Anglican Priest,Jasper Akinola, Kidnapped And Rescued

Few months back the Dean of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, was kidnapped and was freed by his abductors (check here: http://revealinvisible.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/kidnapped-anglican-archbishop-freed.html ).And this time, former  Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Reverend (Dr) Peter Jasper Akinola, was on Tuesday, kidnapped in Ogun State but according to Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Yusuf Olaniyonu, he had been rescued by men of Ogun State police command around the Ilaro axis of the state.

Wakeup GEJ Before It is Too Late By Chukwuemerie Uduchukwu

 

 

 

 

 

After reading Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter and President Goodluck Jonathan’s reply, coupled with the recent meeting of  APC leaders with Obasanjo, I was depressed.

Obasanjo revealed some truth about Nigeria but the body of his letter showed a frustrated man.

The best thing for President Jonathan to do now is to focus on governance and win the hearts of Nigerians.

Obasanjo has only one vote and he cannot be bigger than over 160 million Nigerians.

However The most painful issue is that the present administration is full of lapses and President Jonathan can’t deny that.

The gross lapses of the present government serves as catalyst to the ‘Open Letters’

But the truth is that President Jonathan possess more weapons to defeat his
political enemies.

These weapons include good governance and sincerity of purpose. If well utilised,
OBJ and co will have no option than to surrender.

If Jonathan embarks on massive road construction, actualise steady power
supply and sincerely fight corruption, who is Obasanjo?

What gave the former president morale to write the open letter is nothing but the administrative weakness of the present government.

This made Obasanjo to feel that he is a better man, and that motivated him to write the open letter.

If our roads have been massively fixed, our tertiary institutions fully equipped, hospitals upgraded, steady power supply achieved, Corruption sincerely addressed and our security advanced, the former president will never see a reason for such letter.

Another problem with the current administration is that it allowed itself to be surrendered by wrong aides and advisers.

President Jonathan should sit up and sack all these selfish men and women around him.

Mr. President should note that anyone commending him with the current state of
the economy did not love him and his administration.

Sit up Mr President and your political enemies will surrender. You are elected to
serve Nigerians and not Obasanjo or PDP.

Nigeria is own by Nigerians and not by the elite or any group.

May God bless Nigeria

SaharaTV Interview with Goodluck Jonathan On The Streets Of New York

I love this Sahara reporter, she hit the nail on the head. And our President, I do not know he stammer.

Mikel Obi Scores His First Premier League Goal

After seven years and 185 premier league games, Mikel Obi finally score his first premier league goal.
Mikel score Chelsea's second goal against Fulham in Stamford Bridge.

Kidnapped Anglican Archbishop Freed

The kidnapped  Dean of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey has been freed by his abductors.
Kattey, who was abducted along with  his wife, Beatrice last week  Friday along Aleto-Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of River State, was freed on Saturday night.
His release  was confirmed by the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, who said the cleric was rescued by the police and other security forces.

Culled from The Nation

Peter of P-Square 'Tabon' for Twitter

Peter Okoye of Psquare recently had an online spat with a Twitter follower, who spotted a grammatical error in the singer’s tweet at KCee of Limmpopo fame. While congratulating his colleague, who recently joined the league of entertainers with interests in oil and gas business, Peter wrote, “Personally, welcome on bored.” A smart Alec quick to spot the error tweeted back at the singer saying, “Bored!!!Shaking my head!!!Empty head!!” .An angry Peter immediately blocked the follower and retorted, “Appreciate if you correct me, but don’t insult me. My block button is very active.

Meet Kristy Love: She Makes Thousands of Dollars Massaging Clients With Her 48NN Breasts .

A busty masseuse who couldn’t get a job in a health spa because she was too big has now set up a successful business - massaging clients with her 48NN breasts.

Kristy Love, from Atlanta, Georgia in America, spent a year training only to be turned down for a job, but now earns more than a thousand dollars a day ribbing and smothering clients with her massive boobs.

She admits she was unsure at first, but after one client asked if she was going to take her top off, she revealed how clients wanting her to hit them over the head with one breast has boosted her self-confidence.

"When I finished massage school, no one wanted to hire me," said Kristy, who is known as BBW Kristy Love.



“I kept getting asked if I'd be able to stand on my feet all day. People assumed my size would be a disadvantage. No-one ever called me back.

“I decided to give massages from home and then one customer asked if I was going to keep my top on.

“At first, I was indignant and said I didn't give those kinds of massages,” she explains. “I was ashamed of my body because I was so big.

“But when I realised there might be something in breast massages I put an advert in the local newspaper and the phone began ringing off the hook.

