There is no hatred, it is just sadness at the way things are, have been and with no possible hope of any immediate future improvement. In Nigeria, that is! Can you imagine that the same cabals has been running Nigeria since her independence in 1960, you name it. Isn't their ideas now stale that a new infusion of fresh minds is needed to move Nigeria forward? One aphorism has it that doing the same thing the same way over and over again, expecting different result is the surest and best definition of madness. Forty-eight years after her independence, there is no roads, no electricity, no food, no infrastructures, no drinking water, no health care, no functioning government program worthy of mention, local government officials are stealing money, governors are stealing state's funds likewise the presidency including heads of parastatals and agencies. So what is the end in sight, Nigeria? None whatsoever and you ask Icheoku, why is it mad?
An Olusegun Obasanjo ruled Nigeria twice? How can a sane person blow a God's given second chance at rectifying all that is wrong with Nigeria, given that he, Olusegun Obasanjo survived a death-row under Sani Abacha? Olusegun Obasanjo would have used the opportunity to etch his name in gold and share a permanent place with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Nkwame Nkuruma and Julius Nyerere but instead, he chose to waste it as a very vindictive, mean, parochial tribal demagogue! And you ask yourself, why Nigeria plunged further under his suffocating rule? - Olusegun Obasanjo is not bright, he is not sharp, he does not motivate anyone, h
e is not inspirational, he is not eloquent, he looks like Dee Sam Mbakwe or even worst an ape, he is stout, he does not look any bit presidential nor does he have any leadership traits, he just does not have the charisma or the charm of even the evil genius, IBB? Olusegun Obasanjo is a drab! How did Nigeria even tolerate this mongrel twice as their "leader"?
I really do not care a hoot about this human specimen called Olusegun Obasanjo and I pray everyday that the almighty God should save Nigeria the nightmare of continuously having this man in their midst. Olusegun Obasanjo is Nigeria's worst nemesis. So how can Nigeria move forward, for example, when a timid person who has never interacted with any foreigner before or been or lived in a foreign land like America is made an ambassador of Nigeria to America? And one wonders how such a person can understand the psyche of his new found society to move issues of interest of his country forward in the host-country! CNN did a documentary on Nigeria which negatively portrayed Nigerians and no one saw the break-light of whoever the ambassador of Nigeria in America is? It is despicable.
So visitors, you now know why some of our commentaries appear to be very asinine -
it is because of decrepitude leadership which Nigeria has been cursed with all these years and which 
leadership does not know their left from right; a leadership which have plunged Nigeria into a state of anomie where she is presently bogged down in! It is indeed regrettable that despite the abundance of highly qualified and skilled human resources and manpower in Nigeria, the crop of leadership presented to Nigeria always are from the bottom of the class - the dregs of the society! Why should Nigeria be suffering in the midst of plenty or must it end up as a case of those who make peaceful change impossible will someday make violent change inevitable! We shall see where all these ineptitude shall end up!
There is no hatred, it is just sadness at the way things are, have been and with no possible hope of any immediate future improvement. In Nigeria, that is! Can you imagine that the same cabals has been running Nigeria since her independence in 1960, you name it. Isn't their ideas now stale that a new infusion of fresh minds is needed to move Nigeria forward? One aphorism has it that doing the same thing the same way over and over again, expecting different result is the surest and best definition of madness. Forty-eight years after her independence, there is no roads, no electricity, no food, no infrastructures, no drinking water, no health care, no functioning government program worthy of mention, local government officials are stealing money, governors are stealing state's funds likewise the presidency including heads of parastatals and agencies. So what is the end in sight, Nigeria? None whatsoever and you ask Icheoku, why is it mad? An Olusegun Obasanjo ruled Nigeria twice? How can a sane person blow a God's given second chance at rectifying all that is wrong with Nigeria, given that he, Olusegun Obasanjo survived a death-row under Sani Abacha? Olusegun Obasanjo would have used the opportunity to etch his name in gold and share a permanent place with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Nkwame Nkuruma and Julius Nyerere but instead, he chose to waste it as a very vindictive, mean, parochial tribal demagogue! And you ask yourself, why Nigeria plunged further under his suffocating rule? - Olusegun Obasanjo is not bright, he is not sharp, he does not motivate anyone, h
e is not inspirational, he is not eloquent, he looks like Dee Sam Mbakwe or even worst an ape, he is stout, he does not look any bit presidential nor does he have any leadership traits, he just does not have the charisma or the charm of even the evil genius, IBB? Olusegun Obasanjo is a drab! How did Nigeria even tolerate this mongrel twice as their "leader"? I really do not care a hoot about this human specimen called Olusegun Obasanjo and I pray everyday that the almighty God should save Nigeria the nightmare of continuously having this man in their midst. Olusegun Obasanjo is Nigeria's worst nemesis. So how can Nigeria move forward, for example, when a timid person who has never interacted with any foreigner before or been or lived in a foreign land like America is made an ambassador of Nigeria to America? And one wonders how such a person can understand the psyche of his new found society to move issues of interest of his country forward in the host-country! CNN did a documentary on Nigeria which negatively portrayed Nigerians and no one saw the break-light of whoever the ambassador of Nigeria in America is? It is despicable. So visitors, you now know why some of our commentaries appear to be very asinine - it is because of decrepitude leadership which Nigeria has been cursed with all these years and which 
leadership does not know their left from right; a leadership which have plunged Nigeria into a state of anomie where she is presently bogged down in! It is indeed regrettable that despite the abundance of highly qualified and skilled human resources and manpower in Nigeria, the crop of leadership presented to Nigeria always are from the bottom of the class - the dregs of the society! Why should Nigeria be suffering in the midst of plenty or must it end up as a case of those who make peaceful change impossible will someday make violent change inevitable! We shall see where all these ineptitude shall end up!
