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The Man Called Yaradua. Why does he not care?

http://www.saharareporters.com/index...cal&Itemid=167

Yar'adua is mentally unbalanced, deceptive and unforgiving- Confessions of a Yar’Adua Boy

For many Nigerians Umaru Yar’Adua is a mystery. You have associated with him for over 30 years. Can you tell us what you know about his personality and style of leadership?
He’s still a mystery to me because I can’t understand some of his actions. He’s someone who is unforgiving; he’s someone who is selfish, who deceives people. He’s someone who says what he is not; he’s someone who is unreliable. In fact I can go on and on. When you meet him you’ll get the impression that the man knows what he’s doing, but no matter how long it takes he will disappoint you. He talks less – as result you can’t understand where he’s coming from or where he’s going to. He’s a mystery. I have always told people that I think there is something that is mentally wrong with him. I was a founding member of K34…

mysterious
deceptive
selfish
unreliable
unforgiving

OBASANJO DIDN’T KNOW THE REAL YAR’ADUA

Obasanjo was severely criticised for handpicking a successor whom many said would be his puppet. Even today many insist that the former president still manipulates things in the background. But from what you know about Yar’Adua after over 30 years of associating with him, is he the kind of man an Obasanjo can manipulate?
I think Obasanjo did not actually know Umaru very well. He was only seeing him from afar. Umaru is not the kind of person he can manipulate. If that was the intention he was dead wrong and I am sure he knows it now. The events of the last two years can really go a long way to back this point. He has this stubbornness of not listening to people; it is not only Obasanjo – even the whole Nigeria. I don’t think there’s anybody who can dictate to him except those around him who by whatever means manipulate him. But it is not that he realises that he’s been used or manipulated. Once he realises that you are trying to play games with him, that’s the end of the relationship.

stubborn


Looking for some form of redeeming quality and can't find any. The future to 2011 looks bleak. True professionals are lacking in Nigeria. Even in politics. What a jam. Not admirable qualities for any leader. How long can Nigerians cope? Sounds more like a dictator than a democrat.

The Road to 2011.


http://www.weekly.dailytrust.com/ind...nts&Itemid=109

Yarádua and 2011 elections
Written by Shehu Mustapha Chaji

As we approach the 2011 general elections, with or without calls for President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to seek for a second term, he will naturally wish to have it. The political history of Nigerian and African leaders, except for some very few exceptions, is fraught with leaders wanting opportunities to remain further in office. In the First Republic , Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa sought for re-election. Former President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic also sought and contested for second term.

In the present dispensation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, after having his second term, also attempted to have an extra third term which he failed to secure. Constitutionally, President Yar’adua is entitled to seek for another term, but there are two reasons why an average Nigerian like me is sceptical about his ambition.

Firstly, what are his achievements in the nearly two years he sat as Nigeria’s President?
Secondly, will he be able to conduct free and fair elections that will be acceptable to most Nigerians?

With the dust of the 2007 elections yet to finally settle, will the present administration of President Yar’adua conduct an election different from how it was conducted in 2003 and 2007 elections? Will Nigerians say bye-bye to ballot box snatching and stuffing? Will the votes cast by Nigerians be really counted? And will we really have democratically elected leaders without the courts deciding their legitimacy all in 2011?

The controversy about 2011 has started in earnest courtesy of Justice Mohammed Uwais’ Electoral Reform Committee recommendations, which President Yar’adua still insist on nominating the head of INEC contrary to the recommendation of the Uwais Committee. If the President does not have any personal interest in the 2011 elections, why is he insisting to nominate the INEC chairman instead of the National Judicial Council as recommended by the Uwais Committee?

Can Nigerians trust President Yar’adua to conduct free and fair elections in 2011 if he eventually decides to contest? The study of Yar’adua’s antecedents as former governor of Katsina state during his tenure on how he conducted local government elections and the roles he played during the 2003 and 2007 elections will help Nigerians to know what to expect during the 2011 elections.

Even the re-elections instigated by the courts in states like Kogi, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River, Ekiti e.t.c, can also assist Nigerians have a close study of what to expect during the 2011 elections. After such elections where the opposition cried foul over the conduct, what was the reaction of President Yar’adua? And after the declaration of Prince Vincent Ogulafor that the PDP will continue ruling for 60 years and Governor Sule Lamido’s statement that PDP will rule forever, what were the reactions of President Yar’adua on such undemocratic statements?

President Umaru Yar’adua should also inform Nigerians about his views on the proposal sent by the PDP governors to the party’s National Working Committee asking for automatic tickets to contest the 2011 elections (the PDP change of tactics notwithstanding) and whether or not the proposal is expanded to include him. Will he accept an automatic ticket to contest for the 2011 elections if he decides to contest? And as a PDP leader, what are his inputs in strengthening the internal democracy of the party?

Nigeria and Nigerians should be saved from international embarrassment in the 2011 elections. The ungodly and unholy activities of politicians during the 2003 and 2007 elections should not be repeated in 2011. And for Nigerians to have free and fair elections in 2011, the agitation should start in earnest collectively by all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe, region or religion for us to truly have the leaders we elected to lead and represent us.

It is only when we have free and fair elections in Nigeria that we can start to boast of having true democratic government wherein those in the helm of affairs will feel responsible to their electorates. And even before the proper elections, party primary elections should also be free and fair. Imposition of candidates on party level weakens supporters and paves the way for election rigging. The 2007 elections were the worse ever as all political parties deliberately imposed unpopular candidates or those that did not win party primaries.

Whether President Yar’adua will contest or not in the 2011 elections, the Nigerian people should assist him in seeing that Nigeria, like other countries which have developed , have free and fair elections in 2011. Democracy should be in full action by giving the Yar’adua’s government a very close marking in strengthening its hands to give Nigerians the leaders and representatives they truly elected.

President Umaru Musa Yar’adua has the great and golden opportunity in re-branding Nigeria and himself to the whole world as truly a nation of Good People, Great Nation with him as a great leader, if he could conduct free and fair elections that the opposition, local and international observers will testify is really a free and fair election.

Chaji writes from P.O Box 248, Gyadi-gyadi, Kano, shehuchaji@yahoo.com

When he did not get to be the president by free and fair elections, how could he promote free and fair elections against himself come 2011? Not looking good.

http://leadershipnigeria.com/index.p...news&Itemid=75

2011 Campaign: Yar’Adua Cannot Stop Us
Written by Williams Orji, Abuja
Sunday, 26 April 2009 23:19

One of the groups behind the campaign for President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to contest the 2011 presidential election has vowed to continue with its activities in spite of the directive by the president that such campaigns should be discontinued. Yar'Adua had, at the recent special convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), frowned at those campaigning for him towards the 2011 election and directed that campaigns should be kept on hold until 2010.

But Chief Elvis Agukwe, the National Co-ordinator of Patriots for Democracy and Good Governance (PADGOG), dismissed the president's directive, saying that Yar'Adua cannot stop his group because the president did not appoint them in the first place. He expressed the view yesterday, while speaking to newsmen in his Abuja residence. "I am not aware that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua appointed any group to commence campaign for him to contest the 2011 presidential election. It is when you appoint people to commence an action for you that you can direct them to discontinue. The president did not appoint PADGOG and neither his government nor any of its agents is funding our activities. So how can he tell us to stop," Elvis asked.

