Business Nuggets

*Business Nuggets!*

*Never kill a _Business Plan_ because it sounds crazy to you, remember someone taught of metal floating on water (SHIP): sounds crazy but today, it's happening.*

*If you try and succeed, cool you will make a great mentor to someone.*

*Never quit without a try, don't be a coward go get your goal *

*MTN* came to Nigeria at a time when nobody wanted to invest in Nigeria, at a time when Nigerians did not have phones. Even *Zenith Bank* refused to loan *MTN* cash to operate, *UBA* rejected *MTN's* offer but today see the difference.

What about *Cowbell?* When they came to Nigeria, they made milk in sachets, *Peak was laughing at them - they said Cowbell was milk for the poor* - but they were right!

3-million poor people could afford N10 a day for a sachet of milk.

Do the math - 3 million people buying milk at N10.00 - that was N30million every single day. In a month they grossed N900million (almost N1billion). Even *PEAK* had to make sachet milk in order to *SURVIVE in the MARKET.*

So what have people told you? What have they said you cannot do, or you do not qualify for, or you do not have experience for? They told *Cowbell,* they told *MTN,* but today the *STORY has CHANGED.* I have a feeling something is changing for you today! They will change their strategies just to keep in step with you. Don't listen to what people are saying or what life is showing you.

*YES, YOU CAN.*

Success is not about where you graduated from, or what grade you graduated with, but what graduates

out of you.

Keep the spirit UP..

*FOOD FOR THOUGHT!*

Culled from WhatsApp by Ike Onwubuya 

Dapchi The tragedy of a nation - Reuben Abati

Karma is a bitch. Poetic justice is a bastard. Both have combined to wrong-foot the incumbent Buhari administration to make it look like a big mistake and an act of misjudgment by the Nigerian electorate.  If Buhari had been disallowed from taking power in 2015, and those who advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to give a damn had their way, and Jonathan had remained in power and all the current problems had surfaced, it would have been said by Nigerians that Goodluck Jonathan truncated Nigeria’s destiny.

 

In 2015, the refrain, which was reaffirmed recently by those who authored it, was that Nigeria could only move forward with anybody but Jonathan. If Buhari was prevented from taking over power, Nigerians would have been very aggressive towards the Jonathan administration. It would have been said that the messiah was robbed of victory. It would have been argued that the man who would have saved Nigeria was prevented from doing so. It might have even been argued that under General Buhari, Nigeria could have become the greatest country on the surface of the earth.

 

Such was the impact of the propaganda. Such was the nature of the politics of the time. The Buharideens would never have allowed a post-2015 Jonathan government to work. Even if it did, the opposition would have imagined a greater possibility. But here we are, three years down the line: the messianic propaganda has failed. Their Saviour is not the Jesus Christ they imagined him to be. The country remains unsaved. Their promise of change has been no more than scaremongering. When the question is asked: are you better today than you were three years ago?, no ordinary Nigerian can answer that question positively: change has brought him or her nothing but agony and anguish.

 

Should they offer an answer, it would be a response marked by regret. The biggest tragedy that has occurred therefore is the demystification, the unmasking, the unveiling of a man who was thought to be a god but who has since danced naked and is dancing naked in the market-place. Strikingly, the Emperor is without clothes. Some of the most vociferous critics of old have also been exposed. Nasir el-Rufai deployed all the heights of his intelligence to demonise the Jonathan government on social media. No one else has been able to match the quality of his vitriol. Today, the same Nasir is busy demolishing the houses of anyone who dares to make a negative comment about him, or he takes them to court and threatens them with Armageddon. The same rights that he demanded for the Nigerian people, he now tramples upon.

 

There was also our beloved kinsman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. He was the scourge of the Jonathan administration. He could issue five anti-establishment press statements in a day. There has been no one like him in Nigerian history doing the job of opposition spokesman. He was ruthlessly efficient. Nobody in the current opposition parties has demonstrated his capacity as an opposition figure, in part because all the opposition spokesmen have been harassed, blackmailed, dehumanized, and intimidated, but called to do the job, on the other side of the fence as Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed remains a study in self-contradiction. His five minutes of fame in the Nigerian political sphere has since ended.

 

He used to be creative and dynamic, but now faced with the challenges of the real thing, the only thing that comes out of his mouth is the dumb argument that Goodluck Jonathan is the source of all the problems of Nigeria or similar inanities. When the matter is not so phrased, we are told that the Jonathan administration stole the country blind. And yet whereas the government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) borrowed the sum of N6 trillion over a period of 16 years, the APC government has borrowed more than N11 trillion in 3 years! Is it possible all the oil wells have dried up and Nigeria no longer makes money? What has happened to the country’s revenue stream? The absurdity of the situation is further explained by the fact that when a gas cylinder malfunctions in the house of an APC member or there is a crisis in their other room, the man that is blamed is Goodluck Jonathan or the previous administration. They defend the impossible and the unintelligible. But that trick is no longer working. The other tragedy of the Buhari administration is how it has allowed itself to get involved in a Nigerian version of the popular “one-corner-dance”, a downward, self-denigrating choreographic exertion. The result is that right now, people have now moved from the anything but Jonathan corner to the anything but Buhari corner in Nigerian politics. Karma is a bitch. Poetic justice is a bastard.

 

Nothing illustrates this better than the title of this essay, the entry into which has been deliberately delayed, to prepare a setting and a mood for the crisis that Nigeria faces. One of the reasons the Nigerian electorate voted out the previous administration was because of its perceived inability to rescue the abducted Chibok girls. There was an international outcry about this. Bring Back the Chibok girls even became the most popular hashtag on international social media, and Jonathan, who had also signed the anti-same-sex bill into law became a villain in the eyes of the international community. The various interested forces, local and global joined hands together to pull down his government.

 

During the 2015 political campaigns, General Muhammadu Buhari was packaged as a morally upright statesman who would put an end to the impunity of the insurgents and terrorists. Jonathan was considered weak. Buhari was regarded as strong. And so on and so forth- let me just put it like that in order not to be accused of comparison given my own antecedents. But here is where the rub lies: President Buhari has failed the people in their expectations. He has frittered away their goodwill.  

 

He promised Nigerians that Boko Haram will be defeated, and somewhere down the line, we were told the Boko Haram had in fact been “technically defeated.” The President even received a captured flag of the insurgents, together with the personal Quoran of Ibrahim Shekau, the leader of the group. Today, the Boko Haram gang continues to show that they have not been defeated. The Federal Government negotiated with these same insurgents and gave them money to secure the release of over 100 girls, some Boko Haram leaders were released, but the other Monday, Boko Haram abducted over 100 girls in Dapchi in Yobe state. This is sad and tragic. Whatever the government may have gained has been lost. The girls that have been released have been replaced. The fight against Boko Haram is back to square one.

 

The clay feet of those who thought they knew better than everyone else has thus been exposed. For President Buhari, this must be a personal tragedy. His strongest promoters indeed believed that under his watch, the problem of insecurity will be solved. But under him, more money has been spent on national security, with poor results, and the security situation has only worsened. The previous government had the Boko Haram to deal with, this government has its cup full: the herdsmen-farmers conflict, the low level insurgency in the Niger Delta, the crisis of self-determination in the Eastern region, the nationwide proliferation of small arms and ammunition, the notorious Boko Haram and the angst of a disappointed public. On all fronts, the government is found wanting.

 

Yes, it has been found wanting and in a suspicious manner too.  It is in fact curious that security forces were withdrawn in volatile areas of Benue state, just a week before the criminal herdsmen struck. Who ordered that withdrawal? The Inspector-General of Police has also reportedly withdrawn the Special Forces sent to secure the same areas. The Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom is so incensed he is now saying he is willing and ready to pay the supreme sacrifice for his people.  In Yobe state, soldiers were also withdrawn from high-risk areas just before the Dapchi 110 were abducted. The military has since defended itself. It has no capacity its spokesman says, to protect all schools in the Northern part of the country. And we can’t blame the military, can we? It is a sign of the calamity that the country faces that soldiers are the ones now protecting virtually every inch of the Nigerian space, internally and externally. Our soldiers are tired and overstretched, over-used and over-abused. The police are also similarly overwhelmed. It has never been this bad. Fact: the government of the day has been humbled. I once argued that Nigeria is a very difficult country to govern but when you claim to know it all, you are bound to face the contradictions. Every problem solved generates other problems.