MASSOB Accuses Obasanjo of Genocide
ReplyDeleteFrom Emeka Osondu in Awka, 08.19.2008
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Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), has appealed to the United Nations (UN), to arrest and persecute former president Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of genocide.
MASSOB decribed Obasanjo's acts to its members during his eight years administration as war of genocide.
Onitsha Regional Administrator of the organisation, Mrs Virginia Ubazuonu, made the appeal while speaking on the organisation's resolve to execute its sit-at-home order slated for August 28, 2008.
She said Obasanjo should be arrested and arraigned before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), for ordering the killing of many MASSOB members and execution of Odi people.
As for the sit-at-home order which the MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike had earlier fixed for August 28, from 7:00a.m. to 4:00p.m., Ubazuonu said MASSOB considers the struggle for Biafra a matter of life and death.
She said, "our destiny and the destiny of our children are tied to this struggle. That is why we have resisted all the temptations to compromise. And that is also why we are still being tried with treasonable felony when others have been freed."
She said the Federal Government through some Igbo politicians, is using some expelled members in MASSOB to create the impression that there is crisis in the organisation, pointing out that " nobody can stop the struggle."
Obasanjo’s Tenure a Waste, Says Bamaiyi
ReplyDeleteFrom Hammed Shittu in Ilorin, 08.18.2008
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Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Ishaya Bamaiyi, at the weekend, described the eight years of former president Olusegun Obasanjo's administration as a waste and the best justification for his opposition to his emergence in the first instance.
He also advised Nigerians to be patient with President Umaru Yar'Adua, in his bid to correct all the anomalies perpetrated by his predecessor, adding that his nine year incarceration was due to his perceived opposition to Obasanjo's emergence as civilian president in 1999.
While speaking in Ilorin, Kwara State, at a thanksgiving service organised by his Church, United Missionary Church of Africa ( UMCA), to celebrate his retirement and acquittal by a Lagos High Court over connivance with the killers of late Kudirat Abiola.
He said, "I have nothing against Obasanjo. He did what he was directed to do by a General from my part of the country who needed to survive. It was by people I know, not just imaginary figures. And now, I have been vindicated, because all of you can see that if we had had a civilian as President in 1999, we will not be where we are today.
"The damage done by Obasanjo's government is enormous and we need patience, because the damages of the last eight years are enormous and cannot be repaired in a few years."
He blamed his detention on the prompting of "a general from the North," saying he had forgiven the immediate past president because he was merely acting on the directive of the General, who he said, "needed to have him (Bamaiyi) out of the way for survival."
The 62-year-old ex-military boss alleged that the judge who handled his case and eventually freed him was offered many attractive incentives, including a house in London, just to ensure he was jailed, but praised the judge and the judiciary in general for living up to their expected societal role of defending the truth.
Earlier, President of the 103-year-old Church with headquarters in Ilorin, Reverend Ishaya Noma, said Bamaiyi had always been a staunch member of the Church and was actually the son of a former Pastor in the Church, Pastor Bamaiyi Sundu, just as his wife is also the daughter of another Pastor, Andrawus Namah.