Explaining why the organisation started the campaign for the president to run for a second term in office, the national coordinator said, "PADGOG honestly believes that because the president is on the right path, because he has provided Nigeria with good governance, he has to appropriate his constitutional right to seek a second mandate from the people and nobody can stop us from expressing our views in a country presently being governed in strict adherence to the rule of law," Elvis said. Coming strongly against those asking President Yar'Adua not to contest the 2011 elections, Elvis described such people as arrogant noise makers who want to silence those with different views from their biased opinion.

"There are so many people saying all manner of things against the president and his administration. First, they made the president's health an issue.Then, they said that the president is slow and that the administration lacks focus. That is their view. They are the same people calling on the president not to contest the 2011 election. Nobody has asked these funny characters to shut up.

To think that there are people who have already stated campaigning on his behalf is ludicrous. Funny.

All the king's men.

http://www.saharareporters.com/index...rib&Itemid=300

Attack on Yar'adua: What El-Rufai, Ribadu did not say?
Monday, 08 June 2009 07:23 By SENIOR FYNEFACE


It was very surprising that the duo of Nasir El-Rufai, the former FCT Minister, and the self-acclaimed former anti-graft superman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu decided to tell Nigerians how they single-handedly manoeuvred the incumbent President Umaru Yar’Adua into office in 2007.

In his recently published epistle to Nigeria, El-Rufai was quick to reveal that the Obasanjo regime because it had no plans to hand- over power after the mandatory eight years in office at the last minute decided to settle for Yar’Adua who was reluctant and not very physically fit because of his health challenges.

Of course this is the truth but El-Rufai in his confessional letter failed or rather deliberately refused to tell Nigerians how he and Nuhu Ribadu manipulated Maurice Iwu with EFCC blackmail and forced him to accept the master plan for the electoral fraud that assigned almost all the votes caste in the presidential election to Yar’Adua.

This is an interesting aspect that Nigerians would love to know if for nothing, at least to help prevent future re-occurrence of such heinous crime and maybe boost confidence in results of future elections in the country..

The former FCT Minister should tell Nigerians the roles he and Ribadu assigned to Prof Iwu, the INEC boss and how he achieved them since it has become very clear that throughout the period of the elections, the INEC boss was forced to take orders and also report back to Ribadu, El-Rufai and Bayo Ojo.

Iwu was blackmailed with serious EFCC report indicting him of massive corruption in the use or rather misused of huge funds deliberately released to him by Obasanjo as planned and packaged by the two whiz kids- Rufai and Ribadu.

This EFCC investigative report is currently somewhere between the custody of the new EFCC boss and the Presidency. It may also be used in addition to newly generated facts as a bait to blackmail Iwu and force him to compromise again in 2011. How long can this nation afford move in this vicious circle of fraud that has only produced lame dog presidents, governors, local government chairmen and even federal lawmakers?

With Prof Iwu a man grossly compromised still directing the affairs of INEC and going by antecedents thus far, it will be very difficult for any Nigerian to expect that there is going to be free and fair elections in 2011 and this should be a cause for serious concern.

El-Rufai and Ribadu were very correct when they informed Nigerians that Yar’Adua and the government he runs are hollow and lack the knowledge, will power and wisdom to run the country, as shown by the grim picture of the last two years.

They were also correct in their assertion that Yar’Adua lacks the courage, the will power and the good intents to pursue critical reforms in critical sectors like electoral process and anti-corruption fight, as he does not necessarily abhor corruption contrary to the managed picture that birthed his emergence."
However, unknown to the duo, Nigerians have heard what they did not or rather are yet to say.

El-Rufai and Ribadu failed or rather smartly dodged to let Nigerians know that all they did under the guise of patriotic service to the nation were mere camouflage to further their political ambitions and relevance in the control of the Presidency. But like all divine interventions from the Almighty God, the project instead turned out to be their greatest undoing with potentials of sending both of them to several years in prison under the same guise or maybe even genuine charges of corruption and gross abuse of office which they used to hunt political opponents that had the clout to stand in their way of actualising the evil agenda. The two self-acclaimed superstars were blinded by greed in all they did as was manifest in the manner El-Rufai garnered choicest plots in the FCT.

The two "patriots" failed to tell Nigerians that Yar’Adua as the PDP candidate actually passed –out at a campaign rally. It was Nasir and Nuhu against all medical advice and human arguments that coerced Julius Berger into placing Umaru on life support system before he was flown to Germany from where Obasanjo spoke to him during the now very famous "Umooru are you dead" drama. This was because Ribadu and El-Rufai couldn’t stand the thought of loosing their investments in Yar’Adua so he must live at all costs.

El-Rufai and Ribadu failed to tell Nigerians how they manipulated Obasanjo into believing that Atiku Abubakar was his greatest political enemy and a stumbling block to his future political ambitions. They failed to disclose or comment on how they packaged trumped- up charges of corruption, abuse of office amongst others all in attempt to discredit the former vice president whom they know that they would not be able to manipulate if he becomes the president.

Also, the two whiz kids failed to tell Nigerians how they used unsubstantiated, un-investigated and cooked- up corruption charges against the former Rivers State governor Peter Odili to blackmail him out of the vice president nomination - all, in attempt to further Yar´Adua´s choice of his deputy.
Since the the two ex-servicemen have decided to revealed their roles in install Yar’Adua as the president, they should not tell half truth. Nigerians would want to hear all they did in their patriotic service of giving the nation "the most suitable candidate." Nigerians are waiting.
SENIOR FYNEFACE, ELELEWON STREET, GRA II, PORT HARCOURT (senior_fyneface@yahoo.com)

How things change. There is no condition that is permanent. Blackmail never fails as an effective tool for coercion. Not surprising though. Glad to know Iwu will get his turn when he is no longer useful to Yaradua come 2011.

http://www.saharareporters.com/index...cal&Itemid=167

I WARNED EL-RUFAI AND RIBADU
Two of the most successful young office holders under Obasanjo were former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu and former FCT Minister, Nasir El-Rufai. They were thought to be largely supportive of the emergence of Yar’Adua but their stock has plummeted rapidly: one is on the EFCC wanted list and another is out of job. From what you know of the personalities involved what is responsible for the predicament of these fellows?

El-Rufai is my friend and has been my friend for a very long time. We do discuss and whenever we met we talked and exchanged ideas – especially when he was in BPE and even as Minister for FCT. I do remember when this idea of bringing Umaru to come and contest for the presidency was being mooted. We discussed for over three hours from London to Abuja; we sat together with Nasir. There was nothing I did not tell him about having Umaru as president of Nigeria. I told him not to support it. I told him ‘I know this man more than you do. I know him very well. Don’t support him because Nigeria would suffer for it.’ He dismissed all the reasons that I gave to him and said (at that time he was calling him Mallam) ‘We believe Mallam Umaru is able because he has achieved in Katsina.’ I said what has he achieved in Katsina? Tell me! He said that’s true, it’s in the records. I said which record? He doesn’t have any record. This is somebody who will sit in Katsina when the National Council of State is meeting in Abuja.

This is somebody who does not have the telephone number of more than one governor out of the 36 governors of Nigeria. This is somebody who apart from the ministers that come from Katsina didn’t know any minister. This is somebody who apart from the names of the national chairman and may be secretary of the PDP didn’t know any other executive of the People’s Democratic Party.

