₦airaland Forum

igerians recount the losses caused by restriction of movement and closure of borders during the recently concluded elections

The 2011 elections have come and gone, with winners popping champagne and the losers still smarting from defeat. Undoubtedly, however, the elections have left a sour taste in the mouths of Nigerians who are still counting losses suffered as a result of curfew imposed from 10 pm on the eve of election to 6 am on election days and restriction of movement on election day as well as closure of the country’s borders.

For instance, Musa Ibrahim, a taxi driver in Ilorin, Kwara State, did not see any sense in not allowing people to move around during the elections. “My business was adversely affected because I live on daily earnings from this work. On the average, I lost about N3,000 on each day of the election and this is quite painful. That was why immediately the voting ended, I rushed out to see what I could still make to sustain my family. We have voted in times past and nobody imprisoned us,” a frustrated Ibrahim said. To make up for the lost time, Ibrahim and other transporters hike fares when they commence business after election hours.

Apart from artisans and petty traders, operators of eateries in Ilorin were also greatly affected by the restriction of movement on election days. Mr Biggs’, Chicken Republic and Royals all recorded losses. A staff of one of the eateries, who pleaded anonymity, told the magazine that his company lost over N100, 000 each election day due to the restriction of movement, which forced the eatery to shut its doors to customers. Though the eateries and other businesses eventually opened after voting hours, hardly did they realise as much sales as they would have had if there were no restriction.

^^^

Are you the same person as Ishit4body?

^^^^

ACN gets to gain strategic ministerial appointments like AG for Yemi Osinbajo etc.

Mamagee is so stupidddd, sometimes I wonder how she is able to manage her monthly periods.


What a dunce!


I am not surprised though, the apple doesnt fall far from the tree.

^^^

I think you are using these slangs wrongly.

I lived for a while in the SS, and "kpeme" means death.

If someone tells you that you will kpeme, you had better run for cover.

^^^

Well said. You have common sense, unlike Ezeuche.

Ezeuche is a senseless goat.

BABE!:
^^ What I meant by "I know IK Dairo" is, I've his name before, and maybe one of his songs (not sure).

Yh, mumsy is fun person! (apparently),

Of course, I know Shina Peters! The guy don kpeme now. lol,

I didn't miss anything. I like my generation's music!

Tell me you are kidding?

He is still alive o. LOL

Seriously, you don miss! This generation is full of crap, no common sense.

Listen to Tunji Oyelana, and you will know what I am talking about.

^^^

Your mom must be a fun person.

She is in the know. . .

BABE!:
^^ I know who Kwam 1 is. Wasiu Ayinde! My mumsy loves him, so I kind grew up hearing his songs. I went to one his parties recently sef----

I know IK Dairo. I don't know the other guyz.

There is no way you know IK Dairo. Perhaps, you are confusing the name for Paul Play? Two different people.

What about Shina Peters?

omode yii, you don miss mehn, i tell you.

Odunnu:
May GOD bless that man and while at it bless the Emir of Kano- Ado Bayero as well. In a similar way, he saved my daddy in one of these riots. Till today,my family owe the Emir loyalty

May God bless me too, as your future hubby.

I will take care of you from now till eternity. No harm shall come near you. Trust me, I mean it

Copies of the letters:

http://www.divshare.com/direct/14649385-532.pdf


http://www.divshare.com/direct/14649411-254.pdf

The letter that killed ACN/CPC alliance
By Idris Akinbajo
April 24, 2011 12:35PM
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The refusal of Tunde Bakare, the vice presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), to sign a postdated letter of resignation, has been largely blamed for the collapse of the alliance talks between the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). NEXT has obtained an exclusive copy of the contentious letters; Letter1 and  Letter2. Had Mr Bakare signed the letter, dated June 7, 2011, the clergyman would have been under compulsion to step down as vice president after eight days in the post if his party had won the last presidential election.

In an arrangement that would have made Mr Bakare the briefest occupier of the vice presidential office in Nigeria's history, a nominee of the ACN would have succeeded the clergyman, in line with the terms of the alliance agreement.

But while the presidential candidate of the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari, and other chieftains of his party were satisfied with the letter, according to a source close to the talks, Mr Bakare refused to sign the letter despite entreaties from Mr Buhari, other party chiefs, and the ACN delegation to the talks. Some unnamed northern elders were also said to have "begged" Mr Bakare to sign the letter in the interest of the nation and democracy.

The one-page message, written under the letterhead of the CPC, was entitled ‘Resignation from Office as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria', and addressed to the "President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," whom the party believed would be Mr Buhari, its presidential candidate.

The letter read, "I have to this end appreciated the need for me to promote the desired national interest which by my principles override any other individual interest to make a supreme sacrifice of resigning my position as the Vice President of Nigeria to allow for the accommodation of the broader alliance that I strongly believe is required to move our country forward."

