OBASANJO DESERVES SADAM HUSSEIN'S FATE?

If anyone was in doubt why the struggle for a third term by Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo was a do or die situation for him, this will clear it up! If anyone was still questioning why the erstwhile chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu deserved to go or the wisdom behind his reassignment to a policy school, this will also explain it; as the hitherto clean bill of health he gave to his mentor, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, clearing him of all corruption was ill conceived and not based on reasonable grounds whatsoever. The mask is now off and the face of corruption personified has been revealed in the person of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo.

The news commentary titled " Probe noose tightens on Obasanjo" written by one Ikenna Emewu of Sun Newspapers, Nigeria is very insightful of the abyss wherein the medicine man of Otta, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo drove Nigeria into. Should Olusegun Obasanjo be held accountable for his atrocious regime? You bet! Should Olusegun Obasanjo be made to pay restitution for all the Nigeria State's misappropriated resources under his regime, speedily! Should Olusegun Obasanjo be sent back to prison wherein he came from to Aso Rock in June 1999, there is nothing wrong with this line of action; considering the flagrant abuse of human rights and economic pillage witnessed under his regime. As you have noticed, his government is herein referred to as a regime - this is because he ran a one man show, he operated as the king of the manor, the alpha and the omega whose wish must be carried out without any question. In other words, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo was imperial! He ruled Nigeria by fiat and terror was his beloved weapon of choice. Where is Attorney General Bola Ige, Funso Williams, and a retinue of other deads who mysteriously were killed under his regime? This army mechanic from Otta, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo deserves all that is being thrown at him, and this is simply the beginning of dirts yet to come his way. Let no eyelid bat should he end up back in prison where he came from or better still in the gallows for his crimes of extermination against the Odi community of Bayelsa State and genocide against the Zaki Ibiam people of Benue State. In the Philippines, the conviction of their erstwhile 73years old President Estrada for crimes while in office, shows that economic crimes is a serious crime against a people and Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo is as such, vulnerable. Please enjoy the chronicle of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo's lack of love for country, Nigeria! Happy trails! What is your verdict? What do you think will be the most appropriate punishment for this megalomaniac despotic sadist? Please share your thoughts with Icheoku and together we shall fight the good cause - the ills of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo's regime from June 1999 to May 2007! Always remember that silence is a tacit acquiescence so don't be a corroborator, take a stand and speak up! Here now following is the referenced news commentary:-

"Take an analysis of the contents of newspapers in the country in the past four months. By the time you have a closer observation of the news content, you would find out that matters relating to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president constitute the bulk of the news. But funny enough, most of those news items don’t say well of the man. Most times, with the exception of a social/moral scandal that was in a family nature, others have been on corruption, sleaze, truncating of due process and unhealthy details involving conducts in office. These allegations portray the man who crowned himself the guardian angel of anti-corruption in a pitiable light.

While Nigerians expected to see garlands for him when he leaves office as a reason of his loud mouthing of the war against corruption, it has been an antithesis.With these bad developments all around Mr. Ex-President, it is possible the future of his freedom from stains of confirmed corruption would soon get foggy and at last shattered. Obasanjo has been on the firing line for too long over the role of his government in condoning corruption and the disregard for order in official transactions when he was in Aso Rock. Although it had been very bad before now, but the probe of the power sector scandal under him actually ripped open the underbelly of eight years of institutionalized corruption. It has been the tenure of dirges at the House of Representatives as everyday of the panel’s sitting brings fresh news of how one man stole and the other caught him in the act. When we are not told of how contracts running into hundreds of millions of dollars were awarded and approval given on phone under a mango tree, we will go home with tales of how certain ‘sacrifices’ were offered in Aso Rock to appease some gods of that area who needed raw money in billions of naira to stay out of the way.

The barrage on the former president comes in all directions and there seem to be no hiding place for him. A little before President Umar Yar’Adua came to power, a prominent politician from Ogun State told a pressman in confidence that he is praying that Obasanjo hands over power to Yar’Adua. The reason for his prayer being that the pressure Nigeria will bring on the new president would be too much to bear and there will be no alternative to probing his days in office. While it looked like there would be a hiding place for Obasanjo from public fire, the probe of the power sector came like a bang, and the rump of the fowl looked bare and scorched. The tip on the power sector decay has triggered off a typhoon of other odds in almost all facets of that regime that bedeviled Nigeria for eight years. There seem to be one thing or another to probe in all major sectors of the former regime of Obasanjo.

NNPC: In about 2003, after the elections, Nigerians were confronted with a strong rumour that the Obasanjo’s government laundered money through the NNPC when Jackson Gaius-Obaseki was the head of that milking cow. The gist was that N320 billion missed their way from the coffers of NNPC, and many insisted that was the money funneled into Obasanjo’s presidential campaign in 2003.We heard then that the House of Representatives was set to probe Gaius-Obaseki’s tenure and what happened to the money. At last nothing came out of it, and the matter was buried as usual. In Obasanjo’s days, there were some contracts for turn-around maintenance for the refurbishing of the refineries in Kaduna and Port Harcourt. But at last, none of the contracts was done. Funny enough, at the eve of Obasanjo’s exit in 2007, he approved the sale of the Port Harcourt Refinery to people believed to be his cronies at a sum far less than what he paid a contractor to refurbish it.Just last week, Engr. Lawal Yar’Adua, the GMD of NNPC lamented at the Kaduna Refinery at the commissioning of the rehabilitated facility that Obasanjo messed up the NNPC. He was specific to say that the former helmsman made sure good people were shut out in the management of the oil upstream sector, while he had preferences for acolytes who managed the place for personal interests.All the cries of Nigerians to relax the policy of import of refined petroleum products never touched the anti-corruption agent as those that got the license to import fuel were men of his kitchen cabinet.

PTDF: The worst public scam Nigeria ever witnessed was in the PTDF probe by the Senate. That probe was a mega waste where the Senate at last just patted Obasanjo on the back and lightly cautioned him to be more careful next time. Truly, they admitted he was wrong in his approach to approve monies for every kind of frivolous projects including a 607 car bought for her girlfriend according to Atiku Abubakar’s revelations. The same man was indicted for paying certain lawyer a staggering N250m as professional fee for the registration of a company, Galaxy Backbone that no Nigerian knows its destination till date. If this sector is to be probed now, there will be enough skeletons to fill a bottomless pit.