There is no way somebody who has kept himself as a provincial person, someone who only knows his environment… and then you go and bring him as president of Nigeria. I said if you are not careful what would happen to Nigeria would be like what was happening at that time to America with George Bush. George Bush never went any where and became president, and his presidency was a disaster for America. That’s what I told Nasir but he did not listen. So that’s what I know about that. But like I have told you Umaru is not comfortable at all with people who know what they are doing.

Nasir was one of the principal pillars of the Obasanjo administration, and he made a lot of noise. Umaru doesn’t like people like that; he doesn’t like achievers. Similarly I told Nuhu… because there was a time when Nuhu had a case against Umaru and I was telling him don’t leave this thing not for the sake of any other thing, but for the sake of Nigeria. He never took me seriously. I later understood that it was General Aliyu who intervened and said he shouldn’t pursue Governor Umaru. But I know he had a case; I don’t have any information as to the extent of the case, but he told me that Governor Umaru Yar’adua had a case to answer. So I encouraged him but for whatever reason they dropped those issues.

For several weeks now the Internet has been agog with a piece by El-Rufai tracing the process that led to Yar’Adua’s emergence. How much of what he said regarding the Katsina period of the president’s political rise is correct?
I was going to talk to Nasir about it unfortunately I can’t get across to him because I don’t have his numbers in Europe. There are factual distortions as they relate to our group K34 – even though most of them are minor. He mentioned some people who he said were part of K34 who were not. For example Aminu Masari was never a member of K34; he joined us later. So also Lawal Batagarawa was never a member of K34. But Nasir claimed that they were members and that they were dismissed from that membership. He also said that the name of the Deputy Governor to Umaru was Tukur Bakori, but actually the name is Tukur Jikamshi, and he was one of us in K34 – even though he joined later. There are also other misrepresentations like, for example, saying that Umaru comes from the royal family of Katsina. As far as I know his grandmother – his father’s mother - is from the Dikko dynasty. But Katsina is not a matrilineal society; we are a patrilineal society. You don’t claim royalty just because your mother is from the royal family – because as much as you aspire to be emir, you cannot be. Also about the formation of K34 he mentioned that some people who made money from PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund created by the Abacha regime) were part of us, but he never said why they were with us and what role they played in Umaru’s government because it is very important for us to know all that. He needs to talk to people who were part of that movement for him to understand the intricacies and even the man Umaru – because there are things that happened within K34 which we know, and which we have refused to talk about. I believe his article will one day become a historical document and it is important for us to get the facts rather than muddle up things.

I have no quarrel with the way Umaru emerged and what they gave to him and so on, but like I said we told them long before and they didn’t understand. I also think that is the kind of situation Nigeria would be in. Today some of us are saying this man is not right for this country but Nigerians may not understand what we are saying.

They may think it is something personal, but the truth is this man is not fit for this country; he is not the right person.

He doesn’t have the right understanding. This is somebody who does not have three friends in Anambra, Ogun, Delta or Ekiti State. As small as I am I can tell you go to Awka – I know so and so, or go to Ogwashi-Ukwu. This man has never been exposed; he’s always kept himself to his local environment. Above all he’s somebody who is not even worried by public opinion. So if the entire 150 million Nigerians do not think he’s doing well, he believes that he’s doing the right thing and nobody can tell him anything. He is somebody who doesn’t like challenges, who doesn’t like to be criticized. He can take serious actions against those he perceives as his enemies even if what they are saying is the truth. He looks at the messenger, not the message.

Lack of understanding
Lack of exposure
Anti-social
Insensitive to constructive criticisms
Unapproachable

No small wonder. No surprises there at all. Thanks to OBJ.

[Amy]

Originally Posted by Simbili

YouTube - Women on Indecent dressing' arrest in Lagos

YouTube - Lagos first lady (Mrs. Fashola) & Lady Di on women panel

The first lady of Lagos State seems to know what she is talking about. Always a relief to have an articulate and impressive lady in charge.

Later o.

Understanding Politics in Nigeria. Just looking ahead and wondering what to expect come 2011. A recap of an interesting scenario in Ekiti State. The "Ayoka" religion and conscience.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/16/601.html

Ekiti and the burden of two-face democrats
By Lere Olayinka
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I was about 12-year-old when my grandfather told me the story of a bird. I used to hear the tiny, bright-coloured bird make two different sounds and out of curiosity, I had asked my grandfather why the bird used to sing two different tunes.


“Olamilere Adisa my son,” my grandfather had said, looking into my eyes” “That bird represents the attitude of human beings to life. Whenever it is hungry and there is no food to eat, the bird would sing on top of its voice” “un o ku o ngbo yi” (I must leave this forest). But immediately it finds something to eat, it changes its tune to “igbo yi dun” (this forest is sweet).

Over 20 years after that brief encounter with my grandfather on the antics of the bird, events in Ekiti State in the last three months have not stopped reminding me of that bird and its attitude to life.

When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appointed Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo as the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) for Ekiti State, leaders of the Action Congres (AC) in the state went to town, shouting themselves hoarse that the woman was sent to the state to perfect the rigging they alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) perpetrated during the April 14, 2007 governorship election. To the AC leaders, Mrs. Adebayo was a devil that must be sent out of Ekiti State because she was an agent of the PDP.

That notion, however, changed on April 26, 2009. The rerun governorship election ordered by the Court of Appeal in 63 wards in 10 out of the 16 local councils in the State did the magic!

INEC had successfully conducted the rerun election in nine out of the 10 local government areas where the election was ordered and it was obvious that the PDP was coasting home to victory. The impending electoral failure could only be reversed by the cancellation of the Ido/Osi Local Government where the PDP polled 15,939. Efforts to get the election cancelled through burning of the electoral materials had failed because the arsonists allegedly led to Ido, headquarters of Ido/Osi Local Government had failed because the materials had been moved to a police station before they arrived. Hence, the AC and its vociferous leaders who were desirous of clinging to anything to clinch the governorship of Ekiti State suddenly realised that Mrs. Adebayo was principal to the achievement of this inordinate ambition. They allegedly pulled a call through to her, threatening to visit her and her entire family with terror if she accepted the result of eight out of the 11 wards in Ido/Osi Local Government. The jittery 74-year-old woman hurriedly suspended collation of results and fled.

Nigerians were to later be treated to the dramas of the REC’s resignation, her disappearance and reappearance. It was at this point that Mrs. Adebayo became a saint in the eyes of the desperate leaders of the AC. To them, Mrs. Adebayo was a woman of conscience who had vowed to do what was right as against what the powers that be wanted her to do. And in the minds of the AC leaders and their supporters, what was right was nothing but the cancellation of Ido/Osi Local Government results and declaration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the governor of Ekiti State . Mrs. Adebayo was praised to the skies. She was described as epitome of hope for democracy in Nigeria by the AC leaders who insisted that they would not accept election results declared by any other REC apart from her.

All these happened between April 26 and May 5, 2009. By 10.00 p.m. of Tuesday, May 5, 2009, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo had turned to a devil in the eyes of the AC leaders. She had lost her conscience and dignity and the same AC leaders who sang her praises had changed their tune. Why? Because the woman refused to be blackmailed into assuming the role of the court by canceling an election that was duly conducted, results collated and recorded in all relevant forms.