“At first it was difficult to get over my body issues and I would only give massages with the lights off.

“But the more compliments I got from my clients, the more my confidence was boosted. It has really helped me get over my low self-esteem.”

Kristy, who is single, was already a B cup as a nine-year-old, but they rocketed to a NN when she got older.

Big breasts run in her family – her oldest sister, Denise, 51, was also a size 52NN until she had them reduced to an H cup.

But it didn’t sit well with their strict Jehovah’s Witness upbringing.

Kristy, who was also married to a Jehovah’s Witness for six years before divorcing, dressed as conservatively as possible – hiding her bosom under high-necked tops and baggy shirts.

But she says it didn’t stop the unwanted attention and, when her back ached under the weight, she found herself cursing her big chest.

Today she wouldn’t dream of getting rid of her prized assets, which she calls her ‘bread and butter’

In the past two years her weight has rocketed from 15 to 23 stone – thanks to binges on full American breakfasts, hamburgers and fries, fried chicken and her favourite snack – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

But Kristy isn’t ashamed of her size – saying business is booming as a result.

Not only does Kristy offer squashing as a service, she also practices body gliding, which involves covering herself in oil and sliding over the customer.

She added: "I have to keep an eye out when I'm squashing someone. I look at their feet and their fingers to make sure there is still movement there and they’re still breathing."

Kristy massaging client

Business may have rocketed in recent years – but Kristy admits she’s faced opposition.

Her doctor has told her that her weight is unhealthy and prescribed her diet pills – but Kristy is worried her boobs will shrink if she slims down so she threw them away.

She said: "My weight isn't an issue at the moment, but the doctor was concerned that it might be in the future. He said I was at risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease.

"But that doesn't run in my family so it doesn't bother me. I could be hit by a truck, I can't keep worrying about those things that could happen in the future. I just live each day as it comes."

Her family is also against her vocation – but for different reasons.

She says: "They're totally against it. Obviously it goes against their moral code - they don't understand it. Also, because I'm the biggest in the family, I embarrass them. But no matter how many times they call me 'thunder thighs', I'll never be ashamed of my body."





Culled from Mirror

Edo State Governor Grant The Teennage Stowaway Scholarship

Bible said ''the gift of a man will make a way for him', I believe this is the story of the stowaway boy,Daniel Oikhena as Gov, Oshiomole grant him schorlarship.
 Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomole, made this disclosure during the visit of Mr. George Uriesi, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and members of his management team at the Government House  Wednesday.
In governor's word, “Without meaning to encourage anyone else, we decided to support him by sending him to one of the top secondary schools in Edo State that is owned by the government.
“The reason for opting for a boarding school is that we think that they need to closely watch him which his parents could not do.
“He is an intelligent young man with uncommon challenges, but one that has a vision. We had him examined by people who should know and the result confirmed that he is normal.”

*I hope we will not see another stowaway very soon with this kind of gesture.*

Ibori Recommended Waziri For EFCC Job – Obasanjo

 

 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the appointment of Mrs. Farida Waziri as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission slowed down the fight against corruption in the country.

 Obasanjo, in an exclusive interview he granted Zero Tolerance, a magazine published by the EFCC,  said Waziri was a wrong successor to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer chairman of the anti-graft agency.

The former President, whose administration established the  EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, added that  he was aware that convicted  former Delta State Governor,  James Ibori, played a major role in  her  appointment.

He said, “I know that the woman they brought in to replace Ribadu was not the right person for that job  because I understood that one of those who head-hunted her was Ibori. If  Ibori, who is now in a UK (United Kingdom) prison for fraud, head-hunts somebody who will fight corruption in Nigeria, then you can understand what happened.”

  To butress his argument that Waziri was a wrong person for the job, he challenged the publication to “go and look at her track record.”

 “Go and look at the condition or the qualification; go and look at the type of interaction that anybody holding that job will have with a similar organisation elsewhere; did Waziri have that type. What connection did she have with the FBI, what relationship did she have with Metropolitan Police in London. It’s not a picnic,”Obasanjo  added.

Waziri, a retired senior police officer, was appointed head of the EFCC in 2008 after the controversial exit of  Ribadu, who was  also a former police officer.

Obasanjo  commended   Ribadu, saying his performance as the  EFCC boss helped reduce corruption in Nigeria and improved her rating by the Transparency International.

He said, “When I was there, the EFCC and ICPC worked tirelessly and we moved this country from the corruption perception index being number two from the lowest to number 45 from the lowest. We should have graduated from being number 45 to being number 50 to being number 60, to being number 100. But we are not doing that, rather we have started sliding down.”