Ajaokuta Steel Company: That project which started in the 1970s remains the highest loss the state of Nigeria ever incurred. From inception till now, it has been from one tale of woes of how a Russian firm refused to build the plant according to agreement or how debts got so huge like a mountain and someone had to buy it back or front. It became a sinkhole that never got filled. First of all, Obasanjo approved the debt buy-back for the Ajaokuta steel mill in 2000 from evil foreigners who had taken possession. The real irony is that late Gen. Abacha who was reputed for evil and corruption had refused to touch the debt buy-back fraud with the longest pole imaginable. But that which Abacha loathed because it was dirty, Obasanjo embraced. Likewise, while no TAM contract for the refineries was executed in Obasanjo’s days, but the nation still believes that the TAM contract awarded certain Chrome Oil by Abacha for the PH refinery remains the best work done there.After the debt buy-back, another deal was struck in Aso Rock where people believed to have been Obasanjo’s aides brought in other Indians. One of such aides was a very powerful one who operated for Baba at home and later wanted to be an oga in a political field. At a point, the speculation was that the Obasanjo Empire bought the Steel mill through one of the sons. But later, the son who was always pointed at as the agent denied, saying that his name was wrongly used as a front in what he was never part of.A little before the final pronouncement that died the Ajaokuta sale, there was a spree of looting of even railway line iron bars by those who bought it over. They had been anticipating that the deal would go awry, as a result, there was a free for all stealing and recovery of anything retrievable. It is believed that the despoliation of Ajaokuta Company, which is close to, Ogaminana in Kogi State led to a clash between youths of the town and the police during which about 50 of the villagers were felled by police bullets sometime in early March. The people of the town wanted to protect the facilities and the looters had to bring in marksmen to shoot them down.

Railways: One of the major privatisation hypes the Obasanjo regime stouted was the letting out of the railways to Chinese firms. The value of the privatisation was in billions of dollars. At last nothing, not even a bar of iron was brought into Nigeria by any Chinese firm. The project died a natural death after the Aso Rock agent who was in charge died in a plane crash in Lisa. The money realized from the sale supposedly and the shady transactions would shock anybody when exposed.

Airways: Between 1999 and year 2000, the Obasanjo’s regime set up the Justice Obiora Nwazota Panel to look into fraud in Aviation, with special focus on the Nigeria Airways. This reporter covered the sittings of the panel at the premises of the Ikeja High Court annex. The panel took its time to review the issues and at last made recommendations. But unfortunately for Justice Nwazota and his colleagues, one of the persons their findings indicted was named as a major financier of the Obasanjo campaign in 1999. The panel had recommended that the man refund money he stole and should be prosecuted. But nothing beyond that report happened as some of the indicted persons were already sitting pretty as members of the Obasanjo’s regime.Instead of the report implementation, Obasanjo’s regime later brought up the sale of the Nigerian Airways. We were later told that two bodies became beneficiaries of the left over of the properties of the rested airways. There were also reports that the man formerly in Aso Rock was a major backer. After some more hoodwinking, one of the arrowheads of the new beneficiary firms had to find his way into import and installation of turbines to power the IPP project that is now a major source of bad blood. It has not been clear the relationship IPP turbines hawking has with metal kites, which the man also has interest in other than the avarice to dominate all sectors of the economy by one man.

Transcorp and NITEL: Transcorp was like the icing on the cake of the looting goons to make sure every juicy sector was cornered. There was hyper hype when Transcorp came on board. The picture created before Nigerians was that it would do wonders and make jobs available to every Nigerian. But no matter the names that were touted as directors and the brains behind it, it did not take long for Nigerians to see through the façade and decode the owners. Transcorp later had a major shareholding from the Obasanjo Farms in Ota and handled the procurement of its machinery.Today, we hear some interested persons who are now out of power later admitted to having hands in Transcorp and have been arm twisted to forfeit their bulk shares in the company.As the fire of the angst raged over how Transcorp bought over NITEL without paying a dime, as against other buyers who had money to pay, workers in NITEL, Transcorp and Mtel still scream in empty stomach in protests everyday.

COJA: Nigeria hosted the All African Games when Obasanjo was in power and it was another great opportunity to siphon the nation’s economy. Every conceivable member of the Obasanjo immediate and extended family, including the dead and the living got contracts to either furnish apartments or supply toilet tissues. The contract sums came in billions and hundreds of millions.There was a joke then of how one of the masterminds of COJA from the sports ministry complained to another Aso Rock or near Aso Rock henchman that Baba was no longer picking his calls. The near Aso Rock man chided him for not living up to his bidding in rendering proper account to Baba. Just a day after, the same man whose calls had not been picked called Baba from Bauchi during a facility inspection only to be shocked by the alacrity with which his call was picked. Not just that, he got kind words from Baba who asked how he fared in the preparations. That was actually after something had been remitted by this servant who valued good advises.
Import waiversThe Nigeria Customs was in the thick of the gang-up with the presidency to make sure import waivers introduced in the Obasanjo days was used as settlement package. Many who got such waivers used it to import all manner of things including plastic chairs and canopies. The ploy was to get a waiver to import raw material that has little or no duty while the material actually brought in will be different. Revenue loss from this deal to the nation ran into hundreds of billions of naira, a fact the Customs has been very busy burying. Saturday Sun sometime in the past exposed part of the deal.

EFCC’s "questionable" clean bill of health: In the face of all these open and patent crimes and absurdities, the EFCC, the agency Obasanjo set up to fight corruption sometime last year, in the days of Nuhu Ribadu as leader gave the former president a clean bill. EFCC insisted that there was nothing wrong with Obasanjo’s record, he was far from corruption, and indeed, nothing bad happened to Nigeria during his days.Surprisingly, EFCC recently said again that it is investigating Obasanjo again. We are all waiting and watching for the day the next clean bill will come his way. But it is possible the noose tightens everyday around Obasanjo’s neck and some day we will see the ‘clean’ man in dock facing trial for corruption and abuse of office."

EFCC MOST WANTED - 300Million Naira Scam

The dread Nigeria EFCC has arraigned Ex-Minister of Health and others including the daughter of the disgraced former President Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo on a 56-Count Criminal Charge of Fraud and Embezzlement of public funds. However Obasanjo's daughter Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, pictured here left is on the run from justice; the whole wide world is by this notice implored by "Icheoku" to be on a red alert for her. Please report any sighting of her to the nearest law enforcement agency available and/or EFCC-Nigeria accordingly.

We at "Icheoku" approve this message as our contribution to the war on corruption in Nigeria; Viva EFCC!