Obasanjo disappointed me – Banigo, ex-minister
ReplyDeleteBy FEMI FOLARANMI, Yenagoa
Friday, August 22, 2008
Olusegun Obasanjo
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Former Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ebitimi Baigo, says he was highly disappointed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who many had thought would sanitize Nigeria, eventually turned out a terrible dictator who left Nigerians groping in the dark after eight fruitless years.
Banigo joined Obasanjo’s government in 1999, but suddenly resigned. He told Daily Sun in Yenagoa tha he had no regrets quiting that administration when he did, insisting that Obasanjo lacked a clear vision for taking Nigeria out of the woods.
According to the businessman, he had been vindicated by the revelations of the many probe panels that have investigated the past administration
His words: “I have no regrets leaving as a minister. Like all human beings, you might wonder whether you took the right step, but subsequent events have demonstrated that the issues that gave rise to my resignation were valid. Most people in the circumstance would have resigned expect for the Nigerian factor. The then president Olusegun Obasanjo did not have the proper vision to get the country out of its problems. And we all, due to the years of military dictatorship, followed him to see if we could build a nation, and he became a worst dictator. And it was very easy to see in a matter of one year as we were not able to achieve much.
“It is painful. Maybe if one had been more proactive to bring to light these difficulties, perhaps, he would have changed. Because we wasted eight years, the nation is almost in darkness following his rule. There is no improvement in education, health care, road transport, energy. What has come out from different probes is so disgraceful.”
Reliving his experience under the Obasanjo government with the harassment and siege on his business by the Nuhu Ribadu-led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Banigo explained that Nigerians must get more involved in governance to prevent any president amassing so much power to destroy people.
While insisting that he does not condone corruption, Banigo said anybody found contravening the law of the land should be prosecuted in accordance with the rule of law rather than be hounded into jail.
Hear him: “We must work hard so that what happened to me is never repeated. And how do I do that? I do that by getting more involved and finding the truth. I dare not retreat because if I retreat my children might face the same issue.
We all have to work hard that what happened to me does not repeat itself. We have to make sure that no individual, be it president, does not have the right to do what he did and the nation would also sit by and allow him to destroy so many people. I am not the only person that went through that process. We must ensure that there is rule of law and that every citizen must be allowed to enjoy his constitutional right and protection under the law.
I was detained without being charged for four months and two days which is a clear illegality. We should try to make sure that does not happen to any other Nigerian citizen. Anybody caught contravening the laws should be arrested and prosecuted and not just thrown into detention or you, confiscate his business just because you do not like the person. Due process has to be followed. That experience told me that we have a lot of work to do to see that future Nigerians are protected from such treatment.”
On the crisis of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta, Banigo identified ineptitude on the part of successive administrations as the main factor that has retarded the growth of the region.
According to him, past governments had good intentions but ignored the fundamental human rights of people of the region, adding that for the problem to be resolved, the Niger Delta people should be treated with dignity in accordance with the rights of people who own the land.
Said he: “I would ascribe deceptive methods to efforts of previous administrations to tackle the problem of the Niger Delta. I think the whole problem is what I would call ineptitude.
“That is not truly following a pattern path to resolve the issue. The Niger Delta problem is a global issue. The first ground to develop the Niger Delta given the years of neglect and deprivation is far beyond what government can provide. Other countries have benefitted greatly from the oil production in Nigeria. I do not want to say they have exploited our naivety or inefficiency. But I belong to the private sector. I have worked globally and business takes advantage of any situation. It is only of recent that companies are asked to do soul searching to see that they are responsible citizens wherever they operate. Before, it was just take whatever you want and go.
“The critical issues are that of fundamental human rights. That is the people of the Niger Delta own the land. Whatever way government wants to look at it, they can confiscate it but in natural law, the Niger Delta people own the land. So what is the deal for them? They should be treated like anywhere else in the world. In the United States if they find oil in your area, its your own and you would be paying royalties and taxes to government.
That is the universally accepted position in terms of property and ownership. During the 1978/1979 government of Obasanjo, he promulgated the Land Use Act and he came back again as president in a civilian government to more or less nail the coffin which has made the problem difficult to resolve.”
Obasanjo, biggest threat to democracy –Girei
ReplyDeleteBy KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna
Monday, August 25, 2008
•Girei
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A former lawmaker and chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Senator Abubakar Girei has made a passionate call to leaders of the PDP to quickly relieve former President Olusegun Obasanjo of his Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship, saying the former president is the biggest threat to democracy in the country.
Speaking to Daily Sun in an exclusive interview in Kaduna, Girei said Nigeria’s democracy and the PDP were under threat because of the activities of former President Obasanjo and those he described as anti-democratic forces still lurking around.