From available records, elections were properly conducted in nine local government areas, including Ido/Osi on Saturday, April 25, 2009. Votes were counted and collated in all the polling units by electoral officers in the presence of all party agents and relevant security personnel. The INEC officials that conducted the elections at the polling units and the ones who did the collation at the wards and local government levels acknowledged that the elections were properly conducted.

Yet, the AC leaders would want the REC, who was not present at the polling units where the elections were held to cancel the results and accept only those of the three wards in the same council areas where the AC won. The two-faced democrats in the AC mischievously elected not to tell the public that all their agents signed Forms EC8A at the various polling units where elections took place. The agents also signed Forms EC8B at the point of collation of results at the ward level after which collation was done at the local government level.

To the AC leaders who obviously are like that bird who would threaten to leave the forest when it had no food to eat and sing a different tune immediately it finds something to eat, Engr. Segun Oni, the PDP governorship candidate, could not have scored 15,939 votes out of the 47,587 registered voters in his local government of origin. The fact that Fayemi polled 3,022 votes in his ward out of the 3,085 votes cast was immaterial.

It also made no sense to the AC and its paid agents that out of the total of 11,337 votes scored by Fayemi in the entire 12 wards of Oye Local Government, 3,022 (26.7%) came from only his (Fayemi) ward.

Ironically, those leaders of the AC who have been most vociferous in their condemnation of the Ido/Osi results are themselves beneficiaries of the homeboy advantage, which is a factor known to politics the world over. For example, in the 1980 US Presidential Election, Jimmy Carter won resoundingly in Georgia in what was overall a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan. Again, in the most recent 2008 US Presidential Election, Barack Obama won overwhelmingly in Illinois while John McCain won resoundingly in Arizona .

Here in Nigeria , Chief Adekunle Ajasin from Owo, as Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Governorship candidate in 1979, had 51,372 votes (97.95% of total votes in Owo Local Government). In 1983, he had 88,250 votes (98.40%).

In 1991, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua from Ikere-Ekiti, as Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate had 21,697 votes (94.5% of total votes in Ikere, his hometown. The total votes scored by Olumilua far out-numbered the population of the town!

In 1999, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, from Iyin, as Alliance for Democracy (AD) Governorship candidate had 53,856 votes (81.08% of total votes in Irepodun/Ifelodun LGA). It should be noted that in 1999, two council areas, Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ikole, gave the AD 110,430 votes, (i.e. 36.8% of the total votes of 300,180) with which the party won the governorship election.

In 2003, Otunba Niyi Adebayo (AD) and Mr. Ayo Fayose (PDP), who hail from the same Local Government Area scored 98.49% and 96.94% respectively in their home towns. It should be of interest that voters’ turnout in Afao (Fayose's home town) was dead on 100 percent as the registered voters were 3,399 while votes cast were 3,399!

Olayinka wrote from Ado Ekiti.

Thanks to Maurice Iwu and Madam "Rebrand" Dora Akunyili.

Democracy has many faces. Will we ever know the true faces in Nigeria?

You learn to question both judgement and motivation when it comes to Nigerian politics.


http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/16/308.html

Why Niger Delta leaders must begin to behave like true leaders, by Audu Ogbeh

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, now a chieftain of the Action Congress, AC, and a farmer, in this interview with Sunday Vanguard in Abuja, speaks on 10 years of democracy in Nigeria, the Niger Delta and other issues. He says Nigeria is yet to achieve full fledged democracy because of a failed electoral system. In his words: “I believe that we must keep putting pressure on our leaders”. Excerpts:


BY HENRY UMORU

DO you think there is the need for Nigeria to celebrate democracy at 10m judging from what we’ve seen so far?

Well, we will celebrate hope. I hope, knowing that if we give up, then we will sink. It could be a lot better than it is. We are still not moving well as fast as we should. We are still not submitting ourselves to the dictates, the moral dictates of democracy because there can be no sound democracy in the face of this malignant immorality which we all engage in – especially the leadership. We foul up elections, we cheat, we do everything wrong and yet we expect everybody else to do it right, that can’t lead us all anywhere. That is what is responsible for the great deal of the feeling of despair among Nigerians, but we must keep hope alive. My belief is that this country will wake up. Lagos is awake for now.

Then what is the way forward?

I believe that we must keep putting pressure on our leaders. A docile nation will never find good leadership. We don’t talk, we don’t complain and whenever something goes wrong, if an individual stands up, his relatives and friends will tell him “which one is your own inside, are you the only Nigerian?” As long as we carry on that way, let’s not complain then; let’s continue to suffer in silence. The democracies of Europe, American and India are not growing because the people are silent; it is because the people are watchful.

You used to be in the main stream as a former chairman of PDP, now you are in opposition, but the opposition seems to be a little bit quiet, why?

To be opposition in this country is extremely difficult, extremely costly and tedious. We are a little quiet because there is a certain sense of despair among the opposition people. It’s like the state sometimes tries to use every force it has to simply push you down and say this is it, and there is nothing you can do about it. Besides that, the cost of opposition is extremely high too.

People are re-organising and re-strategising, but we are hoping that we will see the day when there isn’t this visible, clearly identifiable insistence - that what is must remain as it is. If it is so what can you do? If INEC can’t be trusted; what’s the point contesting an election? Where in the world has the umpire become a competitor? People were arbitrarily disqualified from contesting elections in 2007 and INEC was the one going to court on behalf of government to fight.

If that is it, we will have no force to dislodge INEC because democracy can only work where people have a fair mind and the courage to say sorry this is the rule, I keep by it.

The Niger-Delta issue, what would you say about the presence of the military there?

Two things: I am sad because each time there is state conflict, women and children suffer most. It is unfortunate. The other tragedy though is that, if people take up arms the way they are doing over there, they are not really militants, they are at war. If they are firing Bazookas at the troops and at aircraft and blowing up boats, you don’t expect the military to look for them for a handshake.

The army is the army. It is a pity that the thing has gotten this far and this is bad. The Niger delta has suffered a lot over the years. Their terrain is bad; unemployment, poverty in spite of all the wealth, there is a lot of poverty there. But it appears that government is trying to redress the situation but the people should also look on their own governors and their own leaders. Why is it that when a Niger-Delta person is caught with corruption, what we hear is that “it’s our money let him chop it”.

Now if corruption is allowed there, fine and don’t look at somebody else as the enemy. Your own people, some of them have enough money to do what you want, but they are stealing it and you say nothing. I would want to see the situation resolved quickly because it doesn’t do us any good to hear that one child has been killed. We don’t need people dead, we want them alive, and Nigeria needs them. But let some leaders in that zone not also speak in glowing terms of the militants as if they are their official agents. That cannot be acceptable.

Well, another latter day saint with stale tidings. From PDP to AC.

[RoyalPalm]

hmnm... nice one

[RoyalPalm]

Mrs BRF does not surprise me if you know her hiistory and background you will understand where am coming from. Remember that behind every successful man is a success driven focussed woman ......... no be so?

I am happy for the husband because my Bible says "...a man that finds a virtous woman finds a good thing............her husband will sit with elders at the city gates ..."
In those days elders at the city gates conduct the affaires of the nation.