 

People choose their governments and leaders because they believe they can lead and protect them. When that trust is betrayed, the legitimacy of the government is in question. In more than 20 states, salaries have not been paid for months.  And it is a stupid point to say that the previous government stole all the money.  How about all the money that has been earned and borrowed since then? Missing? What is responsible really for this drift, this cluelessness, this self-abuse, from a know-it-all team that took over Nigeria in 2015? My other concern is that beyond all the propaganda and the hypocrisy and blackmail, President Buhari’s team may not really love him at all; they may in fact have truly, set him up for his downfall.  Buhari’s biggest stake is the legacy he leaves behind. The little I see of that legacy is not good at all. I once published a piece in which I alleged that Nigerians had hopped into a one-chance bus; I want to modify that and add that it is actually President Buhari who boarded a one-chance bus, and for that he has my heartfelt sympathy. Whatever bus brought him to power is a one-chance bus.

 

What has happened so far merely vindicates the Olusegun Obasanjo and Oby Ezekwesili groups. The former is asking for a Third Force, a Coalition of powers and forces. The other is wielding a Red Card. Both are united in this regard: they consider the two political parties that have ruled Nigeria since 1999, useless and ineffectual. They want a new dawn for Nigeria. They want a discontinuity of hypocrisy and opportunism. They acknowledge one significant point: that Nigeria has remained at one spot. Nothing has changed, the change agenda has failed, everything remains the same. Whether these groups are able to achieve, or motivate the real change the people desire is another matter, but the honesty with which they have reversed themselves is telling, and good for our democracy. You need not raise the point that both Obasanjo and Ezekwesili belong to the same elite that they now repudiate.

 

I sympathise with the parents of the Dapchi 110.  It is sad that their only hope is in God, and the possibility of a miracle.  Students get killed in the United States, due to gun possession issues in a psychotic society, but to send a child to school and have him or her abducted by terrorists is the grievous pain ever possible in Nigeria. What is clear is that the Nigerian leadership elite has failed the people. This is not a political party matter; it is about capacity, political will, leadership and commitment.  This is probably why a body of opinion has developed to the effect that the two major political parties in the country – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have both failed the country. But can extant or any political parties, in their present shape, save Nigeria? I doubt, and that is my thoroughly non-partisan opinion.

 

The political party system in Nigeria has to be rebuilt, reformed and reconstructed. Beyond that, we need a new crop of leaders. The solution may not lie with Obasanjo or Ezekwesili or the Nigeria Intervention Movement but they have thrown up ideas about the national dilemma that cannot be ignored. Such ideas cannot be ignored because the biggest victims are not the ten per-centers or the men and women in high places who succeed not through talent or excellence, but mere opportunistic “faith”; the victims are young Nigerians, the same people we call the leaders of tomorrow - that tomorrow is already postponed, because that generation of the future is led by analogue leaders whose glory is trapped in the past. Nigeria needs to rescue tomorrow from the past and the present. Nigeria needs fresh energy, new ideas and a leadership revolution. Wherever they may be, may God protect the Dapchi 110, who have been failed by the Nigerian state. If Buhari rescues them, he may well succeed in rescuing his government a little from the devastating and ruthless onslaught of poetic justice.

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya 

Easter Humour

Wife: What are your plans for Easter?

Husband: Same as Jesus..

Wife: What do you mean ??

Husband: I will disappear on Friday and reappear on Monday! 

Wife: "That's AWESOME. if you do that, I'll also do like Mary.

Husband: what do u mean ?

Wife: I will show up pregnant, yet untouched by my husband."

Husband: dey no born u well 

 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya

Senator Bode Olajumoke: Open Letter To Olusegun Obasanjo The Retired and Tired General.

Your Greed, Selfishness, Naivete, Cowardice and Lack of Patriotism To Your Birthplace Has Made The Yorubas & Igbos A Walking Deads. Thank You.

Let me first of all quote the brave and nobly patriotic Chief Anthony Enahoro after Obasanjo came out of prison and was about to be used as puppet civilian presidet by the Hausas after they killed Chief MKO Abiola and Yoruba mandate.

"I moved the motion for the independence of Nigeria from British rule and if Obasanjo wins this presidency I will be honoured to once again move another motion for the division of Nigeria".

The build-up to this quotation was too dire to remember. Kudirat Abiola killed by the Hausas on Lagos street, MKO Abiola locked up foreever and the whole Yoruba and Igboland beseiged by the Hausas, innocent Nigerians were dissappearing like spent toys, poverty and graduate unemployment used as collective punishment for Yorubas and Igbos while the Hausas eats bellyfull and throw away left over food. How could the Igbos forget the letter bombing and shreding into body parts of Dele Giwa and the hanging and acid melting of Ken Saro Wiwa by the Hausas.

The Hausas has always openly displayed their agenda for domination and oppression with eternal ambition to eliminate other tribes and inherit Nigeria from all boundaries.

So when Obasanjo was picked by the clever Hausas to quieten the Yorubas for the death of MKO Abiola, the Yorubas and the Igbo saw an opportunity to finally redeem themselves and stand alone as a united nation and leave the Hausas/Fulanis to rot in their god forsaked dry desert with their cows.

I was at Ake palace when Obasanjo came for the campaign for Yorubas to support his candidacy. Music was pouring out of the mouth of the most famous indegenous Egba musician Sefiu Alao like thunder and fire, calling for all Yorubas home and abroad to come home and support the soon to be "Fake" Ebora Owu.  🎼🎼 Obansanjo ti ko're  w'Egba araiye o, eni ba sakolo ko o yaa wale".🎼🎼 Fa! fa!! faa!!! Faaoo!!!!!

Obansanjo, you openly promised to divide the country so we could go in  peace to our Yoruba and Igbo tents. Ebora, you even showed our Obas the hot iron marks used to stamp your bare back as a mark of torture whilst you were in prison following the annulment. " Unn gbesan, eje ndebe na unn gbesan Ee rapa ehin mi ni? Fuming in his typical Owu dialect whilst showing his torture marks to the  Yoruba Obas whose only requests before endorcing his candidacy was nothing but to divide the country so that Yoruba and Igbos could live peacefully on their lands without Hausa/Fulani killings and dominions.

Ebora Ole (coward genie) Anthony Enahoro gave you all the supports of Igboland and promised to move the motion for the cessation of the the nation.

On getting to power Obasanjo started doing what he knows to do best. Steal more government money, steal more people's land and continued to lick the anus of the Hausa/Fulanis who imposed him upon us and righltly so. With our pain on the assasination of the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland and prime indegene of Egbaland who has always being at logerheads with Obasanjo, the only Yoruba and another Egba son that will not take revenge on them as their old time bottom leaker Obasanjo who they know does not care less if Abiola was killed in as much as he get national cake to steal.

Obasanjo, you later brought to fruition your popular saying, "I am not the president of the Yorubas but the president of Nigeria"

Obasanjo, you showed your traitor's colour when asked by the press 2 years into your evil civilian regime, "What happened to your pledge to divide the country sir"

You shamelessly replied:- "Nigeria Will Never Be Divided On My Head" Naijirian koni tori mi pin. Mission of your puppet masters Hausa/Fulani accomplished isn't?

But the Hausa/Fulanis knew that as the fake Ebora Owu the whole Yorubaland is looking up to, your productive time on the field of Nigeria politics will soon expire. 

Now you are compleletely used, spent and expired. Now the only thing that the Hausa/Fulanis are waiting for is your final exit from the face of the earth, which according to their arithmetical calculation is less than a decade so that they can unleach their full terror on the people you are suppose to represent and defend. The Yorubas.

