My thoughts on the most anticipated Presidential election and its fore runners;

Muhammadu Buhari,

No doubt he is the ‘best’ contestant right now, oldest, is brave or should be, he has been the C-in -C before now, and mostly likely is the BEST commando ‘naija’ needs to eliminate corruption and instil discipline as this has been the focal point of his campaign, and  judging by his antecedents. He, in the debate identified indiscipline amongst Nigerians as one of the reasons we are not yet on the road to our own cannan land. Wonder how he intends to carry this out, would he reinvent the KAI(kick Against Indiscipline) programme to tackle this, would they have more effect in a civilian democratic environment? Or he doesn’t mind tampering on human rights of fellow Nigerians?  Nigeria is a multi -party, multi-culture, multi-lingual, multi-you, multi-me, multi-problems, multi-marriages,  multi –challenges, multi-powers, multi-religion etc….So therefore Nigeria needs a Multi Tasking Ability efficient President from a multi tasking capable political party manifesto and this I doubt that buhari nor the CPC has this, even though I totally agree that corruption is the major problem of Nigeria at this point in our history, I still DOUBT if buhari would be able to do any other thing except corruption, even when he was asked on the famous NN24 debate what he felt about the present day Nigerian educational system,  buhari said there was nothing wrong with it, clearly this man has been in retirement for a very long while, and he didn’t even have a plan for the health sector, and I doubt if he as any other plan except anti-corruption, please can he tackle corruption and indiscipline without making plans for the educational and other sectors? Even though I know buhari would have ministers in charge of this ministries should he emerge, but am afraid that these ministries would prefer not to even work and send budgets for approval because of the fear of buhari, we might start having 20% budget completion, but trust that the remaining money to make 80% would be intact, but there would be no real improvement in the polity.

The General’s CPC is a party created solely for his purpose to be able to contest the Presidential election, we can’t clearly say this is what CPC stands for, but the good shoulders of buhari look safe enough for Nigerians to land on.

Nuhu Ribadu

He is 50 years, has been in service for a while now, he man who held the most ‘irritating’ job in Nigeria;  Police….ah….I can’t do that job but in spite of that fact that he came from a professional generation of 20 naira corrupt men and WOMEN, he earned international respect for himself and the country for the opposite of what his mates are best known for, he sent the biggest of them all from IG Tafa to Fayose to Alams, the sleepless nights he gave Ibori and co, and the irony of it all is that unlike buhari he took orders from an incorrigible corrupt ‘above’ but still manage to do the right thing, he worked against a system and process that protects the corrupt, remember the immunity clause, against all odds he performed, and even though we can ‘rightly’ accuse him of merely running Obasanjo’s (the then President of Nigeria) errands, but the real question is where the so called Obj’s enemies not Nigeria and EFCC enemies? And why I respect Ribadu is that up till now nobody has been able to accuse him of using the EFCC to corruptly enrich himself.

He is young, his party the ACN has the political base and popularity to contest a Presidential election, going by his antecedent he can fight corruption probably not as best as the general, but I expect that he and his party would be able to run a multi tasking government, as the case with the famous Babatunde Raji Fashola in Lagos state, that he, armed with his party manifesto has touched all areas of lives of Lagosians .

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ)

The incumbent President running on the platform of arguably the biggest political party in Africa (as they claim, but in naija na dem) the PDP,  that has failed the hopes and aspirations of Nigerians.  Unlike his opponents he didn’t get the party’s ticket on a platter of gold, he had to sweat for it, and his ‘hard work’ was rewarded as he even won in his closest rival’s home state, and gave the unimpressive  Jubril one vote. But Goodluck just doesn’t seem to have the charisma, the character, the will power to effect changes that Nigerians yearn for,  the boldness, the guts, he looks like someone that would be easily tossed around, the etcs of a Nigeria’s President, and the way he emerged in the primaries as just made him more deep-necked into corruption, ‘unholy covenants’ , questionable agreements etc that would most likely weigh him down in his government should he emerge. He has had too many godfathers, too many ‘undisciplined people’ cut some really bad deals, and should he emerge, would he be able to fight corruption? Would it mean he would investigate publicly the allegations of money laundering levelled against someone like a close relative of  Dame, his wife, etc.