God will touch the hearts of everyone needed to uplift, implement and establish befiting goals of the nation through Lagos State. - State in nquestion o!

Afteralls a wise man once claimed that;

"Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her."

I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice. "
Mohandas Gandhi

"Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut" - RP

http://odili.net/news/source/2005/apr/16/7.html

The 'Golden Voice' Nelly Uchendu Is Dead
FROM LAWRENCE NJOKU (ENUGU) AND BRIDGET ONOCHIE (LAGOS)

POPULAR gospel artist, Nelly Uchendu, is dead. She died on Tuesday night in a hospital in Enugu. Nelly, fondly called the lady with the 'Golden Voice' by her admirers, had a lot of musical albums to her credit. She was said to have had a long battle with cancer before she finally gave up.


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Efforts by The Guardian to speak with any member of her family at her residence in Enugu yesterday proved abortive as none was around for comment. But a neighbour confirmed that the gospel artist battled seriously to live as she spent quite a while in one of the hospitals in the area.

She said that Nelly, who hailed from Umuchu in Anambra State, recently received a brand new Honda car from GLO Nigeria Limited as part of her royalty for a track which she did for the company's promotional advert.

"That award came to her like a dream. She cherished the gift and even invited her numerous friends to share in her joy. Unfortunately, she couldn't live to enjoy this sweat. That illness took away her joy and even the music which she enjoyed singing", she said.

A veteran singer and one of Nigeria's top female highlife musicians, Uchendu shot to prominence in 1977 with Love Nwantiti, a folk song in praise of a local beauty; and a popular song in Onitsha.
Recorded in the same vein were works such as Mama Hausa and Nigeria Amaka. She was said to have done musical scores for home videos. She also did the sound track to Things Fall Apart. In between, she came out with a gospel work.

Through the release of Love Nwantiti, which enjoyed tremendous acceptance, Uchendu had developed an individual style. She continued to build on this same sound identity, and remaining open to new influence from many sources which she nevertheless did not allow to overwhelm her own individuality as an African.

An outright departure from Uchendu's natural path came in 1979, two years after the release of Love Nwantiti. It was for the folkloric highlife idiom that she was declared the greatest among various other competitors during FESTAC '77. She got the coveted national award of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).

She was the favourite artiste for most state functions and was one of the very few women artistes in the highlife idiom.

Her work set the pace for highlife gospel, which is now very common.

I did not even know this. It has been a while. R.I.P.

YouTube - Nelly Uchendu - Love Nwantinti (Audio)

LOVE NIGERIA MBA, LEAVE NIGERIA, NO WAY! - 1
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"Everybody wants to go to heaven, no body wants to die" - Peter Tosh


Unfortunately, Nigeria is that piece of harsh socio/economic cum political location where some of those in it would love to leave at the least chance. It is also an irony that those who leave Nigeria for one reason or the other, would sooner than later want to return. Yes, those who are in want to leave and those who are out of Nigeria (no matter how much they tried to mask this) are so nostalgic that they sooner than later, want to get back home - with the next available plane.

Even foreigners who have not been to Nigeria want to visit, to at least fulfill a curiosity driven by incessant bad publicity or to get in to have a piece of the economic pie they hear, literally litter the ground of the Nigerian nation space. 419ers who write the famous Nigerian letter, it turns out are part of the informal positive publicity committee not set up for Nigeria by default. There are other attractions including inflated contracts and oil bunkering masterminded by the elite - most of them retired generals.

The hate Nigeria herd is headed by elements within the constantly "moving-ins and moving-outs" segment of the Nigerian nation. They have only seen the bad part of Nigeria. They have seen and lived through the good times of other nations and sadly concluded that in Nigeria, things could not be made to work better. Mind you, all their lives, (because of their itinerant disposition), they have not known or lived through any good times in Nigeria.

They thus have many comparisons to make - often stacking the negatives in greater proportions higher, against Nigeria, seeing Nigeria from the negative prisms of their yesteryears impressions. Most, are now, far removed from Nigeria, the scene of action. Having acquired so much foreign material wealth and education through formal education or by association, the "move-ins and move-outs" know all the book theories of how to make things work so that a nation like Nigeria and its people may enjoy the good things of life.

However, instead of return home permanently, to lend helping hands in the making of a new better nation in the mould of their present host foreign nations of abode, they have chosen to stay abroad, where life is a complete automation. From there, they constantly dish out portions of scathing criticisms against the Nigerian government and its good people. Regrettably, Nigeria is not improving and may have died before those who loved her so much begin to wreath in self regret of what may have been "had I jumped in to save her."

A member of this herd is unique. With strong family ties in Nigeria, he hates to love Nigeria. He has mixed feelings on the best approach. He hopes that Nigeria would one day be fine like the western nation, his present place of domicile. That Nigeria's democratic experiences though now tottering would grow robust soon to enable him return home to partake in a well-prepared political dish. Because of this hope, he begins to invest in Nigeria with the hope that others (the sacrificial lambs who stayed back) would make the place conducive for him to return. He buys into Nigeria's real estate. He buys chunk of stocks in the emerging fluid stock market but travels with American or United Kingdom passport. If he could change his last name or accent, he would pass for a non-Nigerian.

You may be tempted to call him an opportunist. In one sense, he is. On one hand, he is only an agent of a vibrant profitable symbiotic relationship, which disproportionally, benefits his host nation to the detriment of Nigeria, his land of birth. He wants to abundantly maximize all the fine attributes of both worlds - his host foreign nation and his native land where he has strong familial ties. He is convinced that the best way to make Nigeria work is to constantly point out all that is wrong with the Nigeria system from the outside. He sees himself as a finished volunteer consultant. Thus, year in year out, he is calling the Nigerian embassy in the country of his domicile to renew that renegade god-forsaken 'good for something passport' wrapped in a green paper back.

Go back to Nigeria he would not. Leave Nigeria alone, he would not. He is in a huge dilemma. Nigeria is good. It is a contradiction. Any where but Nigeria is fit to live - which is a sure oxymoron.

The tolerant, hapless, helpless and not so brave herd of humanity populates the "endure Nigeria" gang. This segment which is fit for study, endures enough to suffer or benefit from governments' constantly changing policies none of which their inputs are sought. They benefit or go down from irrational government policies, which some times, are churned out, retracted and or enhanced for no justifiable cause. He is a constant praise singer of the status quo in the hope that he does not upset the status quo. And or that in the hope that one day, 'things go better.'

The Love Nigeria, to death crew is festooned with diehards who know the Nigeria political terrain. A member of this gang will not die for Nigeria though. His love for country is utilitarian. He understands the Nigerian business terrain. He probably must have received all his education in Nigeria. He may have travelled out on one or two times. Some of these trips whether to Jerusalem for the JP Honorius or Mecca for its Alhaji counterpart, which usually are government-sponsored. He is sure that more government largesse will come his way if he laid low and said little negatives against government of the day. For him, his philosophy is anchored on the now anachronistic axiom of AGIP - Any Government in Power!

Above all, he is enamored with hope that with time and over time, his cultivated friendship across the spectrum of Nigeria's burgeoning thieving bureaucracy and the emergent private sector would yield positive dividends. He has seen hardship, which he thinks, is a way of life and is willing to endure through any future hard times. Hard times in Nigeria are amazing phenomena. Hard times, which are more than good times in Nigeria, come in phases and disappear before the populace had a handle on it. The love Nigeria crew are versed in the classic bedbug stoicism wrapped around the admonition to his threatened kids: "that anything hot shall come to be cold."