But when you're finally gone, please count me out as one of your mourners, mba nefo. If your living gave me no good of what then will you demise be to me.

But you could have saved the Yorubas and Igbos without firing a single bullet, that was why Anthony Enahoro pledged the support of the entire Igboland to team up with the Yorubas to move for our independence from the cattle rearers.

Obansanjo but don't you worry about us anymore. The cattle colony is growing bigger, thanks to Yoruba traitors and money worshippers like you. 

Remenber however that a falling sky is not a single man's predicament (Orun nwo bo ni, kii se oran enikan)

By the time every available land in Nigerian is taken over by the AK47 and the cows of the Fulanis, your Hill top mansions, your townlike estates event centre and museum in Abeokuta and all your Operation Feed The Nations Farm (OFN) turned  Obansanjo Farms Nigeria (OFN) across Nigerian shall become perfect grazing land for Fulani cattles and all shall be littered with cow dungs. Then you better not raise your head or your voice for the Fulanis have promised, "such raised heads shall be chopped off like plants" and because according to the Fulanis female representative in the parliament "God created Fulanis to love their cattles more than themselves and must kill human beings to protect their cattles" you and your children better not resist the invasion of your properties by the cows because no single Yorubaman/woman will come to your aid because when you were in control of the national armoury you did not give us a single gun for self protection but you rather moved the largest military armoury in Nigeria from your hometown Abeokuta to the north during your military rule in order to sooth and calm the nerves of your Hausa/Fulani puppet master and to prove your loyalty and lack of treath to them. As if that is not enough, you myopicly and stupidly moved the capital of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja thus stripping the Yorubas bare of strenght, power and wealth. Yorubas are never proud of you anyway.

But i know that our ancestors and  our God will rise up for our defence and preservation of our land. Amen.

Lastly, it is time for all Yorubas and Igbos not to see this war as a religious war but as a battle for the souls of the Yoruba and Igbolands. 

This is not a Christian or Muslim war as according to the Fulani Jihadists, it is a battle against the pagans and infidel Yoruba and Igbos.

Muslims,  please dont allow yourselves to be fooled in fighting with the Hausas/Fulanis on Islamic front but we should all see it as Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba/Igbo fight.

Remenber that no Hausa/Fulani will ever allow any Yoruba/Igbo man to lead them as imam in prayers for they regard them as pagans.

Remember what they said when asked by the press about the annulment of Chief MKO Abiola's election. "Why did the Northerners annul the election of MKO Abiola, a fellow muslim who did more than anybody else to advance the course of islam both at home and abroad?

Answer was simply in four words:- "Mumini Yoruba, Kaafiri ni" meaning A Yoruba Muslim is nothing but a pagan.

So all you Yoruba muslims pls fight with your Yoruba race and not with the muslim Hausa/Fulani because when they will come with their jihad it will be to eliminate all Yorubas who they have branded as Kaffurs no matter their religion.

How many Yoruba muslims have been butchered like dogs on their farmland? Uncountable.

A word is enough for the wise. Wise up Yoruba.

Pls read and make viral until we show Olusegun Obasanjo the fake ebora of Owu his "Failled" report card.

Balogun's Enlightenment and Alertness Forum.abaolorun: Very true and very real. If you examine very closely his new found gimmick of third force, you'll discover that it can only help buhari win the 2019 presidential election because it'll divide the vote of the opposition while buhari fanatic supporters will have their bulk vote and win landslide.

Nigerian Snakes

Fish swallowed a full fledged man and dropped him harmlessly ashore somewhere in the middle east- You believed it.

Snake engaged in a discussion with one woman like that and convinced her to eat a forbidden fruit somewhere in the middle east- You believed it.

A Donkey got upset somewhere in the middle east and shouted at the Oga for flogging him-  You believed it. 

Now, our own snake just swallowed ordinary paltry 35 abi 36 million naira JAMB money, and you guys are fuming and ranting in disbelief.

Why cant we support and believe local contents for once? Haba!

 

What the middle eastern snake can do, our own snake can do better.

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya 

Here Are Six areas Obasanjo scored Buhari low

 

1. Poverty

“Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable socio-economic situation they find themselves in. And yet Nigerians love life. We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well. It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly.”

2. Insecurity/Herdsmen menace

*The herdsmen/crop farmers issue is being wittingly or unwittingly allowed to turn sour and messy. It is no credit to the Federal Government that the herdsmen rampage continues with careless abandon and without finding an effective solution to it. And it is a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness that some Governors, a day after 73 victims were being buried in a mass grave in Benue State without condolence, were jubilantly endorsing President Buhari for a 

3. *The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics. This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and inequality has widened and become more pronounced. It also has effect on general national security.

4.  Poor economic management

“The third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility. Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today. If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come in. He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame game. Our Constitution is very clear, one of the cardinal responsibilities of the President is the management of the economy of which the value of the naira forms an integral part. Kinship and friendship that place responsibility for governance in the hands of the unelected can only be deleterious to good government and to the nation.”

5.  Nepotism

“One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court. This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest. What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action?“

6.  Condoning misdeed

“There were serious allegations of round-tripping against some inner caucus of the Presidency which would seem to have been condoned. I wonder if such actions do not amount to corruption and financial crime, then what is it? Culture of condonation and turning blind eye will cover up rather than clean up. And going to justice must be with clean hands.”

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya 

Guidelines for Transfer of Registered Voters

Introduction:-

A Nigerian has the right to live in any part of the country. An important part of voter registration is that an eligible person is advised to register at a centre nearest to him or her within the Ward  in which he or she resides. This is to make it easy for the voter to access the polling unit and vote on election day.

However, a person who relocated to another place, outside the constituency in which he registered cannot vote in his new location unless he transfers his registration. Section 13 of the Electoral Act 2010 as Amended provides for Transfer of Registered Voters.

Procedure for Transfer:-

–         Step 1-

–         The person who intends to transfer his registration will write an application to  INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner of the State  where he is currently residing.

–         Step 2-

–         The applicant will attach his voters card to the application.

–         Step 3-

–         The applicant must apply to the Resident Electoral Commissioner not later than 30 days before the date of an election in the constituency where he is residing.

–         Step 4-

–         The Resident Electoral Commissioner will direct the Electoral Officer of the applicants Local Government Area to enter his name  in the transferred voters list.

–         Step 5-

–         The Electoral Officer will assign the applicant to a polling unit in his constituency.

–         Step 6-

–         The Electoral Officer will issue the applicant with a new voters card

–         Step 7-

–         The Electoral officer will retrieve the applicants previous voters card

–         Step 8-

–          He will then send a copy of the entry to the Electoral officer of the constituency where the person whose name has been so entered was originally registered.

–         Step 9-

–          Upon receipt of this entry, that Electoral Officer shall delete the name from his voters list.

–         Note- Apart from  State Headquarters Offices of INEC, applicants can also submit their applications at the INEC Office in their Local Government Areas. The applications will be forwarded to the Resident Electoral Commissioner for necessary action

Olu Falae on Nigeria

CHIEF OLU FALAE SPOKE THE MINDS OF HONEST AND PROGRESSIVE NIGERIANS- THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT RESTRUCTURING NIGERIA IS ALL ABOUT .  

FOR THOSE STILL GREEKED BY THE TERM, THIS IS THE MEANING OF RESTRUCTURING AS CANVASSED BY SOUTHERN NIGERIA BY~Chief Olu Falae

You know I am a leader in the South West and at the National convention, I was elected as the leader of the Yoruba delegation. So, I am central to the Yoruba position. The Yoruba position is my position and it is the same position I canvassed in my book, ‘The way forward for Nigeria’ which I launched since 2005 in Lagos. What we mean by restructuring is going back to the Independence Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between 1957 and 1959. It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to go to Independence as one united country. So, it was a negotiated constitution. This is because, if the three regions were not able to agree, there would not have been one united independent Nigeria. But because the three regions at that time negotiated and agreed to package a constitution, that is why they agreed to go to Independence together. When the military came in 1966 and threw away the constitution, they threw away the negotiated agreement among the three regions, which was the foundation of a united Nigeria.