For four and a half hours, two former Ministers of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku who recently resigned from the cabinet on allegation of fraud stood in the dock at the Federal Capital Territory High Court along nine other co-accused as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reeled out 56-count charge against them.Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello who is one of the accused persons in the case of corrupt practices levelled against the ex-ministers was not in court yesterday. The prosecution said she was "at large" but count 56 on the charge sheet were specifically listed against her.The only count against Obasanjo-Bello reads as follows:“That you, Iyabo Bello (now at large) sometimes between December 2007 and March 2008 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory while serving as the chairperson, Senate Committee on Health in the National Assembly, dishonestly retained the sum of N10, 000,000 belonging to Federal Government of Nigeria, having reason to believe same to be stolen property thereby committed an offence punishable under section 317 of the Penal Code cap 352, Law of Federation of Nigeria (Abuja)1990.” The prosecutor, James Binang said as far as the anti-graft agency was concerned, Iyabo was on the run and all legal machinery would be used to bring her to justice. Others charged with the ex-ministers were; Prof. Samuel Ogandi, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Oyedepo H.B, Hanafi Moham-med, Donald Ekanem, Donatus Inyang, Olomo J.A, Obanla Emmanuel Olatunbosun, Henry Onyeagwalam and Edem Augustine Bassey.The accused were brought to court around 12pm and they all pleaded not guilty to the 56-count charge preferred against them by the Federal Government.The charge reads thus: That you (1) Professor Adenike Grange, (2) Gabriel Aduku, (3) Professor Samuel Ogandi, (4) Oyedepo H.B, and (5) Hanafi Mohammed, sometimes in December 2007 in Abuja, within the Abuja division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, while being public servants in the Federal Ministry of Health, with intent to defraud, conspired among yourselves to do an illegal act to wit: criminalbreach of trust by public servant; thereby committed an offence punishable under section 97 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990.Various sums of money were said to have been paid into Professor Grange’s Oceanic Account NO 1301005284.Looking depressed in the dock, the former Minister shook her head intermittently as the charge was read out to her while others bowed their heads continually.While Grange had her name mentioned in 13 counts on the charge sheet, Aduku was fingered in about 13 counts, while Obasanjo-Bello had two counts hanging on her.Immediately after the charge was read to the accused persons, they all pleaded not guilty and their lawyers individually moved application for bail.Counsel to Grange, Alex Izinyon (SAN), argued that his client should be granted bail on self-recognitionwhile Aduku said as an internationalfigure having made his mark in architecture, he was ready to stand trial and would not jump bail.The trial Judge, Justice Salisu Garba, fixed Friday for ruling in the bail application.The two ex-ministers and other accused persons were said to have shared a balance of N300 million remaining from last year's budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Health. President Umaru Yar'Adua had directed ministers and head of parastatals to return all unspent funds from last year's budget to the federal purse.The ex-ministers had been forced to resign from the cabinet following the allegations against them.However, the senate has asked Senator Obasanjo-Bello to explain the circumstances surrounding the involvement of the committee on heath which she headed in the sharing of the N300 million unspent vote of the ministry of Health in the 2007 budget.The Senate Committee had admitted receiving N10 million-support from the Ministry of Health to fund a retreat in Ghana on the National Health Bill. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Information, Senator Ayogu Eze confirmed yesterday that the Senate had demanded explanation from Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and other members of the Committee that attended the Ghana retreat.He said further, “When the Senate gets the explanation, I shall come back to brief you. We will also take the necessary steps. But I can assure you that from what we have so far when it is has not been unusual for Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to facilitate the work of committees that oversee them.”Eze said that “when they sent that money, they never told them that it was from an illegal source, that it was the money that the Presidency told them to return but they did not return.“The information we have so far (from the Committee is) that the source of that money was not disclosed to them at the time it was remitted to them and we are trying to take care of that by making sure we provide adequately for all the committees in the 2008 budget.“When they tell you that the budget of the National assembly is up a bit beyond what it was last year, there is an explanation for that; we want to make sure that every committee that has an assignment to do will have no reason to say we could not do the work because we were waiting for facilitation because we would have provided enough resources”, he said.

This news report is courtesy of Thisday newspapers.

YARADUA'S REVERSAL OF OBASANJO'S POLICIES:- THE DOWNSIDE!

Admitted that Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo deserves the hottest place in hell for all the atrocities his regime visited on Nigeria and Nigerians, which he dutifully masterminded and supervised; but a blanket reversal of his policies does not augur well for the body polity and image of Nigeria. This is especially so amongst the investing world, where some of these policies have significant contractual obligations implicit in them thus causing such acts to be viewed as very antagonistic and anti-capitalism. Contracts ought to be respected and should be so respected, period! Implicit in such impetuous and random highly selective revocations is a government that does not care a hue about the letters of contracts or laws governing them. It does not bode well for a government desirous of attracting job creating ventures in Nigeria and should therefore cease save where a blatant abuse is implicated.

First it was African Petroleum, next was the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries, followed by Nicon Hotels, and now Ajaokuta Steel just to mention a few. This blogger is of the view that where irregularities are discovered, that they need to be addressed as per each occurrence but not a blanket reversal or cancellation of an existing contract or policy with a clearly defined objective. The total cancellation of a past government’s acts is very antagonistic, highly suggestive and tantamount to throwing away the baby with the bath water and should be stopped. Or is the present Yaradua government telling the world that nothing could be saved from the cancelled contract or term thereto? Before cancelling a contract, the government of Yaradua should take into cognizance the ramifications of its actions in order not to alienate the investing communities and financial institutions of the world who will view Nigeria as a fluidly, highly unstable market to guarantee their investments. They will flee and this does not augur well for a thirsty investment environment such as Nigeria whose potentials is yet to be harnessed, strictly speaking? The worst thing that can happen to an economy is for that economy to be perceived as not stable enough by the investing world who then will treat same as a pariah wherein contracts are not worth the parchment they are signed. Yaradua must avoid this connotation at all cost and by whatever means possible. It smacks of instability in an economy and investors frown at such. It also portends lack of respect for existing contractual obligations; leading to the question, which other investor will be willing to sign a contract which tomorrow will be discarded by a new government? If a country’s government cannot respect contract or rule of law, who in their right mind will be willing to deal with such a country since a Yaradua’s obligation today might as well be annulled by the next government whenever that comes into being. This epileptic investment climate showed up sometime ago in Uganda when the terror of Uganda, Baba Idi Amin Dada seized all foreign investment in Uganda and chased away all the investors mostly of Indian extraction out of Uganda. Where is Uganda’s hitherto thriving economy today but in the doldrums of economic malaise? Who wants this situation for Nigeria? Which investor will deal in that situation? Who is the gambler that will play such a high stakes game of Russian roulette with his/her hard earned capital?

The difference between a government and a military interregnum is that in the former there is rule of law and continuity, both in policies and existing contracts whereas in the latter it is simply an aberration – anything goes! This is the real reason why most investors do not like to deal with military regimes because they are wary that their investments will not be safe or guaranteed but will be subject to the whims and caprices of the military junta who also can be overthrown at anytime and there continues the topsy-turvy in such economy. A working government will in most instances adopt existing undertakings of a preceding government and where some discrepancies are observed, the contract could be reformed with a view to fixing the observed shortcomings before it is finally ratified. But the way Yaradua is carrying his blanket annulments or revocations of former obligations of the past government of the medicine man of Otta, Aremu Obasanjo shows that Yaradua is merely pandering to the Arewa Forum; who in their last convention made several demands on Yaradua’s government one of which was the revocation of Ajaokuta Steel contract. In the said convention, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma berated Obasanjo for standing up against the North and for daring to challenge their authority by reapportioning things and putting them in Yoruba hands instead of them - the traditional “custodians” of such plum positions. Yakubu Danjuma also lamented the North’s backwardness in Nigeria and threw other tantrums against any other geographical entity that is seemingly doing well within the Nigeria polity. Danjuma’s rants and angst was rabid to say the least and smacks of a vampire ready to draw blood.