The home truth is that Nigeria is a great piece of place on earth, which could collectively be saved by those who own her or let to rot. With a huge landmass, inhabited by a vibrant population of over 140 million, it has a natural resource base that is the envy of most nations on earth especially her neighbors in Africa. Deliberately I have not mentioned crude oil as the reason for this envy about Nigeria because there are other untapped resources in Nigeria, which, if properly harnessed, any day, would tromp oil on the degree of relative import to Nigeria's economic potentials. Nigeria has so many abundant resources that if properly harnessed could put the per capita income of its people above many countries of the world who, we the owners of Nigeria believe, are enjoying better life than we do. In other words, the Nigeria nation has enough wealth to make its citizens happy.

Let us say it for as many times as we risk sounding repetitive - that Nigeria's abundant human and material resources have been badly managed over time. This is self evident as we everyday look around in Nigeria to see poverty and want stare us in the face, amidst plenty. Let us admit that electricity supply is almost gone comatose in Nigeria and that the roads in Nigeria are ill maintained and pothole ridden. We ought to admit it right away that Nigeria's health care delivery is gone to the dogs; that the nation's ill equipped universities are annually churning out ill-equipped youths who are eagerly embraced by an equally ill-prepared society typified by unemployment; that corruption is Nigeria's second nature; that its industrial base is almost on the verge of extinction.

Nigerians worry most, when they notice that most of their leaders, from the days of independence to date, have unfortunately been the worse breed of the human species and that, that has disproportionally, made the place one piece of a living hell on earth.

Agreed, Nigeria as a nation has not loved its children commensurately. It is an understatement to opine that no child born of Nigerian in or out of Nigeria has any sense of pride or belief in her. If you compare the degree of commitment to nation, of the average Nigerian, with his counterpart from other lands, you would notice to your disappointment that an average Nigerian sees his nation from the prism of his ethnic origins. I have not seen any Nigeria that would die for Nigeria. I have seen hundreds if not thousands of Nigerians who are prepared to die for their tribe. Beginning with my very humble self, I do not think that Nigeria has done enough for me to warrant hara-kiri for her.

Are the foregoing reasons enough to forsake Nigeria? The answer is yes and the answer could be no, depending on the individual's subjective frame of mind and his psychological make up.

In my mind, Nigeria is reclaimable. Nigeria for those who harbor any thought of reclaiming what bits of its tattered images that are left, should be taken, from now to resemble an aged parent who had no input in his/child's education and up bringing. Those parents, in spite of everything, remain parents. Other than Michael Jackson who openly confessed hatred for dad, can one conditionally love one's parents? The answer is No. No sane person does that. You cannot conditionally love your nation. Michael Jackson hated his father, because he hated himself. Love for country should be unconditional and as strong as love for self and parents.

Nobody loves self conditionally. If you are hungry, you go get food to eat, else you die of starvation. If you are sick, you visit the physician or go to the hospital. If you are thirsty, you get yourself some water. If you are cold, you take some protective/ preventive measures to remain warm. Nobody loves himself conditionally. If you do, you die. In times of peace and in times of war - you work on your healthy well being and safety, bearing in mind that your good health is your greatest asset. In times of economic upturns and in times of economic down turns, a good citizen should be seen to stand up in defense of self and country.

This defense comes in varying degrees. For example, if it were election time and for any strange reason you were not available to vote and the wrong candidate is voted, it behooves you to recline in self-pity to think that may be your vote would have counted "if I had voted". If you thought the election was rigged, you do not fold your arms in self-resignation and contemplate voting with your feet as a panacea. You stay there, patiently waiting and working towards the next election time to have an opportunity to right some wrongs done. If you folded your arms (which most Nigerians do) in self-resignation, the same electoral calamity would have been elongated, may be without you being conscious of what you did contribute or what you did not contribute.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians, from the proletarian rank, that is, do not have the balls to love self, talk less love Nigeria. Look at what is happening in Iran right now. An election has been held. The popular candidate has not won. There is protest galore all over Iran. Students, market mammies, professors and the middle class are up in protest. Using modern information techniques, they have been pressuring the electoral system to cancel an election whose outcome they believe does not represent the wishes of the people.

As we write, the protesters have won a partial battle. There have been recounts in some of the places under voter fraud speculation. Other than in western Nigeria, where we have such occasional flashes of bold protests against electoral fraud, the rest of Nigeria seem to be in deep coma when protests against wrongs done by rulers are much needed. Whatever little success recorded have been on individual basis and a' times circumstantial? Why can't the rest of Nigeria, imbibe the spirit of spirited protest including sit-ins and other forms of civil disobedience, to right electoral wrongs in Nigeria?

Why is the Nigerian populace so happy and yet so docile? Why are pressure groups such as trade unions and reputable organizations like the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) not be the first to take to the streets to protest election malpractices in Nigeria? What has happened to the nation's once vibrant and reliable student unionism? What has happened to the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities? What has happened? Where are the second generation of Tai Solarins and Aminu Kanos? Where is Gani Fawehinmi re-incarnate on the Nigeria political scene? Where are the young Edwin Madunagus and where are …

If you are a Nigerian living in foreign land, you do not constantly mount the soapbox to dish out profanities everyday against the rulers of your country. What you do is - for example gather the little stuff you materially have. Jump into the airplane with your certificate and nationalist instinct to go back home and fight for a befitting shirt in the struggle to make your nation whole or better. It will definitely not be easy. In that battle, there must be some bruises. Starting from bruised ego, to bruised personal economy and well being. You, no doubt would encounter several obstacles. You could even lose your life in that struggle. Nevertheless, these are obstacles needed to make the Nigerian land space a safe and better place than you met it.

After all, any education or personal solid achievement, which piece is not donated or geared towards the service for country and humanity, is almost wasted. That was why people such as Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Obafemi J. Awolowo and the Mbadiwes of this world returned to Nigeria to take up "arms" to fight for Nigeria's freedom and nationhood. I am also sure that, that is the reason people like the Odumakins and the Falanas are still in the trenches in Nigeria. Get back home for sake of country or forever remain silent - example, they say is better than precept.
http://nigeriaworld.com/columnist/offoaro/070309.html

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jul/6/300.html

Octogenarian couple formalises marriage 55 years after

Monday, July 6, 2009
For 55 years, they lived together as husband and wife. The husband, Sunday Ugiagbe, is 81 and the wife, Alice, 80. Last Sunday, in Benin-City, their marriage was formalised at the Flame of Fire Bible Church, Olor Quarters, Benin-City. While the celebration was on, the Ugiagbes spoke to Sunday Vanguard on why it took them so long to have them blessed. Excerpts:


By SIMON EBEGBULEM


MR Sunday Ugiagbe


How old are you now?

I am 81 years. I was born on a Sunday.


So why did you have to wait till now before you had a church wedding ?

I had to wait because I have been seeing some of my mates who rushed into marriage and they will be messing around outside because they no longer love their wives. So I decided to wait to be sure that I am marrying the right person so that I will not make a mistake in the church.