So, the military did not only throw away the constitution but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of the three regions in those days. When we say restructuring now, we are saying let us go back substantially to that constitution which gave considerable autonomy to the regions. For example, each region at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed proportion to the centre. But when the military came, they turned it round and took everything to the centre. That could not have been accepted by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe or Obafemi Awolowo.

This constitution we are using was made by late Gen Sani Abacha and the military; and Abacha came from only one part of Nigeria, so he wrote a constitution that favoured his own part of Nigeria. That is why I am saying, let us restructure and go back to what all of us agreed before. That is the meaning of restructuring. The regions used to be federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So in the West, you now have federation of Yoruba states which would belong to the Nigerian union at the centre. So, it is not like the region of old with all the powers. No. It is now going to be a coordinator of the states in the zone. That is what we mean by restructuring. And the regions would have a considerable autonomy as they used to have. For example, for the younger people, they may not know that every region then had its own constitution.

There were four constitutions at independence –the Federal constitution, Western constitution, Eastern constitution and Northern constitution. That was how independent they were and every region had an ambassador in London. The ambassadors for the regions were called Agent General so that you do not confuse them with that of Nigeria then called High Commissioner. So, Nigeria had four ambassadors in London. The ambassador for Nigeria then called a High Commissioner was M.T Mbu. The ambassador for Eastern Nigeria then was Mr Jonah Chinyere Achara, Western Nigeria was Mr Omolodun and for Northern Nigeria, it was Alhaji Abdulmalik. There were four of them. That was the kind of arrangement we agreed to, but the military threw it away and gave us this over-centralised unitary constitution. So, we said this is not acceptable any more; we must go back to the negotiated constitution which gave considerable autonomy to the regions, so that they can compete in a healthy manner. For example, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wanted to introduce free education in the West and other regions said they could not afford it, but he went ahead to introduce it in the Western region. He said he wanted to pay a minimum of five shillings a day, while others were paying two and three shillings. He went ahead and passed the law, making five shillings the minimum wage in Western Nigeria.

There was no problem with that. In Western Nigeria, the constitution provided for a House of Assembly and the House of Chiefs. In Eastern Nigeria, there was no House of Chiefs because they did not think they needed one. There was no problem with that and that is the kind of Nigeria we negotiated in London, but that is different from what we have today. So, we are saying let us go back to that arrangement which all of us agreed at independence and not what Abacha imposed on us, which is very partial, unfair and one-sided. That is the meaning of restructuring; it is to restructure unfairness and give semi-autonomy to the federating units.

Chief Olu False is a leading Yoruba leader and waa Head of the Southwest Delegation to the Jonathan National Constitutional Conference.

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya

The Circular Cycle

Ifeoma posts a photo of herself on Facebook. A hundred men commented, all flattering her. She ignores their compliments and silently hopes that she'll get a notification informing her that Bayo has commented on her photo.

Bayo is on the phone, trying desperately to get through to Funmi ... his love. He has called her fifteen times already, but she has not answered. His heart pounds. He needs to hear her voice, like a crack addict and his substance.

Funmi is in Musa’s house, doing the dishes. She intentionally ignores Bayo’s calls. She doesn't want to deal with the drama of lying about her location.

Musa is at the ATM. He has to transfer funds to Zainab. She had asked him for money to buy a new phone. He had promised to send it that afternoon. He can't afford to look bad before his crush. He told Funmi he had to get something from his boss, so he left her at his place.

Zainab is on the phone with Uche. She's trying to calm him down. He told her he needed some money to complete his little brother's hospital bill. She is assuring him that she'll get some money shortly, and send it to him. She was waiting for Musa to transfer the money.

Uche's palms are sweaty. His heart is racing. His mind is clouded with thoughts. How could he not have used protection, he thought to himself. He has to send the money to Ekaette so she could go ahead and have the abortion. He just got off the phone with Zainab, and she promised to send the money shortly.

Ekaette is slipping into depression. She is sitting in the hospital restroom staring at the poison she's holding. Her wedding is in a week. Now she's pregnant for another man. She understands her church will have to run a pregnancy test in a few days. Her fiancé had not touched her in months. How could she explain her way out of this mess.

She thinks of Sule, her fiancé. Then she thinks of her mother, and her head almost explodes from pain. Uche has to send the money or she'll end her life, she thought to herself.

It been five minutes since Sule wrote "My beautiful princess. Looking astonishingly beautiful" on Ifeoma’s photo on Facebook.

        --The Circle

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya

Trump’s Jerusalem Greek Gift

So Donald Trump says he is going to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This city has been nothing but a burden to the Jews. Over the years it has been besieged, sacked and destroyed by a variety of people ranging from Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines, Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Christians, Ottomans etc


Jerusalem is not a holy city, it is a city littered with blood, death and destruction. Trump is not helping the state of Israel but actually hindering it by this move. Israel has always been stronger when Jerusalem has not been their main focus. 

Trump by this move has exposed the Achilles heels of the Jews to their enemies. They should not fall for this Greek gift


Ike Onwubuya


Dealing with frustrated Nigeria

Dealing with frustrated Nigerians. By Oladipo Akinremi

The purported Story behind the picture of the dead man at onigbongbo bus stop in Maryland Lagos goes thus ...

"A danfo brushed his car, and the man left his car, removed his shoes and ran after the danfo, he tried to hold the bus but the bus conductor pushed him away and another danfo coming knocked him down and that was the end."

Relate this to the scenarios below:

Scenario 1: 

Two men were involved in a road rage in the ever busy Nyanya road in Abuja. One brushed the other unintentionally.

The fellow whose car was brushed pursued the other fellow, blocked him, came out of his car with his wheel spanner and commenced to break the head lamp of the other fellow.

The other man refused to come out of his car, allowed the man in utter rage to satisfy himself and drove off. It might probably cost him N100,000.00 plus or minus for him to fix his head lamp...but he is still alive.

Scenario 2: 

A staff of the National Assembly, in an attempt to avoid knocking down an Okada rider who was driving against the traffic, rammed his car into a stationary vehicle.

He came out of his car and engaged the cyclist in a hot argument. Unknown to him the cyclist was armed with a knife, with which he stabbed the motorist to death and rode away. The motorist is dead and his family is mourning.

Advice:

There is so much Anger, Mental trauma and Lawlessness in the country right now. 

As much as possible avoid arguments with strangers and when it happens, don't allow it to degenerate into scuffle or violence. 

As quickly as possible, leave the scene.

• Note that the Nigerian legal system is still too weak to bring ALL criminals to justice. 

Moreover, no level of justice can bring you back to life...

Pls, Your loved ones still need you. Let's Be Careful To Stay Alive!

Please share, this might safe a life! You can apply this principle in other areas of your life, that's why it is captioned "Dealing with frustrated Nigerians". 

Culled from Whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya 

Anambra Governorship Elections 2017, The Winners and Losers

Anambra Governorship Elections 2017, The Winners and Losers

Winners

1. Ndi Anambra - the people of Anambra should be the ultimate winners of the elections. They came out in appreciable numbers to cast their ballot despite the calls to boycott the elections by IPOB and the heavy police presence. The turnout was lower than expected, but those who came out conducted themselves in a dignified way as the election had very low incidences of violence.