To this devil’s may-care, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, this blogger will like to posit certain questions – first, who was responsible for the abject backwardness of the North as you pointed out? Secondly, who has been in charge in Nigeria for the past 38years plus of the 48 years of Nigerian’s independence, including the self rule of between 1957 and 1960? They are all Northerners including your shameless self. You eminently benefited from the North’s stranglehold on Nigeria or what do you owe your stupendous wealth to? You were not a trust fund child or a renowned academia or an inventor or a “Warren Buffet” prior; but a daring northern army man who used his uniform to great advantage. You, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma amassed enormous wealth of no mean proportion including ownership of Guaranty Trust Bank, Several Oil Blocks valued at over $3Billion dollars USD as well as other onshore and offshore business interests just because you can. How much taxes you paid to the government to date is yet to be determined and all the recent mea culpa will not exculpate you from the anger of Nigerians particularly the Igbos for your heinous treachery on General Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi. His ghost and the ghost of the several million other Easterners who perished in the ensued civil war will forever hunt you until your demise and will be waiting to chaperon you to the gates of hell on your final breath.

The chronology of northern vice-like hold on power in Nigeria dates back to Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who ruled Nigeria between August 30th 1957 to January 15th 1966; to General Yakubu Gowon who ruled Nigeria from August 1st 1966 to July 29th 1975; to General Murtala Ramat Mohammed who ruled Nigeria between July 29th 1975 to February 13th 1976; to Alhaji Shehu Shagari who ruled Nigeria from October 1st 1979 to December 31st 1983; to General Muhammadu Buhari who ruled Nigeria from December 31st 1983 to August 1985; to General Ibrahim Babangida who ruled Nigeria from August 27th 1985 to August 26th 1993; to General Sani Abacha who ruled from November 17th 1993 to June 8th 1998; to General Abdulsalam Abubakar who ruled from June 9th 1998 to May 29th 1999 and to the present Umaru Yaradua whose governance commenced on May 2007 to God knows when. All these marauders are Northerners and yet this vampire, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma had the temerity to question Obasanjo’s government and the backwardness of the North? If this bunch of Mallams could not fix their north, who was the fanatic Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma expecting to so do for his north? Not me! Not Any Mgbatiman! Nor any Okoloman! And not anyone I know of!

This is what happens when a people are a product of a culture which encourages almajiris or believes that people are born with their destinies yoked on them and that they should not aspire to change it because to do so will be to challenge the gods. This is a culture which protested Miss World contest slated for Abuja Nigeria as unislamic? This is a culture that is perpetually at war with itself and the many other population residing within its’ territorial geography? This is a culture that pretends that they abhor alcohol yet partakes in the sharing of VAT (value added tax) realized from alcoholic beverages sales? How much effort does the north really make to gentrify their region or contribute to the polity called Nigeria in terms of GDP? If not for their dependence on government largesse who is sure the north stands a chance at survival within the Nigerian geography? There is always this much the government can do for an individual? This blogger has traveled extensively and hardly ever met a northerner in the Diaspora who is seriously struggling to over write or change his/her destiny as other tribes or regions except a very few. Most of the ones seldom ran into are either on a three or sometimes four tier government scholarships – ranging from their emirate/kingdom, local government area, state and federal government; hence their ability to live like prince or princess while abroad. Immediately soon after their graduation, they scurry back to Nigeria where plum position awaits their heralded return home. But the question remains, how many of them are really benefiting or excelling in this type of pampered programs? Further, one would ask, what is the manpower output of the north viz a viz the rest of the country including the ever restive Niger Delta. It pales in comparism. This blogger remembers very vividly, in 1983 at Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic when a Youth Corper teacher was instructed by a Dean of Faculty to simply grade to pass the students as opposed to real evaluation of their proficiency; and the same goes with other numerous institutions of higher learning in Northern Nigeria. The north cannot compete effectively with any other tribe or race in Nigeria and hence must always be treated like a spoilt child which their longevity in government has falsely bequeathed on them. Imagine Nigeria Law School being forcibly balkanized just because the North could not effectively compete therein and necessary accommodation must be made for them by granting them their own “Northern-Standard” Law School? Theophilus Danjuma possibly asked a rhetoric question indeed! Why is the north backward? It is self inflicted!

Who would invest in a culture where such investment is likely to go up in flames one Friday after mosque prayers because one newspaper printed a cartoon in far away Denmark? Before, this blogger used to think it that the North’s backwardness has something to do with their religion but a trip to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwaiti City, Riyadh, Jakarta, Teheran, Amman, Damascus and Istanbul shows that Islam is not counter development. These are all beautiful Islamic cities that are thriving both commercially and socially. Imagine as recent as the early eighties, the entire Sokoto State has fewer than fifteen indigenous medical doctors and based on such lopsidedness in manpower, it is possible that a town like Nnewi in Anambra State has more medical doctors than all Northern Nigeria put together. Any nation or people that live on handouts can only achieve very little and this is the answer to General Theophlious Yakubu Danjuma’s ten million dollar question. This adds impetus to the age long trite axiom, please teach me how to fish and stop giving me fish. It is about time the North stops stretching their hands for fish from Nigeria but instead ask to be taught how to catch fish just like the rest of the country All the agencies of state that produce jobs and money including Customs have been in perpetual and direct control of northerners and yet they are complaining; simply because the person they foist on Nigeria despite an outright Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme’s expectant victory at Jos PDP Convention in 1999, proved treacherous and reneged on agreements hitherto reached between them. Who is crying foul but the same group of northern pooh-bahs who have held Nigeria hostage through series of military interventions virtually since her independence from Britain in 1960?

That Yaradua is cancelling all that Obasanjo did while in office is not a mere coincidence as this blogger remembers very vividly the response Islamist Buhari gave to a reporters’ question about continuity of Obasanjo’s policies after the end of his government; to which he retorted that nothing precludes their being overruled and true to type, these mallams are carrying out their treat. It is about time enough really becomes enough as all this one step forward two steps backwards be stopped if Nigeria is to make any meaningful progress. Otherwise what stops the next government from revoking all contracts being entered into by the present Yaradua’s government? What also will discourage an investor or prospector from demanding payments ahead of performance if he cannot guarantee that the incoming government will honor a preexisting periodic performance contract/obligation? Yaradua should review some of these contracts with a view to renegotiating them where unreasonable terms were incorporated therein otherwise should respect them as the current blanket revocation is not healthy especially for an economy eager to attract and retain some serious investors worldwide. These contracts should be reviewed seriatim and where excessive, re-negotiated downwards with first option to exercise given to the primary contracting party who would then elect to proceed with the contract based on the new terms or opt out if impracticable or unprofitable for him/her.