After I passed out from the old standard two, I was employed in Agricultural Office in the then Benin Divisional Council, that was in 1956. From there, I was transferred to Ugiobazuwa and whereever I was transferred to, I always left her behind to take care of the children.




How did you meet your wife?

I toasted her for a year and six months. She insisted she didn’t want me but I kept pestering her and it paid off one day when she decided to go out with me. I refused to go after another girl because I fell in love with my wife the first day I saw her. No girl was in my life, infact my wife is the only girl I have ever met.


And since I got married to her, I have not had cause to regret it because she is well behaved and she helps a lot in the family. By the time I came back from my station she must have paid the school fees of my children with her own money. And when I returned, she will explain to me and I will pay her half of the money, she will now tell me to forget about paying the remaining. She was doing that because she understood that she was making more money as a market woman than me who only relied on salary. But it is not because of her money that made me love her, the love is natural, she is God’s gift to me.


What was the family reaction when you wanted to marry her?

The family was very cooperative and they were very helpful to me.


What is your advice to the younger ones who would want to get married and even those who are married now?

I always advise them not to marry in a hurry. You must be mature mentally and physically before getting married. I am a very hard man when it comes to bringing up my children and kept advising them against making the wrong choice. And I have never starved my children of any thing.


If they demand for some thing and I do not have, I will go to their mother to help me and she will not disappoint me. Marriage is something that is ever lasting; so you do not rush into it. I toasted my wife for over one year and six months and that is because I was patient. I would have gone out to marry another person when she was proving very difficult but I still went ahead because I knew she was the person God meant for me.


So how do you feel today?

I feel great and, as a Deacon in the church, I am very close to God. I retired in 1996 and, since then, I have been managing myself with my wife.


Have you been paid your pension?

No way. You know I worked with both state and federal governments, but it is only in the state that they pay me little money. I thank God my wife is a market woman, she is the one that is always giving me money. It is not easy pursuing pension money and I do not want to die on queue. So I thank God for the wife he gave me because she has assisted me very very much in so many ways.


MRS Alice Ugiagbe


How has marriage been?

We have been married for over fifty five years now and since we got married we have not quarreled. We only did traditional marriage then but we have not blessed the marriage in the church and you know that God’s blessing is the best. You know that God is the ultimate. All the members of my family are here for the celebration and we thank God for keeping us till today.


Can you tell us how you met your husband?

I met him when he was still a boy. I was 30 years old then while he was 31 and, immediately thereafter, we got married.


Traditional marriage


So I have benefited from the marriage all these years and that is why we decided that we must perform the church marriage so that God will not be angry with us.


How many children have you?

We have seven children with many great grand children and I thank God they are all alive and doing well.


How do you feel today?

I feel very happy. I wish you can see inside my heart and see how happy I feel. For that fifty five years we have not quarrelled. My husband understands me very well just like I understand him too. He is a very nice man. Even when he wants to complain about an issue, I will tell him, “honey, leave everything to God”.


How do you cope even when things are difficult, you mean you do not grumble at all about issues?

Nothing is hard for us. What we do is that if he is at home and I go to the market to sell because I am a business woman, by the time I come back, he must have taken care of all the house work.


The same thing happens when I am at home and he goes to work, before he comes back I must have cooked his best food for him. I do not argue with him because I love him so much. He is somebody that understands me a lot and he does not do things that I do not like.


Does it mean you never suspected him or had any quarrel with him about having extra-marital affair?

Not at all . I always know his movement and he is somebody that does not care about any other woman. He is satisfied with me and that is why we have remained very close. In fact, it is God that brought both of us together and that is why it is a perfect match.

Kpa!

http://www.saharareporters.com/index...ive&Itemid=160


The State of the Nigerian Nation: The London Symposium
Saturday, 04 July 2009 18:54 Olufisayo Aderemi Keynote Speaker, Wole Soyinka

Dateline: London, May 29, 2009-On May 29, 2009, the Nigeria Liberty Forum, a United Kingdom-based pro-democracy and civil rights organization, marked Nigeria’s Democracy Day by organizing a well-publicized symposium entitled ‘The State of the Nigerian Nation’. Invited speakers included the Nobel-winning writer, Wole Soyinka, lawyer and activist Femi Falana, former EFCC chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Saharareporters.com’s founder Omoyele Sowore, writer and academic Okey Ndibe, and Prof. Sola Adeyeye, a former member of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Femi Falana focused on the “limitations of electoral reforms in Nigeria.’ Speaking without a script, he declared that unless Nigerians rose up to fight for their own votes, the fate of the nation would continue to be decided by those who did not have the interest of the country at heart.

He said he had lost confidence in the ballot box in Nigeria. “If it is about contesting elections in Nigeria, the PDP has sworn to capture power for 60 years” he said, enjoining Nigerians in the Diaspora to lead the fight for the sanctity of the ballot box.

On rebranding, Mr. Falana told the audience: “Those who are “rebranding” Nigeria view it as a commodity with a price tag, as you are stealing to acquire a property in Nigeria or New York. Those that steal in Nigeria believe that the country is a commodity to be stolen for the highest bidder to buy. Rebranding was devised in secret by those who think the country is already gone.”

He mocked the government for wanting President Obama to “come and genuflect in Nigeria.” According to him, if Obama did not go to Kenya, where he is from and where the Kikuyu are still withholding results of the Presidential elections in 2007, why would he come to Nigeria?”

He described the country as experiencing a “tragedy,” and observed that outside of the country had a better chance of rebuilding the country because of their exposure. “The task before us is not to bemoan our fate,” he cautioned, but to push our country out of the decadence that those who are trying to rebrand it have put it us through.”

Okey Ndibe reminded Nigerians in the diaspora of the need to develop a long memory about the wrongs perpetrated by their leaders, and challenged the audience to cultivate the habit of moral resistance to impunity. He noted that, as a personal example, he has refused to address Umaru Yar’adua as president, “since I’m convinced that Nigerians deserve the right to have their votes count – and Yar’adua did not emerge from a credible election.”

In his keynote speech, Professor Wole Soyinka spoke on the habit of African countries that design their own Democracy Day. He joked that Zimbabweans must celebrate the day Mugabe got married or rigged himself to power as a Democracy Day, or that Ugandans once celebrated Idi Amin. There was a time Cambodians had to celebrate the day Pol Pot massacred his own people. He mentioned Charles Taylor of Liberia who sought refuge in Nigeria for war crimes, but is now being prosecuted in the Hague for war crimes. He decried the unresolved murder cases in Nigeria, especially that of Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Mr. Bola Ige, whose killers are still in the corridors of power. He insisted that certain people knew who killed Ige but nothing has been done about the information they possess.

Furthermore, Professor Soyinka questioned the reasons Nigerians should celebrate. He listed the following as reasons why we should not celebrate: the Nigerian government tried to stop Soyinka from speaking to Nigerians, the Yar’adua Presidency was a series of missed opportunities, an era of darkness in Nigerian politics, a period of multiple political assassinations. Given the dire state of Nigeria, Soyinka wondered why Nigerians should celebrate at all. He argued that there was more the civil society could do – including working to bring bad leaders to trial. Finally, he enjoined Nigerians abroad to mobilize and return to Nigeria en masse to vote and ensure that their votes are counted. His speech has not been released on the Internet.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, spoke on the need for unity between Africans, and for working towards providing for our children and the generations to come. He implored Nigerians to work together to establish “the kind of society we want.” He insisted that corruption was more widely-spread in Nigeria than previously thought, and that that misappropriation of funds should be seen as corruption.

