All Hail Acting President Jonathan
Tweet At long last there calm in the Nigerian presidency. GoodLuck ,...
Changing our thoughts makes the difference
Tweet Sometimes we are tempted to think that the future is bleak….but...
The independence day gift of bomb blast
Tweet Our condolences to the families who lost relations in the Abuja...
What irony? What is happening in Kogi State
Tweet Section 80 (3) states as follows: No moneys shall be withdrawn...
Changing our thoughts makes the difference
Sometimes we are tempted to think that the future is bleak….but is what we think that makes us. What have we filled our hearts us? Songs of defeat? Like the children of Israel at the border of the Promised Land we say to ourselves that we are grasshoppers before our enemy giants!! But thats not true. We are great and victorious! We have overcome and our past, however bad, cannot keep us down! Yes we have overcome, if we can change our thinking
The independence day gift of bomb blast
Our condolences to the families who lost relations in the Abuja blasts
today.The loss is painful and no one can understand the pains and anger they
will be facing now.
More than anything the bombs remind us that we need to soberly rebuild Nigeria
and make it a place of peace and prosperity. It is only in the peace and
security of Nigeria that we can progress.
The bombs are a sad reminder that our security system is failing or has been
compromised by those we have entrusted it to.
What more can we say..11 people feared dead and scores injured.
Will the security that has not been able to hold down kidnappers help now that
the killers have let loose?
Yet this we believe that if we strengthen our communities we will be able to
fish out bad eggs, potential kidnappers and bombers.They will not have any
hiding place.
We need to also question whether these bombers who are who they say that they
are. Are they MEND or the Arewa politicians who say they will make the country
ungovernable if Jonathan does not give up his presidential ambition.
What irony? What is happening in Kogi State
Section 80 (3) states as follows: No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.
* No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly
The State House of Assembly has the same power and authority over all the finances of the State.
How come the State House of Assembly does not have money. How can the Legislature which has control over money not have money. This must the proverbial case of slave riding horses and princes walking on foot
Before we are thrown out of Nigeria: the tragedy of Government College Keffi
I was in Government College Keffi last Sunday to take the pictures of the College for a story the new magazine Nigeria Calabash.com (www.nigeriacalabash.com). What I saw in the College was not really very different from what I had seen in other schools. For those who care to know the school system has almost collapsed in Nigeria and its no use saying that we need to repair the schools.
I have so much believed in Keffi and its products that I have committed myself to the repair of the school, planning to donate books and computers. In the last four years I have borne the entire cost of registering the keffi old boys domain name, designing the website and hosting the site online. Every opportunity that I have in the last few years I have spoken about the school and the work that had been done there. Indeed my only tenuous connect to Yaradua, hence my sympathy for him, is the keffi connection, where we had religious tolerance. Christian prefects helped Muslim students to wake up and pray or prepare for their fasting.
While I was a student there was no Christian chapel. The Muslims had a mosque. Christian students used any of the science theatres, class rooms and the Assembly hall called Patient Hall for their activities. Sunday services, Easter activities, evening prayer meetings, Christmas carols and even conferences held in Patient hall. Now Keffi has changed, and taken a turn for the worse.
Now there are three mosques in Keffi and no chapel. Suddenly the fellowship of Christian Students, (FCS) to which belonged while schooling in Keffi, no longer has a place for worship. Besides, their three mosques, Muslim students have commandeered the Patient Hall, with the apparent support of the authorities. On Sunday mornings, Muslims students congregate in the Patient Hall for activities at the same time that service is supposed to be held. Christian students were asked to use the dining hall. Some students I spoke with told me that whenever the school has need for the dining hall they do not have a place of worship.
How did this start? In 2006 or therabout, a teacher punished a Muslim student for committing an offence. A normal situation in Keffi, where people are subjected to all types of disciple, which we now think did us a lot of good. However, Muslims students thought otherwise. They burnt down school buildings, burnt down the house of the teacher and of course, burnt down the FCS office and all its files and bibles. It is instructive that none of the three mosques in the College were burnt down. What as the reaction of the Government of Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu? The teacher, I am told was demoted and transferred out the school and demoted. What will the Muslims students? They area a law unto themselves and can do as they please.