The regrettable thing is that this “Saint Yaradua” seems to be selective with his nullifications which appear to be in accordance to the template handed over to him by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF). Otherwise, what about the N16Billion naira contract allegedly awarded to the former Head of State Abdulsalam Abubakar? Why is nobody mentioning it; more so since Abubakar had collected mobilization fees of over 75% thereto without even breaking grounds for the contract! This makes one school of thought to posit that, possibly the money was a payment/earning for his yielding power to Obasanjo in 1999? Hopefully some day, a king who does not know Joseph will rise in that country to call for rendering of accounts otherwise nothing else will explain satisfactorily, the reckless indiscretion of the supposed leaders who had held that country hostage since independence. When one factors in that over $500Billion USD has been realized as revenue in that country since 1970 and juxtaposing it with the level of infrastructural development therein, then the obvious fat-cats stands out, glaring back at one. Look at these past usurpers of power and the amount of money they stashed away and the drunken-sailor reveler like manner in which they flaunt it sometimes with sheikh-like mansions, the likes of which the Bill Gates of this world could only dream of? Their qualifications – they were brazen enough to seize power and therefore eminently entitled to all the loots they can grab from a country where majority of the inhabitants rely on less than $120 per month income for sustenance and are sometimes too timid and too malnourished to really call and demand for honest stewardship; yet people wonder why all the war that elections in Nigeria has come to represent, when the answer is very obvious. Elected office in Nigeria means a License to Loot! Looting Unlimited! It is tantamount to a pack of hyena descending on a carcass of wildebeest somewhere in Serengeti National Park! It compares to a flock of vultures spotting some putrid offal somewhere in the plains of Africa! It makes Jackals feasting on a road-kill less covetous! It is a milk her dead syndrome! Who is going to out-loot the other is their mantra! It is so pathetic it cries to high heavens. It shall never be well with them that had caused Nigeria so much pain and suffering over the years since her independence in 1960; and like the man of God Pat Robertson once prayed concerning United States Supreme Court Justices, may God’s intervention be quick and swift! Until then, cry thy beloved country, so goes Alan Quarterman!

In conclusion therefore, Umaru Yaradua must be wary of these regional champions who use the cloak of Arewa Unlimited to line their purses otherwise the bloodhound Theophlius Yakubu Danjuma will not be questioning North’s backwardness after their 38 years stranglehold on power and counting; with near absolute control of the behemoth resources therein situated in Nigeria. Yaradua must exercise responsible leadership and must not allow himself to be goaded into discriminatory actions that will surely tarnish his legacy should he decide to hike on this regional path to nowhere. Each case must be weighed individually based on what makes sense in a business setting, understanding the nitty-gritty of contracts and the built in expected profit returns on invested capital and fluctuations of the market place. These Arewa Group must also understand that Yaradua is not only their president but the president of Nigeria and therefore they should allow him to do his work governing Nigeria and not just the Northern Nigeria.

So speaketh MENIRU@www.meniru.blogspot.com

THE LYING COUPLE, THE CLINTONS!

At last the world has come to know the secret behind the continued existence of the arranged marriage of convenience between Bill and Hilary Clinton. They are both liars and in their lying streak have crossed the threshold of believability that they do not even know when they are contradicting themselves. It has since been established that lies is the glue that have kept this fairy marriage together despite all the public drama it has exhibited over the years. We will now take a look at some of the known lies the Clintons have sold or attempted to sell to the world over the years since becoming public figures.

The mother of all lies, I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky rushes to the mind whenever the name of the Clintons is mentioned. Here was a sitting president who debased the office of the presidency and the White House by “getting some” in the bathrooms, corridors and behind office desk of the oval office; and on some occasions with Hilary even within the White House - what a dare devil? That Bill was impeached for lying under oath in his feeble attempt to cover up this indiscretion has since become the template for what harm unbridled lying could visit on anyone. Further that Bill later admitted to the sex with Monica Lewinsky saying that “Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible." did not put much in their column for veracity. This mea culpa was not credible as he only came clean because of the blue dress otherwise it would have been one spin after another as has become their stock in trade. One thing that is blatant with Bill is that on his entire reported sexual escapade, he initially either flatly and adamantly denies that it ever happened or that it was consensual or that the "victim” came unto him. But has never come forth to admit and accept responsibility thereto – all with tacit approval or condoning attitude of Hilary. What a "worthy" pair of lying specimen of mankind the Clintons are?

The rest of William Jefferson Clinton’s experimentation with women is now history but Monica Lewinsky was not the first time that this “Billy goat” was caught with his pants down. Before Monica Lewinsky, there was Jennifer Flowers, Juanita Broaddrick (an Arkansas nursing home operator told NBC's Lisa Myers that she was raped by Clinton in 1978 while volunteering in his then gubernatorial campaign ), Eileen Wellstone (19-year-old English woman who said Clinton sexually assaulted her after she met him at a pub near the Oxford in 1969). In 1972, a 22-year-old woman told campus police at Yale University that she was sexually assaulted by Clinton In 1974, a female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then-law school instructor Bill Clinton tried to prevent her from leaving his office during a conference. She said he groped her and forced his hand inside her blouse. She complained to her faculty advisor who confronted Clinton, but Clinton claimed the student ''came on'' to him. From 1978-1980, during Clinton's first term as governor of Arkansas, state troopers assigned to protect the governor were aware of at least seven complaints from women who said Clinton forced, or attempted to force, himself on them sexually. Carolyn Moffet (a legal secretary in Little Rock in 1979, said she met then-governor Clinton at a political fundraiser and shortly thereafter received an invitation to meet the governor in his hotel room. "I was escorted there by a state trooper. When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt. He pointed at his penis and told me to suck it. I told him I didn't even do that for my boyfriend and he got mad, grabbed my head and shoved it into his lap. I pulled away from him and ran out of the room), Elizabeth Ward (the Miss Arkansas who won the Miss America crown in 1982, told friends she was forced by Clinton to have sex with him shortly after she won her state crown), Paula Corbin Jones (an Arkansas state worker, filed a sexual harassment case against Clinton after an encounter in a Little Rock hotel room where the then-governor exposed himself and demanded oral sex. Clinton settled the case with Jones recently with an $850,000 cash payment) Sandra Allen James (a former Washington, DC, political fundraiser says Presidential candidate-to-be Clinton invited her to his hotel room during a political trip to the nation's capital in 1991, pinned her against the wall and stuck his hand up her dress). Christy Zercher (a flight attendant on Clinton's leased campaign plane in 1992, says Presidential candidate Clinton exposed himself to her, grabbed her breasts and made explicit remarks about oral sex), Kathleen Willey (a White House volunteer, reported that Clinton grabbed her, fondled her breast and pressed her hand against his genitals during an Oval Office meeting in November, 1993). From this chronlogy of Bill's whoring, a developed pattern emerges, and all this women cannot be lying which has since been verified; that a single most strong collaborative evidence exists that Bill Clinton has a penchant for oral sex as could be deduced from all the testimonials of his victims most having some blow job performed or attempted on Bill.

That Hilary stuck to this abuser from late sixties when they first met till date including during the infamous Monica Lewinsky-gate scandal dumbfounded most observers. However recent happenstances has forced discerning mind to conclude that it is probably because these strange odd couple are yoked in lies and have lied to each other so persistently and for so long, on numerous occasions that they have become stuck together in their lies and lying ability and hence live in lie of a supposedly existing marriage.