2. APGA - the party has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that Anambra is APGA and APGA is Anambra. They ran a brilliant campaign, which carried Ndi Anambra from the grassroots to the elite. The party was united in electing Obiano after seeing off the irritation of the National Chairmanship tussle between Victor Oye and Martin Agbaso. The message of “Nke a bu Nke anyi!” (This one is our own!) resonates among the Igbo who are struggling to find a political identity within the APC led Nigeria. This victory is the fourth straight governorship victory for APGA in Anambra, each one with a bigger margin than the previous one. What baffles is how this is not translated at the federal level. For all its success at the state level elections, APGA performs very poorly at the Senatorial and House of Reps elections. It is time for the party to break away from the mold of the PDP and have a proper go at federal elections. With the PDP in disarray and on a downward spiral, there is an open space APGA can inhabit. The party should present a candidate for the 2019 elections, matching the PDP and APC by presenting a northern candidate. The aim should be to place a respectable third. This would give the party a strong platform to fight the 2023 elections. The party should be more ambitious and set its sights on other states as a party and not just a contesting platform. I believe the party can mop up the PDP Igbo votes in Lagos state and place at least one member in the Lagos State House of Assembly and possibly the Federal House of Representatives

3. Governor Willy Obiano - Akpokuedike Global got this one. He predicted a landslide and delivered. 21-0 in the three-horse race is no mean feat. He benefitted from a strong APGA coupled with his modest achievements as a governor in a country in recession. He ran on a platform of improved security and prompt payment of salaries. In a country where majority of states owe salaries, a governor who pays salaries, pensions and entitlements promptly is considered a very good one. He had a hard act following the achievements of his predecessor Peter Obi. He was able to create his own identity and highlight his own achievements. Despite his average showing at the Channels Governorship Debate, he was able to demonstrate his understanding of numbers and penchant for financial terminology. It behoves on Ndi Anambra to hold him to account to deliver on the huge mandate given to him

4. President Muhammadu Buhari - the president conducted himself with dignity by not interfering with the electoral process. His visit to Anambra will go a bit of way in repairing his frosty relationship with Ndi Igbo. By restoring the security detail of the governor, he demonstrated that he was going to do what was right despite party affiliation. He came for the APC rally, did what he had to do as a party leader and left. That is how a president should act. 

5. Osita Chidoka - it is hard to understand how someone who placed a very distant 4th and with less than 2% of the votes can be a winner but Chidoka is. Contesting on the platform of the relatively unknown UPP meant that he was a no loss situation. What he succeeded in doing was to raise his profile as a very sound debater and communicator. He ran a good campaign that deployed modern technology and innovative practice. He has positioned himself as one for the future. Luckily, he has age on his side and appeals to the young. He should still be under the age of 55 by 2023 and can do worse than position himself as an Igbo candidate for the presidency then. He would do well to extricate himself from the tag of being an IPOB sympathiser, while he may have thought this would help him politically, it really was of no effect and could come back to hurt him in future.

The Losers

1. Peter Obi - By far the biggest loser in this election was St Peter of Okwute the Cornerstone. Although Oseloka Obaze was the name on the ballot for the PDP, the electorate saw Peter Obi as the contestant and rejected him. He took on Obiano, Umeh, the memory of Ojukwu and APGA and he got a bloody nose. Obi was a very good governor, the best Anambra has ever had. Most Anambrarians know and acknowledge this. His sin was abandoning APGA, a party in which he was a leading light, to join PDP in the dying days of the Jonathan presidency. For a man who comes across as very astute, only he can understand why he scored the political equivalent of an own goal by jumping into a sinking ship. The question is where does he go from here politically? His bad mouthing of Governor Obiano means that he would not be welcome back to APGA. The role he played in the emergence of Oseloka Obaze as the PDP flag bearer earned him many enemies within the party. APC? Somehow, I do not think so. For someone who was touted as a potential Igbo president, he would be lucky to win even a senatorial seat at the present time.

2. PDP - if anybody was in doubt about the decline of the once great PDP, the Anambra result should put his or her doubt to rest. To be beaten by APC in Anambra state to third is not just a poor result, it is a disgrace and an embarrassment. Internal bickering and anti-party activities was the order of the day. The party structures in the state were almost nonexistent as it was mainly the Peter Obi show. Notable party chieftains either took a back seat or out rightly came out to support the opposition as in the case of Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah. The PDP is a party in trouble, they have not been able to make the transition to opposition effectively. The whole Sheriff brouhaha did not help matters and this National Chairmanship tussle will further polarise the party. The way the party is going, 2019 will be a disaster for the once self-acclaimed biggest party in Africa. If as rumoured they are about to welcome Atiku Abubakar to the party and present him as a challenger for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, the only thing we can all do is be like Uncle Sege and be laughing.

3. APC - Some will say APC did very well to come second and beat the PDP in the very anti-APC Igbo land. They look at the performance of Buhari at the 2015 presidential election and conclude that Tony Nwoye did quite well. It will be wrong to assume so. The APC came second mainly on the strength of Nwoye and his main sponsor Arthur Eze. The APC and its previous incarnations the AC and ACN have always done well in Anambra through the leadership of Dr Chris Ngige. It will be interesting to know how much real effort Ngige put into this election. This result by the APC in Anambra is probably the worst result posted by a ruling party in a state election. Not to even take a single local government with all the Federal might is downright embarrassing. The party seems not to be making any inroads in Igbo land and the calibre of people defecting to the party are not really the most leading of lights. In Anambra, using the likes of Rochas Okorocha of Imo and Yahaya Bello of Kogi as part of your campaign team is a bit of an own goal. These states who are Anambra’s neighbours are in much worse positions and led by APC. They do not give any confidence to Ndi Anambra that an APC government would be any better than the APGA they already have. In a last desperate bid, they unveiled Emeka Ojukwu Jr. as a decampee from APGA. Politically, Ojukwu Jr is no Ikemba, he is not even a Bianca, his electoral value in Anambra is just one, his own vote. 2019 will be interesting for the APC in the South East, all things being equal, the party should lose Imo state without gaining any state but I believe they would make some inroads in the Federal legislature picking off some PDP seats.

4. IPOB - The much-touted boycott of the election fizzled out without as much as a whimper. They promised Foe Nsala to Ndi Anambra and they rejected it for bowls of Jollof rice, Gala and Grand Malt. That boycott was never going to work, not in Anambra in any case. The people love their politics, politicians invest a lot and the economic effect of electioneering campaigns is too much a lure for the electorate. Politics brings an excitement to people’s lives and a break from the mundane. IPOB strategists failed to realise this. The security services also ensured that nobody was able to prevent anybody who wanted to exercise their civic rights. This should further show how overestimated the influence of IPOB is.

Ike Onwubuya writes from Essex, UK

Yemi Osinbajo and the Typist

By Professor Yemi Osinbajo

While I was teaching at the University of Lagos, as a young lecturer, in the department of Public Law in the Faculty of Law, there were 3 typists in the department. The chief typist, senior typist, and the junior typist. Because in those days before laptops and personal computers, typists in universities had to do a lot of work and they were very important because you always needed to type all your materials.

When there was work to do, what l discovered was that the chief typist would disappear. He works only till 4 pm. The senior typist would be nowhere to be found. But a gentleman called Adereni the junior typist, who only had his school certificate, was remarkably hardworking. Sometimes I would drop him off at his home at 1am.

Years after I was working as an adviser to the then Attorney-General of the Federation Hon. Bola Ajibola, who later became a judge of the World Court. While in the court at The Hague, in the Netherlands, one day he called me and asked if I could recommend a good secretary who is hard working and could do long judgments. I had three options, chief typist, senior or this junior typist, but the junior typist at a time had only school certificate, he didn’t have any other qualification but l choose him. He got to the Hague, and typically worked hard and diligently. Every judge in the court wanted him to work with them. He later moved his family over to the Hague and got degrees and made a good living for himself. One day he remembered me and actually sent me a car.

Remember, whether you are hardworking or diligent in what you are doing or not, someone is always watching.

Copied from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya

Anambra, APC and that Igbo alliance

I have read from a few people who believe Anambrans should vote for Tony Nwoye and APC so that Ndigbo can form alliances and position themselves for the future.

The fact of the matter is that APC does not need Igbo votes to win 2019. Especially if Buhari is the candidate. All Igbo votes will do is give the APC a bigger majority. It will not change the current political calculation. The best Igbos can get under APC is what they have now, Deputy Senate President, or maybe SFG, which is by appointment anyways. Saraki and the North Central will not forfeit that seat until they complete 8 years, if you like elect 10 senators from the South East. 

