ancestoral lands should be distroyed to show we love Nigeria because the owners of Nigeria wants to Enjoy ports in Onitsha and Maiduguri.

We are only asking that you people should show us how you will dredge the rivers without distroying our villages. we also want to know the benefit to us (the people and not polititians ). We are only asking for a holistic solution.

Further more there are ports in Koko, Sapele, Portharcourt and Calabar. What is happening to these ports and why are they comatose, is it because they are not situated in WAZOBIA land. With all these argument about the centality of Onitsha, how far is Onitsa from Koko or Portharcourt?. It is amazing that we have about 6 ports in Nigeria but only two located in Lagos are used resulting in a backlog of ships waiting to berth.

That is why I think before we can do anything in Nigeria, we have to sit down and discuss the basis on our one Nigeria. Someone here says the rivers of the Niger Delta belongs to the federal government, then what about the Lagos Lagoon, the Ogun River and the Osun River or even the Arugungun River.

People had lived along the rivers of the Niger Delta before Mongo Park and want to continue living there wether in one Nigeria or not.

How can Nigeria develop when our senses is eroded by tribalism (if it is not religion). The People of the Fragile lower Niger Delta are asking for a proper Environmental Impact Assessment before their rivers can be dredged and some Yoruba people and Ibo opportunists are crying foul, and thinking only of what they stand to benefit. But when governor Fashola orders stoppage of dredging from lagos lagoon ( a far more stable Land), because a proper Environmental Impact Assessment had not been carried out, everybody (especially the Yorubas) was hailing Gov. Fashola. Now the cost of sand for building has hit the roof.

You can not compare the small dredging in Lagos which is used for construction purposes only to dredging whole rivers and creeks of the Niger Delta.

I do not think Nigeria as a country can move forward when we all think only of our personal interest.

I do not want to contribute further to this thread because i believe I and others have said all there is to be said. But i will make one final submission to summarize all that have been said.

Almost Every society in the world had been exploited by others stronger than them since the dawn of recorded history. And we were not the worst in terms of exploitation. I had mentioned the Jews earlier. Others that have suffered worse exploitation than us are the Aborigines of Australia, the Inca, Maya, Aztec and all native tribes of south America (that was almost decimated from the surface of the Earth), the Polish people that was destroyed was was almost exterminated by the Tartars, the Mongols and even the Tectonic Knights of Germany. Even during the Roman Empire the Gauls of southern France were fought mortal combats to entertain Romans.

I am not saying that we should not remember the atrocities committed by Whites against our fore-fathers. We should remember it for the sake of taking steps to stop a re-occurrence in the future. But we must move ahead and solve our present difficulties. And i must say paying our present governments trillions of dollars as reparation will not solve our present problems, in fact it will compound it because the money will still end up in a few hands.

We now live in a world here if you improve yourself, you will be respected and accepted into the elite comity of Nations. I wish superego can use as much energy to educate our people to forget their differences and forge a common front to defeat all the traps laid by the whites. Education is what we need. Education to know that the whites are not superior to us on an individual level, they are only superior on a societal level.

Superego, I also do not like the way you are so inconsistent. You use the Congo experience to buttress your argument on why Nigeria is backwards, leave Congo to fight their cause, you can only support them.

You also use the 10th century conquest of Spain and southern France by the Arabs to buttress the development and achievement of Africa, which Africa? is the present day Nigeria involved. Are Arabs the Africans you are campaigning for or Black Africa. Arabs do not and have never seen themselves in the same pedestal as Black Africa.

Although I am not a Christian, I do subscribe to the Forgive and Forget motto. Because you will never progress if you do not get past the pains of the past, you will be expending too much energy on seeking revenge or seeking pity instead of using the energy to make progress.

LET GO, THE PHYSICAL SLAVE TRADE IS HISTORY. LETS FIGHT THE OTHER FORMS OF SLAVERY BEING IMPOSED ON US INCLUDING INTERNAL SLAVERY.

Superego

Sorry for misunderstanding your use of our own educational system and I also admit that I am wrong when I made reference to tertiary education. So i agree with you that majority of the population do not have to go to university and the notion that you must collect degrees like trophies is one of the major problems besetting Nigeria.

Having said that I state that we cannot develop if we have a largely illiterate population as we have in Nigeria today. A large illiterate population is a liability development and they are easy to manipulate by politicians. That is why I advocated in my earlier post, a free and qualitative education up to secondary school level, the education should be general to include African History, Science, Arts and native language.

Your "Philosopher King" system has not been fully tested, I do not really trust information coming out of Iran because the press there is highly censored and regulated. Dubai seems to be stable because you have huge oil reserve, easy money and a tiny indigenous lazy homogeneous local population. So the monarchy can steal as much as they want, there will still be enough for infrastructural development ( by foreigners of course) and share around. Most Arab countries operate that way.

But the system cannot work in a multi ethnic and heterogeneous society like Nigeria. Issues like which philosopher king to rule, how long each tenure will be and the rotating system among the over 300 tribes will be too cumbersome and destabilizing.