Sounding emotional, he rejected claims that he was a tool in the hands of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and insisted he did his job to the best of his ability. It was Ribadu’s first time in public and most of what he said were socialist in nature and had little or nothing to do with his time as the anti-graft czar.

A member of the European Parliament representing London, Jean Lambert, also addressed the audience. She called for stronger ties between the European Union, civil societies and Nigeria, in the fight against corruption.

In his opening statement, the convener of the symposium, and leader of the NLF, Mr Kayode Ogundamisi, lamented the present state of the Nigerian nation. It was his group that successfully picketed the London School of Economics appearance of the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, last February.

Ogundamisi noted that the Nigerian populace had been denied access to basic amenities, and that 10 years of bad governance and leadership has worsened the lot of the average Nigerian. He deplored the use of fraud to entrench a power-greedy PDP government. “We have had Democracy Day with all its fanfare, but what has happened to democracy? Does anyone believe that if we had democracy, anyone would vote for the current situation? Hospitals without medicine, schools without books, taps without water and bellies without food.’ He urged all Nigerians to say, “Enough is enough.Yar'adua regime sponsors attack again organizers in London


In view of the fact that the NLF has been accused of being a militant, pessimistic organization with nothing to bring to the table concerning the way forward, Ogundamisi called on Nigerians to adopt an activist culture: “a sustainable culture of strong electoral activism.”

He said: “We must review the last five decades and remember the dreams of our forefathers Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Sir Abubakir Tafawa Balewa, Jaja Wachuku.” He insisted that Nigerians must ‘look around us and recognize their potential and re-commence working together to create practical solutions to our problems.

Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of the left wing, anti-graft internet news media, Sahara Reporters, explained that it was the corrupt practices of the Nigerian media and its journalists that led him into journalism. He insisted that his background was in geography and planning, but he was forced to report the news as it was as the Nigerian media had failed the Nigerian people in delivering the truth.

Sowore said that the Nigerian media had a role to perform for posterity purposes. He cited several examples where the Nigerian press would rather cover stories glorifying fraudulent individuals rather than on factual reports. He strongly deplored the Nigerian media for perpetuating the cash-for-story culture. Even though I consider Sahara Reporters is a left wing medium and is sometimes dramatic in its headlines, he insisted that the Nigerian public must demand the truth from the media and that one day the public would stop buying newspapers from those who steal money and use the proceeds of corruption to publish newspapers. He said most Nigerian newspapers are fast losing integrity, and warned that very soon, the people would no longer rely on newspapers for news as citizens are now writing and publishing real news and reports the same way people grow, cook and serve their own foods.

In his view, the way forward from dodgy reporting was for everybody to show interest in the news and become a news reporter. He remarked that people should follow the I-Reporter technique of CNN, and noted that if Nigerians were blogging, recording and active with their pens and cameras, the government would be forced to re think some of its policies. Sowore was applauded severally during his speech.

The only woman on the panel was Sister Affiong L. Affiiong, who spoke on Pan Africanism. She spoke passionately and at length on the impact of neo-colonialism and on the need for all African states to come together to fight western imperialism and poverty.

The NLF event had gathered a lot of publicity in both the British and Nigerian media. For some reason, however, it appeared that some people were determined to stop the symposium from taking place. A reliable source disclosed that the Federal Government of Nigeria had sent seven newsmen to cover the symposium. The Nigerian High Commission was said to have pressured the London Metropolitan University (LMU) in an effort to prevent the NLF from using the university’s premises. I called the Nigerian Embassy but was unable to reach the High Commissioner to obtain his account. The Information Minister at the Embassy, Mr. Damien Ekpenrendu Agwu, refused to comment, deferring to the absent High Commissioner on the subject.
I found it strange, however, that while LMU had approved the application of the NLF to use its venue for the event, free of charge, it pulled out of that arrangement with only a few days to go, claiming it had been ignorant of the fact that the NLF was a politically-controversial group. Under pressure, with only 48 hours to the event, the NLF had to pay the two thousand pounds being demanded by the London Metropolitan University for the venue, and energetically re-publicize the event, as many people had assumed it was going to be cancelled.

But the hurdles were not over for the NLF. The day before the event, it was gathered, the NLF faced a lot of unwarranted hostility. Scheduled to appear on a live broadcast on the BENTV flagship ‘BEN Breakfast Show,’ the programme mysteriously developed technical problems pertaining to the broadcast audio system just as the NLF were due to speak. That lasted the entirety of the broadcast, prompting suspicions of sabotage. When I inquired from BENTV officials about it, the station’s marketing manager said, “It was not a sabotage, they experienced a technical glitch’.

Perhaps, but the ‘technical misfortune’ disappeared at the end of the NLF segment. I later discovered that Alistair Soyode, the proprietor of BENTV, was summoned to the High Commission to explain why the NLF were granted audience in the first place.

Security at the event was tight, and no one was allowed into the venue without a ticket, of which 366 had been issued, and there were random searches. The organizers told I that the security was necessary in order to ensure that the event was glitch free. I counted over 400 people in the auditorium, some of whom had to stand. Being a working day, many participants had braved a possible loss of income to be present at the event.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31852069/ns/politics/

Obama’s visit to fort a ‘full-circle experience’

Ghana's coastal castle was departure point for African slaves

George Osodi / AP
On Saturday, President Barack Obama and his family will visit this coastal castle in Ghana that was Britain's West Africa headquarters for the shipment of millions of slaves to Europe and America.

Ghana gets ready for Obama
July 10: There is much excitement on the streets in Ghana as the African nation prepares for a visit from President Obama.

Obama delivers powerful message to Africa
July 11: NBC's Chuck Todd examines whether President Obama's messages, which centered on hope and democracy toward Africa, were well received after he addressed the Ghanaian Parliament Saturday.
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updated 3:29 p.m. ET, Fri., July 10, 2009
CAPE COAST, Ghana - From the rampart of a whitewashed fort once used to ship countless slaves from Africa to the Americas, Cheryl Hardin gazed through watery eyes at the route forcibly taken across the sea by her ancestors centuries before.

"It never gets any easier," the 48-year-old pediatrician said, wiping away tears on her fourth trip to Ghana's Cape Coast Castle in two decades. "It feels the same as when I first visited — painful, incomprehensible."

On Saturday, Barack Obama and his family will follow in the footsteps of countless African-Americans who have tried to reconnect with their past on these shores. Though Obama was not descended from slaves — his father was Kenyan — he will carry the legacy of the African-American experience with him as America's first black president.




For many, the trip will be steeped in symbolism.

"The world's least powerful people were shipped off from here as slaves," Hardin said Tuesday, looking past a row of cannons pointing toward the Atlantic Ocean.

"Now Obama, an African-American, the most powerful person in the world, is going to be standing here. For us it will be a full-circle experience."

Built in the 1600s, Cape Coast Castle served as Britain's West Africa headquarters for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw European powers and African chiefs export millions in shackles to Europe and the Americas.

Nearly two centuries later, misery still lingers.

A truly historical moment for sub-saharan Africa. So glad he took his family along.