Bakare writes his own letter

But the CPC vice presidential candidate spurned the letter, preferring to write a different one which the ACN delegation believed would have given him room to renege on the terms of the alliance deal. The other signed letter written by Mr Bakare, also exclusively obtained by NEXT, was dated April 13, 2011 and addressed to Mr Buhari.

In it, Mr Bakare told his principal that "if at any time during the course of our joint efforts to move our country forward to the promised land, you consider it necessary for me to step down as the Vice President, please feel free at your sole and absolute discretion to accept this unilateral offer of resignation from me to that effect."

The source stated that the ACN refused this letter.

"They said it did not demonstrate enough willingness by Mr Bakare to vacate office," the source said. "They said the letter leaves everything to the discretion of Mr Buhari and wondered why Pastor Bakare simply refused to resign."

CPC responds

When our reporter contacted Mr Bakare by phone, he said, "I can't attend to any information, any news now. I have too much I'm trying to sort out. Thank you."

Contacted on Friday, Rotimi Fashakin, spokesperson for the CPC, refused to confirm or deny the existence and contents of the letter(s). In a telephone interview, Mr Fashakin stated that "the (refusal of Mr Bakare to sign the letter) was the reason given by the ACN for the breakdown of the negotiation."

He explained that there was still enough room to negotiate over the writing of a letter when the ACN suddenly called off the alliance.

"The negotiation period was supposed to be a process. If somebody does not meet your requirement, it is not enough to call off the negotiations.

"It will be correct to say that they were just looking for the flimsiest of excuses to align with the PDP," Mr Fashakin said.

Northern leaders mediate collapsed talks

After the conclusion of the National Assembly polls, the ACN and the CPC continued discussions on the possibility of an alliance before the presidential elections. The talks, according to a source, were held in two locations: the Lagos House in Asokoro, Abuja, and another location in Wuse 2 area of Abuja. The two parties had, months before the general election, also held several alliance talks without reaching any conclusion. The results of the National Assembly elections, however, showed that unless both parties worked together, their chances of upstaging the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) during the presidential polls were slim. The PDP had already garnered more than half of the National Assembly seats declared. The 11-hour alliance meeting commenced on the evening of Monday, April 11, and was reportedly facilitated by top northern leaders.

"General Babangida (former head of state), General Abdulsalam Abubakar (former head of state), and General (Aliyu) Gusau (former national security adviser) were among the northern leaders that brokered the meeting, and they were all there during the negotiations," another source close to the talks told NEXT.

After two days of negotiations, however, the alliance failed and both parties on Wednesday, April 13, announced to the world that each of them was presenting its own candidates for the election.

Accusations and counter accusations

The ACN and the CPC have accused each other of causing the collapse of the alliance talks. ACN chieftains led by its national chairman, Bisi Akande, were the first to address the press on the collapse of the talks. Mr Akande, in a press conference on April 13 at the party secretariat in the Wuse area of Abuja, told the world that the ACN did not cause the collapse of the talks. The party's national secretary, Lawan Shuaib, also said, that same day, that the refusal of the CPC to honour its side of the agreement on the resignation of Mr Bakare caused the failure of the alliance. Later, the ACN national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, joined the fray. He said in a statement that "we bent over backwards every inch of the way, especially in the three days of intense negotiations before the election. We risked everything: our candidate agreed to step down in the national interest, at the risk of the damage that will be done to his candidacy if the alliance fails, and that was exactly what happened."

Mr Mohammed added that "all we demanded from the CPC during the last days of intense negotiation, when we kept all our national leaders in Abuja for three straight days, was to allow us to produce the vice president after the election, and it became too much for them. Simply put, these people wanted us to amputate our two hands for them, while they could not even afford to lose a finger!"

Mr Buhari, the CPC presidential candidate, stated his own version of events when he told journalists prior to the elections that "the talks, ran into difficulties when the ACN insisted that the only condition for agreement was that they must produce the vice president. By the electoral laws, this was virtually impossible before this election."

Mr Buhari further stated that "we suggested that they should let us jointly go into the elections and jointly form the government after our victory. But our friends were not ready to take us on our honour and went to the media."

If the alliance had worked, the ACN and CPC would have presented one presidential candidate to challenge the incumbent and eventual winner of the elections, President Goodluck Jonathan.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5692327-146/story.csp

Kilode?!:
Awon Iya Mi Osoronga no go let GEJ rest until he fulfils his promises.  

The reason is obvious: They abandoned Atiku and Buhari and they voted massively for Jonathan Goodluck.

Their support is obvious through the "Magic Numbers" and the votes he got within his enemy stronghold. That was clearly the work of Awon Iya.