Hilary lied again about dodging sniper fires in Tuzla Bosnia and was finally exposed as the other lying half of Bill Clinton, the master liar. Everyone that saw the CBS video news coverage of the alleged trip of Hilary to the Balkans will conclude that Hilary’s tale of sniper fire can only be absorbed with a suspension of disbelieve. A further research of Hilary past has proved that this presidential wannabe has not been straightforward in her accounts of what happened but has always painted and embellished her stories in a peculiar prism where she would rather have the story – far from reality. Our research also yielded a cache of other brazen lies told by her and with your kind permission lets go on a little excursion to memory lane of Hilary’s lying through her nose:-

Hilary Clinton claimed that she was named after the late Sir Edmund Hilary of New Zealand – the first man to conquer Mt. Everest but this myth has since been debunked as it was discovered that Hilary Rodham Clinton was named about five years before Sir Edmund Hilary achieved the feat of Mt. Everest which makes Hilary Rodham Clinton either a inveterate liar or a mere name dropper?

Secondly, Hilary Clinton claimed that on 911 that daughter Chelsea was around the grounds zero of the World Trade Center which has since been established to be another lie as Chelsea was woken up by a friend who advised her to tune in the television to witness what evil has descended upon New York City. Another of Hilary Clinton’s lie!

Thirdly, recently released records evidenced Hilary Clintons fervor at making sure NAFTA was passed but during her campaign in Ohio, repeatedly claimed that she fiercely opposed the passage of NAFTA by her husband’s administration. And while accusing the Obama’s campaign of feeding Canadian government a different version of his campaign stump speech of renegotiating NAFTA, it was later proved that it was her campaign that talked to Canada about their double speaks! Who lied? Hilary Clinton again and doing what comes naturally with the Clintons.

Hilary Clinton claimed that she played soccer as part of her inter murals during her high school days but this lie has also been discovered as her high school never had a soccer program during her days in the school. This is quintessential Clintons doing what they do best – bare faced lie!

Hilary Clinton also claimed to have been a Yankees fan all her life but she only recently became a New Yorker, hence debunking this lie of all her life.

That Vincent Foster of the White House Travel’s office allegedly committed suicide was a dummy sold to the world by the Clintons but being found dead in a rental belonging to Hilary leaves much to the discerning mind to decipher the veracity or otherwise of the alleged suicide and that her present campaign chair was seen so soon after Mr. Foster’s death with a pile of papers leaving Vin’s office adds to the thoery of non suicidal death of Mr. Vincent Foster. Was there a cover up as some conspiracy theorists will posit?

That Ron Brown Agricultural Secretary and a rising black man in the Democratic Party establishment mysteriously died in a plane crash while in an official State business trip in the Balkans leaves much to the inquisitive mind; more so since Bill Clinton was caught on camera very hearty, happy, gregarious and loquacious when the news broke that Ron is dead but on noticing the camera feigned sorrow and sadness. This speaks volume and only time will tell. Could this be the reason for their seeming desperation to stop Barack Obama from entering the White House? Could an Obama presidency carry out some inquiry to unravel the circumstances surrounding Ron Brown’s mystery death by plane crash? Could this possible inquiry implicate Bill Clinton and hence the use of Hilary as a cannon fodder to stop Obama one way or another, quoting Hilary’s own words from getting into the WhiteHouse?

Anyway, the good thing about lies is that it does not stand the test of time and sooner than later such lying scumbags are forced to ingloriously swallow hard on their vomit. Hilary Clinton blamed her most recent “misspeak” last week on sleeplessness and yet she is prepared to answer the 3.00AM phone call? When someone particularly a seasoned lawyer cum politician “misspeaks” on a particular issue consistently for about four times within a period of about four months, two possibilities exists:- either that the person is experiencing early stages of alzheimer's disease or some other age related infirmities of the brain or it was a deliberate attempt by that person to hoodwink the people into a preconceived viewpoint. Any other possibility or an in-between attempt at explaining it away will not and does not fly. After all on some of the occasion Hilary spoke about her “bravado” amidst sniper fire she was reading a prepared speech or using a teleprompter or appeared very much rehearsed. So misspeaking is a ruse and being sleep-deprived is a no brainier either. The Clintons lying ability is phenomenal and this we must all concede to them. they are the grand marshals of lying of our times.

Fortunately enough, American people understands these lying cheats very well and are resolute on not giving them another chance at the white house; and not after Bush Jnr have sanitized and disinfected the stains put there by Billy the goat. REALLY NOT THIS TIME AND PROBABLY NEVER IN OUR LIVES! The horrible thing with lying is the implicit arrogant questioning by the liar of the intellect or discerning prowess of the listener to the lies – maybe they are too dumb or unintelligent to detect my speaking on both sides of the mouth. We are not imbeciles and we fully well know when a concerted attempt is being made to pervert the truth; BUT NOT THIS TIME, THE CLINTONS! There is no way in a frozen hell that the Clintons will ever go back to the White House judging from the mood swing of the society as evidenced by the polls and the sooner they realize that impossibility the better for them. But with the Clintons nothing is too infra-dig for them to shy away from so try they will. One thing is however guaranteed – they will FAIL!

In conclusion therefore, while it takes two to tango, it takes lies to keep the Clintons married and together despite all the public drama which unfolds in their alleged marriage and before our eyes daily. Such a lying bimbo as Hilary Clinton must not and should not be allowed into the White House or matter of factly speaking any other public office again and it is the opinion of this blogger that Hilary Clinton be recalled from her Senate seat since she possibly lied herself therein! Such a lying cheat is not deserving of such a respected office as her continued presence in the public eye sends a bad message that it is ok to lie! This is not a pro-moral example and hence should be nipped on the bud now. AWAY WITH THE CLINTONS! NO MORE LIES!

OBAMA DELIVERS AGAIN - POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD!

If only America can get it right this once, we will have our best president ever, come January 2009. He is smart, he is eminently qualified, he is very eloquent, he is very intelligent, he is very knowledgeable, he is smooth, he is brave, he means a lot to so many and he comes to the presidency representing all manners of Americans. His name is Barack Obama!

Let us get over our biases and do right for once by electing Barack Obama as the next president of United States of America come November 2008 - he is the best thing to happen in the American political landscape in recent times. Like a silver bullet, Obama's presidency will once and for all put to an end the bigoted prism with which America has been viewed over the years, so lets cash the rain check, Barack Obama!

Please enjoy the treat which the world were served today by Democratic Party Presidential nominee in the waiting, Barack Obama - happy trails!

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'Philadelphia, PA March 18, 2008As Prepared for Delivery

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren. This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story. I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one. Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well. And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn. On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike. I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all. Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity: "People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild." That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America. And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love. Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias. But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students. Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities. A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us. This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them. But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings. And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races. In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism. Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own. But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny. Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change. The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper. In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well. For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time. This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned. I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta. There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom. She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat. She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too. Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice. Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley." "I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

In defense of Barack Obama's pastor, Dr. Wright:- THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS BITTER!