For 2023, Igbos will have to battle the ticket with those who have been standing on the queue since from the SouthWest and North Central.

Besides, there’s nothing wrong in being in opposition at the federal level. Opposition is an integral part of democracy and politics. Buhari played opposition politics from the beginning and it paid off. Others will play too and one day will be one day. There needs to be opposition as we cannot all be in the same boat. Nigeria should not be a one party state.

Much as I hate to admit it, PDP is a safer vehicle to travel for Igbos than APC. They understand the party and the party understands them. With a little in house cleaning and the inevitable quarrel that will break out in APC, they should be well positioned for 2023. All it needs, patience, planning, pragmatism and propaganda.

By Ike Onwubuya

The Sad Story of Nigerian Lawyers

Bar Associations And The Sad Story Of Nigerian Lawyers—a one-paragraph lament

By Sylvester Udemezue

Gentlemen, have the lawyers` association (not) failed lawyers in Nigeria? If one says that Lawyers in Nigeria are the greatest hindrance or stumbling blocks to Lawyers in Nigeria, I do not know to what extent one may not be justified. But let me give a simple illustration, that’d explain this point.

The. NMA (Nigerian Medical Association) devotes all of its energy on planning and working for the welfare, security, comfort and improved working conditions of its members. Ditto for the NSE, ICAN, NUJ, NUT, PENGASSON, NUPENG, etc. Even the NURTW focuses mostly on how to advance its members` interests! But at Nigerian bar Association and its various branches, partners and affiliates, we have been busy dissipating all of our energy, resources and time, talking about the society, while saying and doing nothing about the welfare or condition of our own members and colleagues. The Nigerian Law School turns out an average of 4,000 lawyers or thereabouts in each year.

 

These graduates, after call-to-bar are immediately faced with the ugly situation of no-jobs. Those, the few, who manage to find jobs are paid like cleaners and beggars and handed the poorest and most pitiable of all working conditions, especially by their own senior colleagues. Then, when a lawyer goes on the mandatory NYSC, he is posted, as a matter of compulsion, for his primary assignment, to go and teach in a secondary or primary schools, for the entire one year, with the result that by the time he is through with service, he has lost touch with much of law. Only very few find themselves in Law Firms or in law-related establishments – the Legal Aid, Ministries of Justice, etc! Yet, when he passes out from the NYSC (from being a secondary school teacher) and begins to look for a job, he is told by so-called employers, especially his own colleagues who own law firms, that a three, four or five-year working (law practice) experience is required for him to be employed in any law firm or in any law-based establishment or legal department. Where and how, one might ask, would this innocent job-seeker get this law practice experience from if no law employer has hired nor is ready to hire him? Most of the few who manage to be taken in Law Firms are then abused, treated shabbily and paid peanuts by over 90 per cent lawyer-employers who themselves rake in tens and hundreds of millions of naira, and lately, dollars, daily, from clients. The rest of the young lawyers, usually called “the New Wigs,” is left to roam the streets and corners of Nigeria and of the earth in search of non-existing jobs, while some, usually promising, easily give up in the face of what they see as hopeless circumstances, foisted on them due to no fault of theirs.

What is more? A few female counterparts, out of frustration and or desperation, begin to take to some other trades and “callings,” including in some cases what is now widely known as “hustling” (you sure understand what this means) – all to make ends meet! Meanwhile, Court Registrars, Clerks, CAC, SEC and other government and non-government officials insist on bribes and kickbacks before they do their jobs for litigation lawyers and corporate law practitioners; Land Registry officials oppress, intimidate and extort property practitioners and colleagues engaged in conveyancing practice; police and other law-enforcement officials harass, victimize, dehumanize and brutalize lawyers on a daily basis; so many of the lawyers’ jobs are gradually being taken over and away by quacks under the guise of DIY (do it yourself). Recently, lawyers have even begun to be harassed or castigated for appearing in court to represent their clients —that is, for exercising their constitutional and statutory rights as lawyers— while the prosecutors, investigators and law enforcement agents who often mastermind these harassments and blackmail strive hard to obtain convictions (of the defendants) at all costs, in total disregard of universally acknowledged standards in criminal justice administration.

Lawyers are now afraid to honestly and diligently work for their clients! Moreover, most of us are aware that a large chunk of the biggest legal jobs in Nigeria (legislative drafting, etc.) are usually given out to foreign law firms, in America, Canada, UK, etc at cut-throat foreign currencies, while Nigerian lawyers, who are more often than not more capable and competent and of course willing to work, are left to fight over crumbs and pieces from the table of the non-Nigerian Lawyers!!! One may even ask a question, what has become of the Nigerian laws that say a person who is not qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria cannot practice law in Nigeria? Do those provisions not forbid giving lawyers’ job in Nigeria to non-Nigerian lawyers? Where is the NBA and its branches when all these are happening in Nigerian to Nigerian lawyers, to deprive them of their just entitlements? Now, as a direct result of these sad stories concerning the plight of the Nigerian lawyer, most lawyers remain unemployed or under employed, and so are not able to put shelter over their heads, and, if they manage to marry, to feed their families thrice a day; the single ones are more often than not rejected by prospective spouses on grounds that they’re poor.

If the employable but unemployed lawyer who is not able to pay for an office because he has no money, and who cannot find food to eat because he has no work, decides, instead of stealing or soiling his hands, to practice from his briefcase, he is called “charge and bail,” and is as a result badgered and demeaned as a common criminal or tout! Then, deeper inside the profession, the young unemployed lawyer is being told he has no right to practice law, even on his own, until he has paid full (annual) practicing fees and branch dues (before set deadlines), and that he cannot participate in Bar conferences and workshops unless he has paid necessary fees in full. As all these go on, every NBA Annual General Conference and each NBA Branch meeting, which ordinarily ought to focus, mainly, on discussing the way out of the myriads of problems facing the (young) lawyer, is instead, and most unfortunately and ironically, devoted to discussing “DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA,” “Fighting Against Corruption in Nigeria,” “How to Stop the search by Nigerian for Medical treatment abroad,” “Local Government Autonomy,” “True Federalism,” etc., topics and issues that have no direct bearing whatsoever on the lives, wellbeing, or welfare of NBA members.

NBA’s involvement in discussing these issues is not in itself condemnable, but to be preoccupied with only other people’s issues and affairs while our own house is up in flames is what is, with due respect, not only detestable and disgusting but also most deplorable and disheartening. What a pity!! Does one whose house is on fire pursue rats? The most annoying part of this disheartening story is that during campaigns leading up to every NBA elections, both at national and branch levels, all aspirants usually have one campaign promise and slogan in common: to improve the plight, and promote the welfare, of lawyers.

This shows that all these aspirants, every one of them, understand that most lawyers in Nigeria are going through real hell. However, once these aspirants are elected, and sworn in as NBA executive members, they, each and all (like the typical Nigerian politicians of the 20th and the 21th century) turn their attention away from these lofty promises and instead focus the whole of their attention to and concentrating solely on the usual things: CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA, DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA, SECURITY IN THE WORLD, WOMEN IN NIGERIA, RIGHTS OF NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA, etc., indeed everything outside and excluding the outstandingly dismal or abysmal plight of fellow lawyers in Nigeria. Yet, if one even honestly decides to search for these bar associations` contributions towards these other chosen areas, one could hardly see anything.

It is sad — so, so, sad!! Fellow Nigerian lawyers, sorry. Your governments and establishments (at all levels) appear to not fight for nor care about you; the general public does not care about you; the clients are stuck to you only when they have no alternatives; within your own rings, those expected to be your mouthpiece and to vigorously be in the vanguard of your emancipation from these ugly shackles, and to dutifully devise ways to create gainful jobs for teeming jobless colleagues, are rather busy discussing the affairs of other people and trying to solve other people’s problems while leaving the gargantuan troubles bedeviling fellow members and colleagues.