Girei said the former president was the worst leader Nigeria had ever had and that contrary to claims by a former labour leader, Pascal Bafyau, the Action Congress Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s political credentials tower above those of Obasanjo and any other PDP Board of Trustees chairman.
The former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Bafyau had in an interview with Daily Sun recently declared former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as unfit for the PDP Board of Trustees chairmanship, arguing that the AC presidential candidate and former PDP chieftain lacked the required credentials for the office.
Girei, a former PDP governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, however, lashed out at the former labour leader, describing him as the least credible to assess the political profile of former vice president Atiku Abubakar.
“Atiku will surely make a better PDP BOT Chairman than Obasanjo, Anenih and all other previous PDP BOT chairmen. I think Bafyau is either being economical with the truth or taking his fight against Atiku too personal,” he asserted.
Excerpts of the interview.
Pascal Bafyau believes Atiku lacks the credentials to be the PDP BOT chairman. Do you agree with this claim?
I am certainly not in support of his views. I believe it is a lie for anybody, talkless of Pascal Bafyau to say Atiku is unfit to be the PDP BOT chairman. I am not holding brief for Atiku. I am sure you know I am one of those, even as of now, who are not the best of friends with Atiku. But let the truth be told. Atiku will surely make a better PDP BOT chairman than Obasanjo, Anenih and all other previous PDP BOT chairmen. I think Pascal Bafyau is either being economical with the truth or taking his fight against Atiku too personal. I also believe that Atiku has proved to be a better politician than most of these characters who we all know now are nothing but deceitful persons and who have continued to pose serious threat to our democracy, if not the existence of the nation itself.
Any leader that is only interested in looting the resources of the country, like Obasanjo and his cohorts did will definitely not be interested in the existence of this country. So, I am calling on all patriotic citizens of this country, especially PDP leaders to do all that is necessary to flush out all these unpatriotic, selfish and power drunk individuals like Obasanjo and others from the party; especially at leadership levels in order to save the party and our nascent democracy from imminent collapse.
I believe people like Atiku who have learnt from their mistakes and served under such an undemocratic leader like Obasanjo for eight years and came out of it stronger is much more well-equipped for enormous national challenges facing PDP. Atiku will certainly continue to be a great asset to PDP and the nation. I support our new party leaders’ effort in trying to get them back to build a refocused PDP under the able leadership of our amiable President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
From all you have said, it would be correct to deduce that you will support the call for a probe of former President Obasanjo
One doesn’t need to support the probing of Obasanjo. He (Obasanjo) is already under probe by the public opinion in this country. Judgement has already been passed that he is the worst leader we ever had in this country.
Is it not proper to go through past records and really find him guilty before passing such a judgement?
Is it not looking at the past that people have passed the verdict of guilty on him? If you are saying he must be prosecuted, convicted and so on and so forth, I have no objection to that because I stand by the rule of law. But all these are secondary as far as I am concerned. The fact is he was head of State, president and ended up being the worst leader in the history of this country. Is that not enough?
You believe Obasanjo is the worst president we ever had?
I have no doubt that in my mind. I said in 2001 that looking at the way Obasanjo was going, he is most likely to be the greatest threat to our democracy and the nation. That was in 2001. I have been vindicated.
But Pascal Bafyau just showered praises on him last week?
Well. That is Pascal for you. He is entitled to his opinion; but Nigerians have passed their verdict. He (Pascal) cannot be better than Nigerians. This is democracy and everybody is entitled to his opinion. There is freedom of speech, expression and liberty. Everybody is entitled to say what he wants and Pascal has said what he wants. But the fact is: Nigerians know what the truth is.
Some of your fellow Northerners are also blaming the Northern governors for the woes in the North. Do you share the same view with them?
Unfortunately, our governors especially in the North have not lived up to expectation. There is no doubt about it. There is a lot they should have done which they have not done. There is a lot they should have done like developing agriculture which would have launched us into economic stability more than the state we are today where we are being labeled as parasites. We have never been parasites in our lives. We have always been self-sufficient and in charge of our destiny.
By inference, you are saying the North is parasitic? Would that be correct?
Not exactly because this is an expression of someone’s opinion. They are entitled to their opinion. But the reason why they have the temerity to say this is because of the failure of our leaders. If our leaders had led us well, and have positioned this part of the country appropriately by developing agriculture, they wouldn’t have had the guts to say that. But it is true we have failed to develop our economic mainstay, which is supposed to be the ingredient of our economic development. This failure has exposed us to all forms of ridicule and criticisms that are coming from our friends.