Some good stuffs have happened and others, been initiated in the short while that he has been in helms of affairs, but Nigerians do not just understands the methods Goodluck uses to achieve this things, categorically the amount of money he spends.

Pat Utomi

The economist who is the Presidential candidate of the SDMP(Social Democratic Mega party), to me in my own opinion would have been better off now as a vice-Presidential candidate for a major political party, maybe not the PDP because of their own rotation and the death of a northern President in office, but following the political weather we have now, an indigbo vice presidency won’t hurt the Ibos who believe they have been cheated in the ‘rotation’ federal character system, with the hope of now becoming President, instead of forming another party that has no single seat in neither state assemblies nor federal chambers and just dividing the votes of the opposition more to the advantage of the ruling party.

Ibrahim Shekarau

Oh, the candidate making waves now like a new hit, the present governor of Kano state who has done nothing but to impress and continue to win voters affection due to his calmness, maturity, depth knowledge of issues and articulacy at the ongoing Presidential debate. Contesting on the platform of the ANPP, the funny part is ANPP used to be a bigger party before, they as at 2003 were controlling at least nine states in the country, but what happened? After the buhari’s expulsion/withdrawal, the defection season that saw even sitting governors defect, after accepting the carrot of the late Yardua unity government. Now it seems that shekarau is standing alone with not much political structure, he has programmes for Nigeria, but he and his party does not just have the Presidential political structure, but let’s see.

Dele momodu ncp & chris okotie fP

These duo, oh what can I say, at least they make a name for themselves as contenders in Nigeria’s history, I wish them all the best, and I hope they get appointments.

Comment

If buhari can show us that he would deliver quality healthcare, world class education standards, scientific innovations and not just instil discipline and fear into the heart of Nigerians, then we would go for him.

If Goodluck can appear more brave enough, stop running away from challenging situations or even create one, instead of creating more environments with dbanj and in a way make Nigerians believe he would not keep corrupt people around him i.e be able to come out quickly and clean from all the unholy alliances he has been being keeping just to get to office. Then its him.

If shekarau can muzzle a more powerful, VISIBLE political national structure, then its him.

If Utomi could just understand the political weather now, and see that even the indigbos do not believe that 2011 is their time(apologies in case), and they would naturally support a northerner now, with the view that when power is agreed generally back to the south it would be them. (We cannot deny that the rotation system invented by the PDP in 1999 is still alive, hence the north claiming ‘right’ to 2011, after OBJ a southerner spent 8years, but my hope is that the issues of rotation and zoning would be voted away this April and Nigeria gets to choose Nigerians to lead them based on merit.

If the Ribadu/buhari collaboration could work before election, instead of dividing the opposition to the advantage of Goodluck. And if Ribadu can assure Nigerians that there won’t be an overbearing influence of some few godfathers, then its him.

Thanks to you all readers, God bless Nigeria!!!

COURT NULLYFIES ORDER OF ELECTION

Wonders they say never end....politics is interesting, and its even gettin more interestin wif the recent Judgement of an High court nullifying section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010, saying its in not consistent with the constitution, chill, the said section puts the presidential election before the governorship and National Assembly election and Jega led INEC has released the timetable for the general election according to the section's format, but this section was challenged in court by the labour party, arguing (maybe correctly) that once a president emerges, there would be a band wagon effect on the governorship and National Assembly election, ie voters would be 'obligated' to vote for the new presdient party, regardless of whether its there choice or not, nobody go won waste vote now, and in delivering its judgement the Judge reasoned with the lawyer of the defendant and said the said section be abolished.....hmmmmmm...that Jega should conform with the earlier Nigerian arrangement.....hmmmm...another issue of whether or not Jega has time to change plans, or need another set of billions to conform to the Judgement, now the Attorney General of the federation may appeal, if Jega decides to wait for the outcome hoping he did win in appeal....hmmmmm and sticking with his earlier plan....dat aside.....i remember that this controversial section originated from the format Jonathan wanted to use to win the PDP primaries, "do the presidential primaries first, if I lose in your state, you as the governor, and another persons in your state, that I think made me lose in that state, would also lose return tickets"....smart uuhn?...but this 'format' was strongly opposed by the governor's forum...(majorly PDP, cos u wud wonder why a person like fashola should be disturbed which ever primary comes first), who didnt unnecessarily want to be tied to Goodluck's apron, instead wanted the reverse, which dey got, as goodluck had 2 promise to spend just 4years, (stowi 4 anoda year....lolz...keep u posted....but one obvious question now from 2015 light years away...is would sambo remain loyal....hmmmmmthat ofcos if Ribadu loses on the election.....funny isnt it?)...and d format was obviously opposed by the likes of IBB and Atiku, directly or indirectly......now, dat again, cos of the band wagon scary effect, the labour party, with no independent presidential candidate....as opposed the format, sowi.....section 25 but now with a court order, what would or wouldnt happen?.....
.left to me, I think Nigeria should not waste time debating it(senators are already confused), respect the court order, cos no person can deny d band wagon effect, and lets conduct a free and FAIR election......
xoxo....opeoluwa