DISCLAIMER: When we posted this defense, we acted in what we believed was a need to defend someone who was unnecessarily being targeted just to get at Barack Obama. Since then, it appeared that Rev. Jeremiah Wright instead of quietly disappearing from the scene now acts like someone with a hidden agenda, just like some other supposedly "real" African-Americans, to derail Barack Obama's presidential aspiration due primarily to petty envy and jealousy. Initially they regarded Barack Obama as an outsider and not being black enough for their parochial vision of an "African-American" presidential candidate. But despite all their effort, Barack Obama is soaring like an eagle in his presidential bid. Icheoku has endorsed Barack Obama for president and as a result has assumed the unofficial status of a surrogate for the Obama 08 campaign; henceforth we shall speak in tandem with the campaign's ethos. Presidential candidate Barack Obama today, April 29th, 2008 DENOUNCED Jeremiah Wright and Icheoku concurs. Be that as it may, our earlier defense of Wright is as at the initial attacks on him but does not include his antics at the last National Press Club appearance and henceforth. All visitors are by this disclaimer so informed; and as you read the old article please know that Rev. Wright is now on his own!

Also worth mentioning is that whereas Hilary Clinton said that if she was Barack Obama that she would have left Rev. Wright's church when she did not leave Bill Clinton after Monica Lewinsky scandal; unbeknowst to the world the Clintons had a subsisting relationship with the said Reverend Jeremiah Wright (pictured with Bill above left) but what would you expect of a lying couple after the Bosnia sniper fire story and the I did not have sex with that woman Ms. Lewinsky mother of all lies?

Now our previous existing article "In defense of Barack Obama's pastor ........"

Democratic Party Presidential Nominee in the waiting Barack Obama’s pastor said something and Barack Obama’s head is being called for because Obama attends the church and Obama’s progress with the presidential race must be stopped at all cost. Should all catholic be held liable for the utterances of the pope or bishop or priests or be made responsible for the foibles of some catholic priests who molest their alter boys? Should every American be held responsible for the actions of President Bush including the wrongful war in Iraq, after-all he is our president and we listen to him regularly? Also we elected him twice and by extension tacitly approved of all his actions, utterances and stewardship. How far can this tent be extended to inculpate associates? What genre of liability is this guilty by association? Should the movie industry be held liable for all the violence and profanities in our country today since they pipe that information through their films to our minds on daily basis? This is a case of guilty by association which is over extended and stretched for political gains. The law talks about vicarious liability where a master is responsible for the implied authorized acts of his servant; but the same law never prescribed a form of responsibility for a servant for the acts of his master. The logic is clear and discernible because whereas the master can control his servant the reverse is the case with the servant. Obama is very junior in hierarchy to Pastor Wright and figuratively speaking is a “servant” of Pastor Dr. Wright and in no way should be held responsible for his utterances; and this is the law of vicarious liability.

But conversely Barack Obama is now being held to a standard unbeknownst to the law - that he should exert control over his overlord master, Pastor Wright who has been preaching the gospel as a pastor long before Obama ever arrived at the scene at United Trinity Church of Christ; and had contact with him more so becoming a member thereto. Who is Barack Obama to tell a pastor of a church, which has been in existence long before Obama’s advent unto the scene what he should say or not say? This is conspiracy of the highest order concocted to stop and derail his preeminent campaign; should they succeed, we shall survive but it adds to the well time-honored perception that America has not really moved on from her sordid past of treating one form of humanity as less human. Who knows whom the pastor of Hilary Clinton is? Who knows what church John McCain attends? It is horrifying that this God given opportunity for America to move beyond its bigoted past is nearing evaporation as a result of scared white folks who cannot stand the possibility of losing the last vestige of their authority – political power and by extension economic stranglehold.

However analytically speaking, what did Pastor Wright say that was out of the ordinary or was it just that we would rather sweep them under the carpet and pretend they do not exist or never existed for political expediency? Even as recently as 2004, a flood of biblical proportion swept through New Orleans and the haphazard response of the government was highly suggestive of the discriminatory attitude the blacks face in this country.
Dr. Wright also made reference to Nelson Mandela and apartheid South Africa which apartheid government was propped up by America but this comment fades in importance according to pundits compared to the tirade he made concerning America being a racist nation. None of the talking heads is saying that Nelson Mandela’s experience was a fantasy but would rather it is swept under the carpet rather than have a voice be put on it. According to the template, it should not be brought up not by Pastor Wright not by anybody, ever; so that it will not be known, if it is not known there wouldn’t be any restiveness and we can continue to enjoy our honeymoon. What was the bone here? Was it that the pastor was wrong about the statements or that he should not have brought it up in the first place? Let’s judge a man by the content of his character and the veracity of what he says and not eject him out of the arena of public discourse on really truthful issues we can make improvements upon; but only if it is discussed and understood. The five letter word “SORRY” is all that was needed to assuage old wounds of apartheid instead of the barrage of pontifications that are geared to derail a hurricane of a campaign which is sweeping so many people off the way, including the clawing Hilary Clinton. It is much ado about nothing and the American populace knows better than to associate an impeccable Barack Obama to the truth or lack thereof spoken by his pastor. If you have never walked in the shoes you would not know how it fits, so the "gotcha ya" crowd should just chill out, take a deep breathe and discuss issues that are important to the American people instead of all this diversionary antics to hoodwink people into not doing right this time around!

Secondly, the pastor made allusion to September11 and people called him unpatriotic but that was the reasons adduced by the terrorists as well as the Saudi Prince whose $10million USD donation, Rudy Giuliani rejected. All over the world America’s double standards are sort of gospel and no amount of killing or shouting down can ever take that perception away. What is needed is a round table conference on how we can do better but the profiteers of such topsy-turvy fluidly world would rather maintain the status-quo than tell Americans the real truth because if the problem is solved, their cash-cow would have been slaughtered forever and for good. It is the same with the Jesse Jackson and Rev Al Sharpton civil rights crusade wherein they perpetually harp on the racism in America without advising the African Americans on how to move out of their state of poverty and backbenchers status. Why would they solve the problem if it would cause them some hardship? What was the situation in apartheid South Africa with Nelson Mandela? What was the situation in Israel with the Palestine people? What is the situation with Egypt and Mubarak being in power since 1981 and we are preaching democracy? What is the situation with Shah of Iran and the Iranians when we overthrew their elected government and installed our puppet? What is the situation of Saddam Hussein with the weapons of mass destruction when we supplied same to him while he was fighting Iran? What is the logic of allowing Cuban refugees who touch land to remain in the US while repatriating such Haitians back to their home country? Why would you be willing to supply AIDS drugs to South Africa and ignoring all the pleas for food and one wonders, can a hungry man ever be cured of any illness? What is the situation of Afghanistan and the Russians when we fought and defeated the Russians by proxy of the mullahs? Should the Russians in return join the mullahs in Iraq or Afghanistan to fight us? Is it is Cambodia, Vietnam, the bay of pigs of Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, even during Nigeria/Biafra civil war. In defense of these actions, the pundits call it protecting Americans interests but the question remains, is this America just the white majority or are the minorities inclusive after all they also die wearing American uniforms. America’s Foreign policy sometimes come in conflict with fairness and I remember vividly the $180million USD bribe that was offered by Halliburton to Nigeria government officials for some LNG contract? What about the incessant oil spillages by American Chevron/Exxon-Mobil oil companies doing business in Africa particularly Nigeria? We are talking about double standards but a popular aphorism has it that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander so America should manifest to the world that we really mean what we say and say what we mean. Being a Pharisees turns a lot of deaf ears among the listening world and this fuels the disdain with which some humanity holds America and this was exactly what Pastor Wright was talking about.