The former President flayed  the manner Ribadu was removed from office, saying he cautioned  the late President Umaru Yar’Adua against  his  removal.

Obasanjo said if given the opportunity again, “I will reappoint Mallam Ribadu and I will not dismiss him the way he was dismissed from the EFCC.”

He, however, criticised  Ribadu for hobnobbing “with people he had declared as corrupt.”

Asked to rate the incumbent EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, on the fight against corruption, Obasanjo, said he did not know how to score him.

  But he recalled that Lamorde was directly involved  when he requested the anti-graft agency to investigate him.

He said, “I was investigated. I told  the EFCC to investigate me. I told the  EFCC to carry out clinical investigation and they did.

 “They also did same with all people on my farm. One of them was telling me the other day how Lamorde called him three times and took statements from him. The EFCC even made sure they did not submit that report to me; they waited until I left and updated their report after going round the world and saying look this is the report. Nobody should be below board in the fight against corruption.”

 The Egba chief  also  expressed concerns about the perceived corruption in the judiciary, saying  it required the efforts of all Nigerians to check the trend.

In a separate interview with Zero Tolerance, Waziri denied that Ibori supported her appointment as the EFCC chairman.

 She said, “I never knew him. I never knew James Ibori.

 “Let me ask you, if I was in league with Ibori and was not sincerely pursuing him, would he have run, gone out of this country to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates?

 “It is all lies of the enemies.  By the time I write my book,  the truth will prevail. I never knew Ibori; look I believe what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. I don’t believe in half measures. By my training and upbringing, I can never betray my country for anyone.”

 Justifying her appointment, Waziri said she secured the first conviction  in the history of the  EFCC.

“N190bn, one single recovery from one person that went to jail was during Farida Waziri. That is why it is good to have changes in an organisation”, she added.

Waziri faulted the manner she was sacked by the Goodluck Jonathan administration despite committing more than  30 years  to serving the nation.

 She said she learnt  of  her removal  in November 2011  in the news media and stated that she did  not deserve the humiliation since she had not been found wanting for any misdemeanour.

“If you are removed like that, it has a tendency to scare some people. I wasn’t bothered that I left because my philosophy of life is simple, ‘what has a beginning has an end,’’  Waziri said.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has said that it secured 80 convictions in eight months.

The 80 were part of the 368 cases charged to court.

In a statement by its Acting Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, the commission said it had also recovered N6,583,108,350 ; $19,251,519; 20,520 Euros and £19,000.

“Beyond the recovery, the EFCC intensified the prosecution of politically-exposed persons, failed bank executives, captains of industry, beneficiaries of fraudulent oil subsidy payments and senior civil servants involved in pension fraud.

“A number of cases for which investigations have been concluded, would be charged to courts across the zones where the Commission maintains offices as soon as the courts resume from recess.

“The commission deplored attempts by mischievous elements to distract it by imputing political motives to some of its investigations.”

 

Culled from Punch Newspaper

Cabinet Reshuffle:President Jonathan Sacked Nine Ministers

President Jonathan's administration has sacked nine serving ministers in the name of cabinet reshuffle (yes, cabinet reshuffle or did I hear you say politics). Those affected are:

Education minister - Ruqayat Rufai ( nobody can question this, after all this strike but this is also a dent on President image)
Minister of State for Power - Zainab Kunchi
Minister of State for Agriculture - Buka Jinani.
Minister for National Planning - Shamsudeen Usman.
Minister for Science&Technology - Ita Okon.
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Olugbenga Ashiru (This is one of the shining light in Jonathan's cabinet but payback time for Obasanjo) 
Minister for Lands - Ama Pepple, (Rotimi Amaechi's connection)
Minister for Environment - Hadiza Mailafia
Minister of State for Defence -Erelu Olusola Obada ( Olagunsoye Oyinlola's connection).


 

Baby Bride Of Eight Dies of Internal Injuries After First Night of Sex With 40 year old Groom

An eight-year-old child bride has died in Yemen of internal bleeding sustained during her wedding night after being forced to marry a man five times her age, activists have claimed. 

The girl, identified only as Rawan, died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia. 

Activists are now calling for the groom, who is believed to be around 40 years old, and her family to be arrested so they can face justice in the courts.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has attracted the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.
Yemen's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to 'bride-prices' that can be hundreds of dollars for their daughters.
More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report in 2010 by the Social Affairs Ministry.
Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.
In September 2010, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organisation said.
Yemen once set 15 as the minimum age for marriage, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter marries.