What future for Nigeria
I have read people articulate and explain in great details the ills that have fallen upon this nation. I have heard very knowledgeable, and sometimes loud and ignorant people tell us the things that are wrong with Nigeria. They tell us how bad things are and how the people ruling have done so much wrong.
I have heard very few people tell me or explain what new Nigeria they want. the military boys who seized power from the civilian governments told us, for instance, how hospitals had been turned to “mere consulting clinics”…..Now for God’s sake, because they did not tell us where they were taking us, Nigerian found themselves in a forest where the clinic shave disappeared….. and no longer exist.
With the type of military incited carnage and genocide in Jos (Pray they columnists calling for vengeance and blood have seen some now) we must begin to stand up and SAY NO to the military.
I pray Goodluck Jonathan would wake up and tell us where he is taking us. With Obasanjo appearing to be peeping down his shoulders all those who cherish democracy and the sanctity of life as well as good governance and even application of the law must be very wary
All Hail Acting President Jonathan
At long last there calm in the Nigerian presidency. GoodLuck , true to his name is now acting President and his supporters are hoping that he would become president. Again, within four years replacing his unfortunate bosses.
There is however nothing to celebrate. Jonathan has simply been saddled with responsibilities that are historic. He has both the challenge and opportunity to change the face of this nation, challenges, his godfather, General Olusegun Obasanjo bungled.
There is the pressing need to keep the nation going, infuse confidence in the Nigerian project, set on course the good governance, ensure credible elections and tackle corruption which has pervaded every area of the Nigerian society. He has the chance to prove wrong the predictions of western security agencies that Nigeria will fizzle out.
Everything he needs to succeed are available to him. He has sympathetic public, a national Assembly that needs his leadership and direction, and of course, the oil money can be turned from being a curse to blessing. The international community has pledged its co operation and the service chiefs have pledged loyalty to him.
What is left is his individual resolve. He alone can decide whether to succeed or fail.
I pray he chooses to succeed. For him to succeed he must choose to step on the toes of the godfathers who do not want change and are comfortable with the way things are done in Nigeria. The arbitrariness in government manifesting in extra judicial killings and uneven application of the law must be addressed. The neglect of key infrastructural sectors such as education must be addressed immediately.
Our prayers are with Jonathan. He , however, must work hard to ensure that our prayers are answered.
Good news, court jails Bode George, five others
What good news!!! Finally the courts have come up with something good. A Lagos High Court, presided over by Justice Joseph Oyewole has found Chief Olabode George, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, guilty of fraud during his tenure as chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). George and five of his cohorts were found guilty on 40-count charge and sentenced to two and a half years each in prison without an option of fine.
This is the must cheering news in this era of institutionalised corruption that has besieged this nation
those of us that thought that the military was corrupt have been shamed by the brazen thievery that has characterised the last ten years of democracy in Nigeria. Governors have made no distinction between their private accounts and the accounts of the state governments. They stole and stole till they left office. The Governors that replace them have not been any better.
The theft that is going is simply impossible to manage.
The people of the country have been left impoverished and traumatised. The poverty level is so high that almost every sector of the polity is oozing out some terrible stench. Governors and government officials have simply acted as 410 scammers.
But what did we really expect? If these people could steal the right of the people to vote what other property of the people would they not steal?
The courts have done well therefore by jailing Ali Baba and company (Olabode George etal) for their actions while they were to serve the people. Of course there are more Ali Babas roaming about in the country. I am yet to recover from the shock that the security agencies left a two time convicted common thief rule this country for eight years as Governor. I don’t believe that there is nothing that can be done. In filling his INEC forms to contest elections, the former Governor was asked to state whether he had ever been convicted. It is obvious that he perjured himself by saying no. Now that evidence has emerged that he was once convicted and he lied about it, he can be taken in for perjury, and I believe, forgery. That the Attorney General,and Minister of Justice, and the police force as well as the INEC have kept quite over this International scandal means that they were accomplices either before or after the act or are hiding more people who should be in jail rather than in the corridors of power. Why would the international community take Nigeria seriously when such revelations are made and the appropriate government agencies fail to take action?
And how about the judges that have prevented some of these Governors from investigation? Should they not resign honourably? Are they happy that this nation is being destroyed by their actions?
Now that the militants are back home
Finally the amnesty deadline has passed. The militants have handed over their weapons (or those they cannot hide) President Umaru Musa YarAdua must be having some sound sleep.