The question, then, is, what hope is there anywhere for our (young) lawyers in the face of this melancholic state of things? Should we not turn to God alone for help? My fear about this is that I have not forgot the time-tested wise saying, “Heaven helps he who first helps himself!” According, I humbly suggest that, unless and until we, lawyers, through our Bar Associations, Branches, Partners and Affiliates, rise stoutly to our feet, to take our destiny in our hands with a view to recovering our lost glory and improving our own lot in the Nigerian nation, no one else, anywhere, would or could do it for us. Besides, the time will never be just right, for us to retrace our steps and begin to take the bull by the horn in this respect, because if lawyers themselves fail to build their own dreams, other people would hire the lawyers, as they do, to build theirs. And, to borrow the words of Tony Robbins, if we continue to do things the way we have always done, we would continue to get the same results as we’ve always got. May God help us to help ourselves, as we help others. Amen! Ameen!! Amin!!!

Sylvester Udemezue (udemsyl@hotmail.com)

Posted by Ike Onwubuya 

MR. PRESIDENT’S REMARKS AT THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (APC) OF ALL CONGRESS (APC), TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2017, AT THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT, ABUJA

 

Protocols:

 

 

May I warmly welcome everybody to this important meeting of our party’s executive body.

 

Let me on a personal note thank you all for your prayers and good wishes, which the Almighty Allah answered in the restoration of my health.

 

I wish to thank you all Party leaders for helping to keep the government running smoothly during my prolonged absence.

 

 

I would like to start by commending our Party Leadership chaired by His Excellency, Chief John Oyegun. The Chairman and I worked harmoniously during 1984-85 in a previous government. Happily, circumstances have brought us again to positions of leadership in the country.

 

I want to thank Chief Oyegun and his staff for steering the party in the last two and a half years. Sometimes it is easier to manage failure than to manage success - and a big success such as that we have achieved.

 

I must also commend the leadership of the National Assembly led by Senate President His Excellency, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Rt. Hon. Speaker Mr. Yakubu Dogara. I must place on record the cooperation and understanding of the National Assembly including some non-APC members who rose above petty party interests and acted in the national interest.

 

My deep thanks also go to our State Governors who faced stiff challenges, especially their determination to maintain unity and tolerance among our communities. This is in the face of unnecessary politically motivated strife and violence. Credit should go to APC Governors for extending their hand of fellowship to their colleagues from other parties.

 

 

In my remarks to the Caucus meeting yesterday, I enumerated the progress that our government has made in the implementation of the programs of government and the Party Manifesto.

 

 

We can be proud of our achievements in the last two years, Boko Haram, Niger Delta, Regular Fuel, Improved Power, TSA, Agriculture and Fertilizer, above all, the knowledge that corruption will not be tolerated in this Government. We all know there is CHANGE.

 

Nigeria’s prestige has gone up, Nigeria is now credit–worthy, a clear testimony of which was the over-subscription of the Euro-Bond by 4 times.

 

Nevertheless, we are not resting on our achievements. I am quite aware of the challenges before us.

 

Last year I said we would re-constitute the Boards of Parastatals. I must regret the fact that we have not done so, for many reasons.

 

 

Some of us in this meeting may know I had given instructions since October 2015 for this exercise to start. But there have been inordinate delays through several Committees in an attempt to get the balance right and to make sure all parts of the country are equitably represented.

 

On the other hand I am keenly aware that our supporters are very eager for these appointments to be announced. By the Grace of God these appointments will be announced soon. Especially now that the economy is improving, we will have the resources to cater for the appointees.

 

 

By the same token the compressed Federal Executive Council will be expanded to bring in more supporters at Federal Level, with fresh ideas to be injected into the government.

 

Let me thank you all again for the commitment and dedicated service to our Party and to remind you that much more will be required of you in the coming months. I hope we can continue to depend on you.

 

If we keep united and rise above petty or personal quarrels we will surely achieve the desired CHANGE in the country.

 

I wish us happy deliberations.

 

Thank you.

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

Nigerian Airport Runways

I have said it many times that none of our airports is qualified for a second runway including Lagos. Our runways are underutilised; the total air traffic landings on the 26 airports in the country is less than that of Heathrow with 2 runways or Gatwick with one runway. 

The problem of poor maintenance culture that characterised our public infrastructure is at the height of our want for reckless spending. As I talk to you, none of the airports runways has periodic maintenance programs as recommended by the documents supporting ICAO Annex 14 for aerodrome's standards and that include the Lagos airport that has just been been hurriedly given certification by the NCAA in anticipation of its concession! This for me, is a risky pathway; a new operator of the airport would need recertification for the airports to meet its own operational standard which expectedly would be different from FAAN.

Culled from whatsapp by Ike Onwubuya

WORDS FREQUENTLY USED IN NIGERIA NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY

🤓 *LET'S LEARN*

1. *Installmentally:*

This “word” is a favourite of many Nigerians, but, sadly, it simply does not exist. You won’t find it any reputable dictionary. The correct thing to say when “installmentally” comes to your mind is in _"instalments"_ or _"by instalments"_.

*2. Plumpy:*

Nigerians use _“plumpy”_ when they want to say that someone is chubby or slightly fat. The correct expression is _plump_.

3. *Disvirgin:*

This particular “word” is used severally on a daily basis, especially by Nigerian men when they intend saying that a woman has lost her virginity to a guy. The correct word to use, however, is _"deflower"_, because “disvirgin” is not a word.

4. *Crosscarpeting:*

This is a favourite of Nigerian politicians and political analysts alike. They use it when they want to say that a politician has dumped his political party for another party, usually a rival party. The right terms to use when describing this scenario are _"party switching"_, _"defection"_ and _"crossing the floor"_ and not “cross-carpeting” or “crosscarpeting.”

5. *Go-Slow 😗

The word go-slow exists, but not in the way Nigerians use it. A “go-slow,” in the peculiarly Nigerian context, is a situation in which road traffic is very sluggish due to vehicle queues. However, go-slow in the English language actually means _"an industrial tactic used by employees whereby they intentionally reduce activity, productivity and efficiency in order to press home some demands"_. When this happens, you say that work in the office, factory or organization is at a go-slow. The correct terms to use when road traffic is very sluggish due to vehicle queues are _"traffic jam"_, _"traffic congestion"_, _"gridlock"_, and (less technically) _"hold-up"_, not “go-slow.”

6. *Cunny:*

“Cunny” is not found in authoritative dictionaries, but it can be found in some slang dictionaries. Over there, it is a slang used to refer to a woman’s private part. The correct term to use is _"cunning"_ (which is used to describe someone that is being deceitful or crafty) and not “cunny.”

7. *Opportuned:*

There is nothing like “opportuned” anywhere in the English language, but that has not stopped its blatant use by all and sundry in Nigeria, including journalists and writers. The correct word is _"opportune"_. The word opportune is an adjective; therefore it has no past tense. An adjective has no past tense. However, some verbs can function as adjectives or adverbs in a sentence. These verbs are called participles and they do have past tenses. They are not pure adjectives. Examples of participles are fattened, amused, disgusted, mystified, overwhelmed, upset and bored. Be that as it may, opportune is a pure adjective and not a participle, therefore it has no past tense. Opportune means appropriate or well-timed.

8. *Alright:*

“Alright” is a misspelling of the term _"all right"_. All right is used when you want to say that something is adequate, acceptable, agreeable or suitable. To hardcore English language linguists, “alright” is not a word. However, its usage is gaining traction and it’s increasingly becoming acceptable. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary – which is considered the gold standard among American English speakers – has recently drawn a lot of criticisms for its permissiveness when it began indexing some otherwise colloquial and street language terms, including “alright.” Most linguists disagree with the gradual acceptance of “alright” as a word by the public and even the media, while those in the minority are “alright” with it. 😁

9. *Wake-Keeping:*

“Wake-keeping” exists only in the imagination of a few English speakers. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as “wake-keeping.” The correct word is _"wake"_ and not even “wake-keep.” Both “wake-keeping” and “wake-keep” are ungrammatical.