Obasanjo condemns heroic reception for Bode George.........Hmmmmmmmm...lolz

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, condemned the recent heroic welcome organised for a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George.

George was, last Saturday, released from the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons after he completed a two-year jail term.

The lavish reception that was organised for him by the PDP and which was attended by Obasanjo had attracted criticisms from Nigerians.

But Obasanjo, in an interview with journalists in Abeokuta on Friday, shortly after a public lecture to mark his 74th anniversary, said that he was tricked to attend the reception organised for the ex-convict.

The former President, who had earlier in the interview denied his alleged “do-or-die” comment on the April polls, said, “You got it wrong again. I was not part of the celebration of (Bode) George’s release.

“And let us get a few things right. When (Bode) George went to prison, the first thing that I did was to find out from his lawyer what really went wrong. What the lawyer said was not what I found out eventually.

“Then, he (Bode George) sent a passionate message to me from prison, urging me to attend a family church thanksgiving and I believe that for whatever reason, if any family is giving thanks in the church or in the mosque and they invite me and I am able to go there, I will go, whether it is for marriage, for burial, house warming or christening a child. But when I got to the church, the atmosphere I found was more than a family affair.

“And I even took the opportunity to ask the state PDP chairman, ‘Is this a PDP affair?’

“And he told me it was not a PDP affair because I don’t see why the PDP, as a national party, as a party that is trying to form a government in Lagos State, as a party that formed the government at the national level and in at least 27 states in the country, should be celebrating criminality because whatever we may say, the reason Bode went to prison should be condemned by everybody and I have condemned it. He did not go to prison for a political offence.

“If he had been sent to prison for a political offence, then, he comes back and all his political associates may get round him and the PDP must do something noble and wholesome; but in this case, the PDP as a party must dissociate itself from celebrating criminality.

Obasanjo added, “When I asked the state chairman, he said, ‘You know Area Boys, they do hijack things lie this.’ But I believe if it is Area Boys, you leave it to the Area Boys and not to the PDP.

“We had suffered it before. In 2003, the PDP won in Lagos and that was stolen. Now, PDP will not stand for a stolen election. They have moved from direct stealing to stealing through the judiciary and you said that I should accept that, aren’t you part of that, don’t you know that?”
culled from punch nigeria .

My Comment.
Its very funny that this comment is coming from a person of obasanjo (the man of do or die politics), maybe he doesnt think bode george is enuf asset 4 his do or die politics, or just maybe obasanjo 'has changed'....lolz....seriously, obasanjo in his rift with gbenga daniels, took his case to court, instead of....maybe going the 'unlawful' way, that's the same obasanjo that disobeys court orders, so maybe just he as changed.
Funny enuf, 1 question that maybe obasanjo and people are asking is that is it the calibre of men (ex-convicts) convicted for corruption(bane of Naija's problem) that the PDP in lagos expects to use to win election in an educated state like lagos?....hmmmmmm......April would tell.....And another issue is what obasanjo described as bode george misbehaving while in prison.....whatever that meant....hmmmmmmmm.....xoxo.....opeoluwa.