Lets hope that in two months time, the power situation in Nigeria will improve; no more Nigerians and foreigners will be taken hostage.
Of course the oil export numbers should improve and the money available to spend should also increase very considerably.
For the militants? They can now move freely; chase the most beautiful girls on the streets of Abuja; but the most fashionable cars around and avail themselves of the choicest properties around. Of course for those who know they can have the best economic advisers to help them wash the money they stashed up blowing oil fields, extorting from oil companies, conniving with thieves of oil and largesse from government agents.
For us, the wretched of the earth, let us hope that the militants have truly repented and will no longer abduct people, even innocent kids. Let us pray that they will no longer have a reason to take up some of the arms they have hidden and let us pray that those arms dont blow up in the face of innocent people. Above all, we need to pray that this handshake across the creeks does not encourage other dispossessed youths in other parts of the country to take up arms also. For they may just imagine that militancy maybe the easiest route to a presidential handshake.
However, it would be greatly appreciated if the repented militants would be given a facility tour of Nigeria to see how their oil has enriched places like Taraba, Jigawa, Sokoto, Plateau, Gombe, Adamawa and Borno states. When they go round and see that all parts of Nigeria are in dire need of development, they may just consider joining the fight for electoral reforms. For it is only when the people can select, discipline or remove their leaders that we can begin to consider issues of development.
Of course President Umaru Musa YarAdua knows very well that if the current state of anomie continues and the poverty sinks its teeth deeper into the skin of Nigerians, militancy will outlive his amnesty. In any case, militancy simply put is lawlessness, as defined by government. How lawful is the current government and its official… not simply about elections? Militants in a state that is failing like Nigeria, simply do by other means what government officials and even security agencies are doing. Thank God, at least YarAdua does not have the excuse not to give us 600 megawatts of power by December.
When the Heavens are closed
Everybody on this planet earth goes through trying moments. There is no uniformity in the nature of the trials that we face. It is also obvious that no one person faces a situation that other people are not facing. The experiences are often unique. Our reactions to them are also unique.
For some it is the end of a relationship, rejection by a spouse or lover, the death of a beloved person, demotion in the office or stagnation. For others it may be the spurning or rejection of love. The experiences are usually heart rendering and only the persons going through them would really appreciate and understand.
Reactions to such trials can either lead to the strengthening of a person or weakening. The pressure building lead to depression or even death. Much as we would like to, no one can really stop trying moments from knocking on his or her door. If you have passed through them, it is time to prepare for more to come. If in the improbable situation that you have successful avoided them, then it is time to begin to prepare, the next knock on your door may be such a pleasant surprise.
1. Be like the ant
The bible speaks of the wisdom of the ant- especially of its skill in gathering up its food in summer. Winter for those who live in the climate will surely come. What do people do when winter begins to knock. They heat up their houses; change their clothing, long dark and damp nights. We prepare for know that trails will come. People will betray us. The sizzling love affair will wane and the excitement will reduce. We should build up our emotions for these untoward events.
2. Spring will come again
Winter never lasts forever. Every problem has an expiry time boldly imprinted on it. As surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, and the dark ominous clouds above us will disappear, be settled in your mind that, though the beloved person has died, you will have joy again, laughter will come to your mouth again. The better, if you are a born again Christian! Your promotion will come; they will be great and mighty in the land! Your poverty will develop wings and fly away. Are you in captivity or prison, why not sing with the children of Israel when the Lord took away our captivity, we were like them that dream dreams
3. Dream
See the light at the end of the mind. It is good to see a head not psychic. You will reach where you see. So what are you dreaming about? Are you focussed on the dark damp winter? Or the spring that is ahead? Dont you know that, if you just fly a little bit higher you rise above the clouds. The clouds are low flying objects. They dont reach up so high. They are more frightful than real. Dream victory! Dream success! Dream joy! Wake up with a smile on your face and say it is well.
4. Consider other people
Often times when people are going through trials, they get too focused on themselves. Instead of looking at yourself and your situation, you may consider thinking kindly about other people going through your situation. You just discover that you are neither alone nor the first person going through such situation. If you can pray, pray for people in such similar situation; you can lend a helping hand. This will help to bring healing faster than you think.