10. *Screentouch:*

This bad grammatical expression gained currency in Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries with the influx of made-in-China stylus pen touchscreen not-so-smart phones in the mid 2000s. It was a novelty then; many in Nigeria had not seen it – or even thought such advanced technology was possible – before. So, they looked for a name to call it and “screentouch” came to mind, after all you just touch the screen and it starts working. In case you’ve still not figured it out yet, the correct thing to say is _"touchscreen"_ and not screentouch.

11. *Trafficator*

There is no word like this. Nigerians use it when driving and want to alert other road users that the driver wants to turn to either left or right. The correct term is _"indicator"_ as a sign to indicate that the driver is either turning right or left.

12. *Pensioneer”

Dictionary definition is “to seek votes in an election by promising higher pensions”. 

But frequently used by Nigerians when they mean to say “Pensioner”.

*SHARE AND EDUCATE SOMEONE*

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

"Who Destroyed Nigeria?

RESCUE NIGERIA 2019

"Who Destroyed Nigeria? 

PLEASES READ TO THE END

The defensive narrative in recent times especially from those who support the present regime is that "PDP Destroyed" our country and it will take several years to rebuild it.

However, if the above assertion is true, then a close look at the current political gladiators leaves us with no other conclusion than to admit that Nigeria is very far from the desired change.

1. *Sen. Pres. Bukola Saraki. PDP Governor for 8yrs and PDP Senator for over 3 yrs.* He joined APC in 2014. Now the Senate President.

2. *Speaker Yakubu Dogara. Two-term PDP House of Rep member.* Joined APC in 2014 and elected for a third time in 2015. Now the Speaker.

3. *VP Atiku Abubakar. Nigeria's PDP Vice-President for 8yrs* and presently an APC Elder statesman.

4. *Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba. PDP Senator for 12yrs.* Decamped to APC in 2015. He is the serving Chairman, NDDC Board.

5. *Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri. Two-term PDP Senator from Bayelsa State.* Decamped to APC after the 2015 elections. He is a serving Minister of the Republic.

6. *Sen. Ita Enang. Two-term PDP Senator from Akwa-Ibom.* Joined APC before the 2015 elections. Presently the SSA to the President on NASS.

7. *Gov. Samuel Ortom. Benue State Secretary of the PDP, Former National Auditor of the PDP and former PDP Minister.* Joined APC in December 2014. Now Governor of Benue State.

8. *Sen. Barnabas Gemade. Founding fathers of the PDP, former National Chairman of the party and Senator from 2011.* Joined APC in December 2014. Now APC Senator.

9. *Gov. Atiku Bagudu. A two-term PDP Senator from Kebbi.* Now APC Governor of Kebbi State.

10. *Gov. Aminu Tambuwal. Former PDP Speaker House of Reps.* Joined APC in 2014. Now Governor of Sokoto State.

11. *Sen. Abdullahi Adamu. Two-term PDP Governor of Nasarawa state and Senator from 2011-2014*. Now APC Senator.

12. *Sen. Danjuma Goje. Two-term PDP Governor of Gombe State and Senator in 2011- 2014*. Now APC Senator.

13. *Hon. Dakuku Peterside. Was a PDP Rep member from Rivers State.* Now the DG of NIMASA.

14. *Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso. Two-term PDP Governor of Kano State and former Minister of Defence.* Now APC Senator.

15. *Hon. Rotimi Amaechi. Former PDP Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Two-term PDP Governor of Rivers.* Now APC Minister of the Republic.

16. *Gov. Rochas Okorocha. Special Adviser to PDP's Pres. Obasanjo. Became the Governor of Imo under APGA's platform.* Now APC Governor of Imo State.

17. *Sen. George Akume. Two-term PDP Governor of Benue State and Senator in 2007.* Now APC Senator.

18. *Gov. Nasir El-Rufai. Former FCT Minister under Pres. Obasanjo.* Now APC Governor of Kaduna State.

19. *Gov. Bello Masari. PDP Speaker of the House of Reps in 2003.* Now APC Governor of Katsina State.

20. *Sen. Adamu Aliero. Two-term PDP Governor of Kebbi State and Senator in 2007. Later became FCT Minister under Pres. Yar'Adua.* Now APC Senator.

21. *Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma. Two-term PDP Senator from Akwa-Ibom State.* Now APC Minister of Budget & National Planning.

Now, *apart from Atiku, all the above are holding sways in this regime. *They all played a part in the 16yrs of "PDP destruction"*

So, how can this same people that plunder PDP but somehow are now members of the APC "rebuild" Nigeria. Wow!

Therefore, my submission is that *PDP did NOT destroy Nigeria but the Nigerian people destroyed Nigeria*.

*Hence, the need to vote candidates/people in 2019, not party.* The *personality is the issue and not APC, PDP, APGA or LP.*

In view of the above submission, "change" is still pipeline dream in this country. Since these people are part of a problem, they definitely can't be part of the right solution. Our politicians lack credibility and have nothing to offer us anymore. They jump ship as soon as they discover where the pendulum of victory is swinging without minding the consequences of his action on the subjects. These same set of people are the big stakeholders in this government. So, the President is helpless. He can achieve very little or nothing with these corrupt politicians around him.

Therefore, for true change come 2019, we have a duty to vote them out and youths must not help them rig election. Let's create a new Nigeria where patriotism, sound ideology and Nigerians will be would be the focus of our political leaders and not personality. Agenda 2019.

DO NOT RECYCLE CORRUPTION. MAKE SURE THAT ALL FORMER GOVERNORS, MINISTERS AND LEGISLATORS ARE VOTED OUT.

Copied and posted by Ike Onwubuya

Old School Letters.

HOW SCHOOL BOYS USED TO WRITE LETTERS TO GIRLS IN THOSE GOOD, OLD DAYS!

G.M.M.C YOLA

P.O. BOX 2013

29TH JAN. 1979

Dear Sweet,

Ditto...

Time and ability plus double capacity has forced my pen to dance automatically on this benedicted sheet of paper. I hope you're swimming in the wonderful pool of Mr. Health over there, if so, doxology!

I am also parambulating in the cool breeze of wellness here.

Sweetie pie, the reason why this miraculous thing is happening is because, honey, I love you spontaneously, and as I stand horizontally parallel to the wall and vertically perpendicular to the ground now, I only think of you, since you are a fantastic and fabulous girl, put together as fantabulous. I implore you to decipher this my anthem of love oozing out from the innermost pendulum of my thoraxial cavity.

Darling, please stop haranguingwith the feelings in my heart because I love you more than a snake loves rat.

To me each day I start by dreaming of you. Each time I see you, my metabolism suddenly halts and my peristalsis goes in reverse gear. My medula oblongata also ceases functioning.

Crazy, crazy, crazy you may say but this is verily veritable. If only you knew what is going on in my encephalon, you would prostrate. That's why I need to see you vis a vis soon for a better elucidation through tete a tete. No hyperbole & onomatopoeia, simple candidness.

Only you and me are protagonists in this subtle affair. As I cogitate and ruminate over the last episode, I genuflex before the Omnipotent and implore him to let this affair emulsify.

By the way, I was bamboozled, scintilated, exhilarated, and left in a state of prolonged euphoria by the contents of your missive which was quite edifying and exalting. It left my bio-chemistry in a paradise-like equilibrium.

Empirically speaking, I love u chemically... I don't ever want to see gloom and doom looming over your angelic live portrait. Let my appellation be scribbled across your heart, with indelible ink. If any boy tries to ask for your companionship, tell him that u are leased and caveated.

I think I have to pen offhere, because I still haven't finished studying electrolysis polymerization. But before I evaporate, I like to revitalize your memory with those encapsulating lyrics which proclaim that your catarrh is my butter, your piss is my mimbo, the world's greatest lover is me.

Catch you later. Sleep tight and don't let those bed bugs bite you because you are too sweet for them.

Goodbye for now.

Your slave in love,

your pillow, your cushion,

Ramson Cool