season greetings

season greetings 2 all pips frm yr own boy ope agunbiade. yah pips are we all doin.?.....trust God we are enjoyin our IT for dose of us that ve started.....lol....and am sure we all picked a lesson or 2 as against our part4 IT.yah....hed some pips were seen wif rihana at oja bend down....hw was she....the pips me I hed are sylvanus, shade, seun omowumni, they can tel u who dey saw....hmmm b4 i 4get...osaz i no u went the next day....u no hw i gt 2 no now.....hed omorodian salvation led d DE students delegation 2 oju irin market 2 hop....bt bjay ofcos had 2 follow since Nike was there.......hed no b only dat market oooo....hed mayowa, mayowa girl and biggie....nearly lost their way at okrika market....tank God for afeez, boye and ahmed obadun who saved them......wonder why sylvanus wasnt there? he add gone 2 bend own 2 see rihana 4 d first time. rotimi ajetumobi....i dont jst wanna mention ur name oooo....i no u also went.....omo shoppin na shoppin......at least pips like omotoye kay aka kakashi stayed back wif ismail 2 shop in d boutique at aluta market.....i cant tel everyone secret today...like me keep my own boy own ajala......sure u pips are enjoyin the season....bodunde and ronaldo...play sef ooo...2011 is too early to b a father.....happy nu yr in advance....and as 4 me....i didnt shop(just went to twice as nice in Ikoyi) cos i was barely naked at home all through xmas includin most pips like....whlaes, ife....wale....moyin and ger former boss in spot hall bukky...to mention a few...nb we were nt in thesame house oooo.

PRIVATE CHRISTAIN UNIVERSITEIS IN NIGERIA

PRIVATE CHRISTAIN UNIVERSITEIS IN NIGERIA

...Unlimited freedom is bondage in disguise. Chancellor Covenant university, Nigeria.

On Wednesday the 21st of October 2009, the federal government of Nigeria awarded licenses to seven private universities in Nigeria, bringing the total number of private universities in Nigeria to 41. Private institutions are fast becoming the choices of parents for their wards over the public ones, because of the problems these public ones face like incessant industrial action by all the union bodies in them, congestion of hostels e.t.c

Common practice in these private Christian institutions in Nigeria include bed check at 8pm, compulsory dress codes regardless of course of study, specific visitation hours, compulsory choice of religion and way of worship, ban on formation of clubs, departmental societies, ban on use of mobile phone or limited access to their use, or in some cases ban on 3G phones, limited or complete ban on the use of internet, and in cases of use of internet ban on some specific web pages, and of course limited access to the opposite sex.

Some imminent question that comes to mind is who are those in such post secondary schools, another is why are these rules in place, does it mean the graduate from such place of study are responsible, how do these graduate cope in the real world, do they offer courses like computer science in such places?

The school authorities.

One interesting question is did these men and women of authority who put all these rules in place, go to such schools as universities?, will it be correct then for me to say that they probably had some regrets in such institutions and as such do not want the “leaders of tomorrow” to make this same mistakes, hence these rules?

Even if Jesus were to be alive now does anybody think He would use the internet, mobile phones or better still 3G phones, He might not use the N or E series as a sign of humility but I do not think He would not use any kinds of 3G phones, do not let us even forget that the religion these universities practice and preaches that Jesus Christ enabled man to develop technologies. So what exactly are these universities preventing or achieving.

Recently an armed robbery took place in some branches of some banks on one of these campuses, I do not know any intelligence in the world that will exclude the students community of complicity in the act, and also I do not know of any state owned university that has recorded such an illegal act on their campuses. I will admit these rules might have to a very large extent being responsible for the almost non-existence of cultism on these campuses and maybe prostitution, but is it all state owned universities that cultism perpetrate? Do not at this point believe in what you see in Nollywod.

When cultist struck in Obafemi Awolowo university in 1999, killing the “OAU 5” was it not students that immediately marched to the Amphi theatre and immediately passed a resolution that till today the campus remains relatively save even from students who could be complicated in banks armed robbery incident. Also the lecturer-female student harassment which is a common practice in the world cannot be said not to exist in such universities, while I have no prove to say it does there is no evidence to say it does not, but am sure of the fact that a girl in one of these campuses was seen, not caught, having uncontrollable sex in the cafeteria , even when they tried separating them in the public she pleaded.