The "Midnight plane flight ballots" were made possible by a special division of Awon Iya Olokiki oru

Eyin Iya mi osoronga, Apani mahagun, olokiki oru.
Awon Iya ati'fun jedo at'edo Je orooro
Osalansolo Osolosala
Awon Iya mi aringini Aringinniginni wo oja

GEJ must deliver or else !!!!  

Ase!

Alfa e'wo n t'epe?

I fear for all of una oooo

^^^


Dont mind the doofus.

He is very immature. A fool at 23 is a fool forever.

I dont think he works. He is a student 24/7 courtesy of stolen money.

What a bastarddddd Ezeuche is!

EzeUche__:
Yes, not all Hausa are bad. I have met good Hausa from Togo, Benin and Ghana. They are different from the ones found in Nigeria.

However, this man needs to be commended. But I still do not want to be in a country with them.

dustydee:
He's not a hausa man, he's nupe (Bologi means beautiful in Nupe) Hausas in Niger state are mainly settlers and are threatening to take over the state from native Nupes and Gwaris.

Ezeuche, please learn about Nigeria before you start mouthing off anyhow.
I know you mean well, but you always come off as a senseless blabbing child who cant shut the eff up.

Atleast, keep quiet so sensible people can contribute

^^^^

[size=18pt]ROFLMAO[/size]


Nigeria 101!

Consolidation by Kwam 1

And, Shinamania, and IK Dairo plus Tunji Oyelana.

You are probably too young to know those greats

jason123:
PDP might just have Lagos. It depends on who outrigs who

If PDP does not have it, you can invite your family to come and rig for PDP.

Arrant nonsense!

^^^

I cant view the pictures on the first page. Is there anything you can do?

Thanks!

igbo boy:
Presido is taking a dumo in the presidential toilet on the 3rd floor of Aso rock, while his house boy Oluwole is on errand to buy more tissue paper so he can clean his yansh, WHILE SOME HATERS DEY HERE DEY JEALOUS THE PRESIDENT ATTIRE

OBVOIUSLY HE DOEST CARE ABOUT YOUR OPINION SO KEEP IT TO YOURSELF,, AND ITS ALWAYS YORUBA HATING AS USUALL (AH AH MUST EVERYBODY DRESS LIKE YORUBA? WHEN THAT BABOON OBJ WAS REPRESENTING US ON INTERNATIONAL STAGE WE COMPLAIN?) GEEZ PEOPLE APPRECIATE DIFFERENCES

Duuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

No other culture dress better, No?

EzeUche__:
If you read the article, you would see that these monsters were after innocent Igbos as well. Igbos definitely need to come home and stop pursuing money in the North. Learn to survive in your homeland, where you will not be targeted.

They killed that poor man in cold blood, because he could not say, ‘Laila la'ilallah.

Reading things like this make me want to cry.

Everything is not about Igbos doofus.

^^^

Hey, Long time, no hi?

WHats the deal?

^^^

Professor of Hydroponics,

Why dont you mind your business?

Frustrated much?

Professor hydroponics, could you be so nice as to provide the link to your article? Or is it one of those things you are working on in your decrepit lab?

tpia1:
^^it's a sore point in nigeria because as i pointed out before, naturalization is strictly controlled and the most famous case i think was of sheila solarin who lived in nigeria for 30 or so years [she's irish], yet only just got her nigerian citizenship some years ago.

it's a very frustrating process if you're not of nigerian ancestry, i believe, though of course i could be wrong.

You are wrong again. Tai's wife wasnt really interested in the Nigerian passport until her husband died. Once she signaled her interest, she got it pronto.

Professor fafunwa's wife got it within three years of her living in Nigeria. A lot of people get it pretty easily.

Stop lying Tpiah, you are too old for this.

tpia1:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

Whats your point?

Can you even read? Or is it comprehension issues thats bothering you?

I think Patience will kpeme first

tpia1:
^^oh, ok.

no problems then if that's so.

the issue of nigerian citizenship is a rather touchy one which is still being ironed out with no clear solution.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-36429.0.html

in addition, many non-nigerians do have nigerian passports which they commit crimes with, giving the rest of us more bad publicity and bad names.

however, in some instances, it might be wise to indicate you're joking because you never know who's reading your comments and how they might take the information they're seeing.

just my opinion.

Stop lying Tpiah. I have never heard of such.
The people committing crimes with Nigerian passports are Nigerians. No foreigner is using our passport to commit crimes.

Nigerians are criminals by nature, including you and I

Katsumoto:
Who cares about his antecedents prior to becoming governor?

The past matters. Politics is always about the future and what people do in their private lives serve as pointers to how they would behave as public officers. Bloomberg did not just become Mayor overnight? Or did he? He became Mayor because he was a successful business man

What were his antecedents?

I dont know of your experience with Nigeria. There are very few self -startups in Nigeria. Most successful companies, at least the more popular ones, are often foreign owned, or owned by foreign trained owners.