Thirdly, suspicion abound amongst African Americans that the HIV/AIDS virus was invented as an experimental warfare virus and Africans were the chosen guinea pigs to test its efficacy. In as much as this has not been verified, but inferences derivative from past experiences and occurrences adds credence to such fearsome allegation. The Tuskegee airmen story is not a fable – Bill Clinton while a president had to apologize on behalf of the American government for intentionally experimenting and infecting these black airmen with syphilis. With such a backdrop, any other allegation such as inventing HIV/AIDS virus becomes "plausible" especially when it just magically appeared on the scene in the 80’s and the story surrounding Ebola virus equally comes to mind. In South Africa apartheid era, black men were allegedly injected with impotency causing vaccines to gradually decimate the black population and some of them were even fed the lions and this is while the apartheid government was still receiving the backing and support of American government.

Fourth the mega-drama playing out between the Israelis and the Palestine could have long been resolved were there to be any real intention and commitment on the part of America who have come to regard Israel as the 51st State in the union. It is fairness and common sense that will resolve the conflict and not force. A meaningful solution is what is called for – we have several twin cities in America such as Kansas City Missouri and Kansas City Kansas so Jerusalem could at least be shared as the respective political/religious capitals of both Israel and Palestine just for a start. Historically, these two people are from one person (Abraham) and through Ishmael and Isaac gave rise to two of them so who will give way to the other, especially when one of the bone of contention, Jerusalem is what both can empirically lay a valid claim to title to? The important thing is for America to start seeing the Palestine as humans just like the Israelis and deserving of some modicum of decent existence; but to continuously treat them as expendables would only lead to resentment which once in a while manifests itself as violence.

Finally, slavery was not a mere historically fable – no, it did happen and no one has so far apologized for the atrocities of slavery. Few months ago the newly elected Prime Minister of Australia Rudd, apologized for the abominations committed by early Australian settlers and government on the aborigines; yet any talk of reparations or formal apology for slavery has continuously been rebuffed by the American government and no one is expected to be angry about what happened? It is comparable to beating someone up and asking him not to cry – you cannot probate and reprobate at the same time. The American government’s arguments is that slavery was a thing of the past and that we all should move on but wait a minute, were the present crop of white Americans not descendants and beneficiaries of the white slave masters and one begins to ask, what is wrong in a child apologizing for the sins of his father? This issue of slavery and the refusal of the whites to apologize for and pay reparations thereto is one of the root-cause of the "angryness" and resentment among African Americans. Help solve the problem do the right thing, follow the example of Rudd of Australia and at least reduce the tension in the land. Admitted progress has been recorded but there is always room for improvements.

In conclusion therefore, truth will only save us – all the lack of trust and fear in America is a result of people not doing right by and for one another. Admitted America is a great country but it could be greater. America is a good country but it could be better. There is always room for improvements and it starts at a place and could earnestly start with a Barack Obama’s presidency. Let the good old white boys that run and control this country as correctly pointed out by Pastor Wright, please “permit” Barack Obama to achieve what he has worked so hard for – the presidency of United States of America. This and only this will forever put to rest the bigotry in America and finally prove that America has since moved on from its past. To find Barack Obama guilty by association of Rev, Jeremiah Wright is an effort in futility to stick something to the young impeccable man who has come to be known as Teflon OBAMA, period! It is not right; it is not just and we all must prepare ourselves both mentally and emotionally for the seismic shift of power. God’s speed Barack Obama as you trail-braze a milestone as the first black president of America. Let’s keep hope alive.

A Nigerian is African richest man!

Behold the face of an African Billionaire!

At last, an African has made it to the list of the world’s richest persons in a yearly survey conducted by Forbes, the influential American magazine. With an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion, Nigeria’s industrial magnate, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is ranked the 334th richest person in the world.He is one of the only two Africans who made the record-breaking list of 1,125 billionaires worth $4.4 trillion – the first time the rich-list would cross into four figures.The other African on the list is South Africa’s gold merchant, Mr. Patrice Motsepe, who is ranked 503 in the world.However, the overall wealthiest person in the world is no longer the Microsoft co-founder, Mr. Bill Gates, who had continuously enjoyed the richest-man label for 13 years.His friend and investment guru, Warren Buffet, is now the richest man in the world with $62 billion – an increase of $10 billion from the previous year. Buffet has enormous investments in Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Tesco, among several others.Although Gates’s fortune soared by $2 billion to $58 billion during the period surveyed, the Mexican communications magnate, Carlos Slim Helu, is ranked second with a net worth of $60 billion, pushing Gates to the third position.Dangote’s source of wealth, described as “inherited and growing” by Forbes, is traced to sugar, flour and cement manufacturing.The magazine wrote: “Nigeria’s first billionaire hit the jackpot when his sugar-production company listed on the Nigerian stock exchange last year… Began career as trader at 21 with loan from his uncle; built his Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, haulage and oil and gas.”Sources said last night that Dangote may worth more than $3.3 billion as Forbes’ evaluation may not have covered non-quoted companies that are privately owned by the business mogul. Such businesses include Obajana Cement, Dangote Cement, Alheri Engineering, Port Terminal Operations, Transport and Oil & Gas. Sources close to Dangote confimed that when Forbes contacted the billionaire, they were only able to ascertain an estimation of his net worth on the basis of his quoted companies such as Dangote Flour, Dangote Sugar and Benue Cement Company. Forbes was also said to have approached Dangote to feature him on their cover for this billionaire list edition which he politely declined.Speaking to THISDAY on phone from Dubai yesterday, Dangote said he was grateful to God, but was confident that more Nigerians would make the list next year.“The country is moving in the right direction,” he said. “Things are happening. I am very confident that in the years to come, Nigeria alone will boast of 100 billionaires who are entrepreneurs. The signs are very good for Nigeria. Next year, I expect at least five Nigerians to be on the list.”Dangote’s optimism is obviously shared by Forbes which noted that for the first time, the list cuts across the world."The reason for this explosion in wealth is that we're in the midst of a phenomenal global boom," Steve Forbes, Chief Executive of Forbes Magazine, said. "Never before in human history have so many people in so many parts of the world advanced so quickly economically as has happened in recent years."Americans account for 42 per cent of the world's billionaires and 37 per cent of the total wealth, but Forbes noted that those shares are down two and three percentage points, respectively, from last year. And 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, with 87 billionaires, is the new No. 2 country behind the US, overtaking Germany, with 59 billionaires, which held the honour for six years, the magazine noted.The world's richest woman is the French L'Oreal chief, Liliane Bettencourt, who is 17th on the list with a net worth of $22.9 billion. Other notable names on the rich-list include US chat-show host, Oprah Winfrey, worth $2.5 billion, property mogul, Donald Trump, $3 billion, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling $1billion.