When these students graduate from these institutions, where will they work, live,? Is it a planet where there is always curfew at 8pm,pluto? because I think that is the only planet in our universe that such might occur or a world where you are not allowed to use the internet or a world where 3G phones are illegal, how are their computer science students coping when you ban these wireless gadgets, so where exactly are these place of study preparing her heavily taxed students for?

To me a university is a place you make choices to determine your future, take decisions that shape your live ,and make mistakes on your own terms and deal with the consequences of all your actions, either good, bad, ugly or undefined.

Referring back to my earlier sentence, I do not think there is any bondage stronger than this.

My thoughts on the 2011 appropriation bill

My thoughts on the 2011 appropriation bill, tagged: budget of fiscal consolidation, economic growth and employment generation.

You know our people will benefit more with the implementation of the capital budget, and we cannot move forward while we spend the larger part of the budget on recurrent………senator Mamora(deputy minority leader)

The President of Nigeria Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan has presented a budget of 4.22trn to a joint session of the national assembly for debate and approval. Not to sound radical I would categorically say that the president was advised wrongly(not that am saying I no more than them) to have budgeted a whooping sum of 2.48trn naira for recurrent expenditure, to me it is totally unacceptable , in a country that we are in dire need of infrastructures(new roads, Niger delta issue, over head bridges, electricity, hospitals, universities etc), now allocating over 60% of your budget for salaries and allowances is unacceptable. Yes I know you have to pay workers salaries, (ASUU and all other SUs would sill start asking for increase in salary especially as this is an election year), and you have to enter for a first term, but the fact that the way the allowance is structured in this part of the world where just about 500(senators, house of reps) people would take half of that money is the risk Nigerians are not willing to take.

A country where experts for instance have advised that if we are going to achieve the 20:20:20 vision we need to spend 15trn on housing alone(capital expenditure), on his delivery he promised to provide jobs for Nigerians, if you spend more on capital expenditure like building more schools, more power stations. Wont that create more jobs? Instead of wanting to blow money on salaries when senators and alike would take 50% of it.

The recent issue of six universities intended to be created by the federal government one each for the six geopolitical zone, is it out of this 1.005trn(budget for capital expenditure) that Goodluck expects to build it from, what about the issue of 4 nuclear power plants for power generation, the renovation of the Lagos-Ibadan death trap, all other unfinished capital projects, and new ones..basically what Goodluck is telling us is this is an election budget!!!

Another pertinent issue with the budget is a fact that president in the name of winning election, (by blowing off money) intends in his budget ceteris paribus that Nigeria would have a revenue of 2.8trn(oil bench mark @$ per barrel) leaving a huge deficit of 4.22trn-2.8trn 1.42trn(higher than what he planned for capital projects self). How does he intends Nigeria to finance the huge deficit by the year 2012 and beyond regardless of who becomes president….best case scenario is that he increases tax, or best form as best practiced by former president Olusegun Obasanjo is to increase fuel price, and the ordinary Nigerian would still be the one to bear the brunt, not the senators, ministers and  the too much special advisers who collected this money(recurrent expenditure) but the still unemployed/underemployed Nigerian, who as a lack of creation of jobs viz a viz the presidents failure to spend on capital projects would be the one to pay for the hike to cover the deficit.

In summary, this budget as against how President Goodluck described it as “budget of fiscal consolidation…..economic growth and employment generation” it should be called budget of winning an election. Apart from the fact that Mr. President has made a technical error, by calling a budget you intend to be hugely deficit,- fiscal consolidation, I pray there is a meaningful economic growth. People should not here that the fact that last year budget was around 5.1trn…..doesn’t necessary make a budget of 4.22bn consolidation.

My humble way forward

As we all know, the ball is now in the legislative, if “possible” they should review the salaries they are earning,  so that if the money remains, we can still be hopeful on the deficit side.

But more importantly is the implementation of the budget, I once said if just  1billion naira was spent to the last kobo on any sector of the economy, ordinary Nigerians would feel it. If the senate through her committee monitors this budget implementation to the letter, bearing in mind that the political situation(elective and appointed posts) of the country would change in May, hence any ministry presenting her budget now, should only be given money for 2 quarters.