OGD broke that myth. He is solely Nigerian trained and built his company from the ground up with his sweat and hardwork, with almost little or no foreign input. I take that seriously because I have seen a lot of politicians and business men who survive mainly because of the connection to the Military or some outside influence. For him to have survived by sheer determination and hardwork, says a lot about his administrative skill.

From his Biography: ".   .   . However, Otunba Daniel was not done yet. A firm believer in the precept “Who Dares, Wins” he harnessed, in 1990, his extensive skills in vertical transportation engineering, power generation and general engineering in search of greater challenges and a wider field to plough – Kresta Laurel was born! Within three years of its existence, Kresta Laurel became a household name, blazing the trail in a world dominated by foreign corporate giants. IT can be said that today, in one out of every three offices in Nigeria, there is Kresta Laurel device, elevating people to greater heights, generating light where public utilities fail, and providing leverage towards vantage positions.  .  . "

I am not a business man, at least not a large scale business man, I do know that the business terrain in Nigeria is rough. For him to have competed and out bid JB in some/certain projects, to me, is a big deal, and a testament to his ability as a business man. And, someone to be proud of as a Nigerian.

OGD is as incompetent as they come;

Incompetent: someone who lacks the ability or skills to do something. I dont think he lacks the ability to be a state governor. You can argue that he wasnt effective as a governor, which I would not disagree with. But, to state that he was incompetent, I dont think you are being fair to him. Perhaps, you are confusing him with someone else.

what did he achieve in Ogun? You want to praise a man who couldn't leverage the geographical proximity of Ogun to Lagos. The same buffoon who used a minority of law makers to over-rule a majority. Please don't get me started on OGD.

I am not an indigene of Ogun-State, but I was there when he was campaigning in 2003. He promised to change the face of Ogun, including "leverage[ing]  the geographical proximity of Ogun to Lagos" for the betterment of Ogun-State. Fortuitously, just a matter of days ago, I watched the Governorship aspirant of PPN, his new party, promise the same thing; that is "leverage the geographical proximity of Ogun to Lagos," for the betterment of the Ogun-people.

So why didnt he achieve his aim? Well, a list of his achievements can be found onhis website, which i dont have to re-list here, But on the bigger issue regarding his effectiveness as a governor, I dont think the problem is OGD per se.  The problem, IMO, has to do with the system. The system as it is being operated, at present,  does not have enough checks and balances, in part due to our lack of familiarity with the "new" style of Government we now have. Most of us, including a lot of "law-makers" have very little understanding, beyond collecting their pay-checks at the end of the month, of their roles in this "new" system.

The other issue is  "Big-manism / God father-ism." This, I think was OGD's greatest undoing. His unwillingness to be played around by OBJ, Kuye et al was the genesis of his political problems which spilled over to him not seeing eye-to-eye with the legislators. Hence, the grid-lock in Ogun-State.  

In the final analysis, I dont think OGD was a bad manager. I think that only very few people would have survived the circumstances/power-play he operated under. Removing OGD or castigating him would not solve the problem, the next Governor of Ogun-State, mark my words, would not do better than him. The next Governor of Ogun-state would, like OGD, be controlled by a god-father, and most likely one of the following: Tinubu, OBJ or OGD. Of all the three, the best option is Amosun, not because he is from ACN and definitely not because he has better ideas. He is the best option because he would, on paper, get along with the legislators far better than the other two would.; that is, if he is not remitting half of Ogun-state's IGR to Tinubu's swiss account.

Ekt_Bear has changed.

I think Aigbofa and I can be supermods, No?

Chyz*:
Typical yoruba always on their knees. Hey, but who am i to care about their culture.

Just like Okadigbo begging us and running away with the Mace like a little girl? What do i know, this is Nairaland, where every Ibo man is a four-star general, with 4 Ph.Ds and a Nobel.

Exactly.

This man is just disgusting, may God never forgive him and his children. Just because the Governorship election is coming up, he's begging for forgiveness. I hope SW'ners are not this gullible.

Ahhh!!! For this sneaky move, God punish him well well. SW'ners must wash the likes of him and his children out of politics. Old foolish man.

In your opinion, as ileke-idi, not as kobojunkie's mouthpiece, what has OBJ done wrong?

Why the curse?
He is still the defacto Yoruba leader, whether Yorubas like it or not

he gave the west the most incompetent and fraudulent governors and ministers. He should go and drink garri. PDP will be kicked out of every Odua state whether he likes it or not.

I totally disagree with that, and to add, I take issue with it. OGD, as far as we know, from his antecedents before he became Governor, and even with his performance as Governor, is NOT incompetent. 

Fraudulent? not anymore than any other governor or minister, of other parties,  in Nigeria today.