Source:DailyMail

Naija Bus Tickets At Oya.com

Here is a good news from Nigeria, you can now buy your intercity bus tickets online through Oya.com.ng.
Oya.com.ng is Nigeria's largest online bus tickets service with operations across the nation. Nigerian can now save themselves from the stress of long queues and other hassles associated with bus travel by placing a call to Oya.com care lines or visit their website to book for their ticket .
Customer have the option of:
- Choosing their bus seat
- Booking return tickets (at a discounted rate)
- Comparing prices
- Choosing from amongst multiple bus operators, boarding points and timings

Couple Sue Gynaecologist After Post-Birth Surgery, Says Vagina Too Tight For Sex

A couple are suing a gynaecologist, claiming surgery he performed after the woman gave birth, left her vagina too tight to have sex.

The woman gave birth to a baby boy in September 2010 and was given an episiotomy by Dr Guy Bolduc in CHUL hospital in Quebec, Canada.

The procedure sees a doctor or midwife making a cut in the woman’s perineum (the area between the vagina and anus) to widen the opening during delivery, the NHS explains.

Dr Bolduc noted an internal vaginal tear after the baby was born and performed surgery to repair it, the Toronto Sun cites the lawsuit, filed in Quebec’s Superior Court on 29 August, as stating.

The paper reports Dr Bolduc advised the 36-year-old woman to avoid sex for six weeks to allow time for healing.

But the plaintiff was unable to have penetrative sex until more than a year later and claims she still finds it too painful, despite prescriptions of vaginal estrogen cream and exercises with a vaginal dilator.

The woman is seeking damages of $225,000 and her husband wants $75,000 for pain and suffering.

Source: Huff Post

My Trillion Naira Letter to President Jonathan By Dele Momodu

Your Excellency, I’m compelled to write you again today since I don’t have any other form of access to deliver this to you. I’m also not sure you read the other open letters I have written to you, especially ‘My Kobo Advise to Mr President’. If you did I hope that you digested the content and pondered on them as I expected you would. My doubts are due to your continued actions.

You must be wondering why I have chosen the present title. The reason is not far-fetched. Since my Kobo advice seems not to have resonated with you and your aides, and our budgets are now quoted in trillions, this title is ostensibly symbolic and truly emblematic of our latest craze and propensity for mentioning figures that most calculators won’t be able to evaluate.

The decision to write this latest epistle was reached after watching the bizarre movie that was acted by your fellow party men and produced by very senior directors of your seemingly formidable political organisation. Let me confess that no scriptwriter would have visualised such melodrama on any regular day. If anyone had ever suggested that such a humiliating scenario would occur we would have dismissed it as a product of a cruel imagination or lunacy. But we saw this one before our very eyes and became stupefied to say the least.

Let me assure you, Sir that it is in the nature of politics and politicians for such brickbats to occur. We must thank God for little mercies because we are lucky in these parts that citizens don’t pelt their leaders with rotten eggs and juicy tomatoes. You would remember that someone once threw shoes, javelin-like, at President George Bush during a Press conference and his face could have been badly bruised and readily bloodied but for the fact that his reflexes were superbly efficient and automatically responsive.

It is for this reason that I wish you can put the matter behind you as quickly as possible and forgive even if you cannot forget. It is sad that you apparently did not envisage the tragedy that was going to befall your party and tear your members asunder. Those of us on the side-lines knew it was a matter of time before the implosion would ignite and ricochet across the land like an Iraqi bomb. The collapse of a party that had held Nigeria by the jugular for the past 14 years was destined to carry some collateral damage with it.

If you and your aides were politically savvy, you probably would have managed the situation better. And if the truth must be told, most of strategists you parade are nothing but tyros who know little or nothing about the complexities that make up Nigeria. They sit in their gilded cage of Aso Rock and forget you are inhabitants of the place today through the sheer trickery of providence and convoluted collaboration of godfathers.

If your kitchen cabinet understood the rudiments of politics, they would have hopefully averted this monumental disaster by avoiding a war they were bound to lose before it even started. They allowed you to be messed up and tossed around due to their gross incompetence and pomposity. Your rabid supporters are behaving like the peacock or to be more precise like the soldiers of fortune that most political jobbers are often are in Nigeria. Pity is they still can see the handwriting on the wall nor decipher the code of grand conspiracy that is so palpable. They are gloating all over the place and deluding themselves about the power of life and death which you wield as the Nigerian President. But a power misused is a power wasted. Reality is not all wars are won through the use of force or violence.

I will now go ahead to highlight some of the terminal mistakes made by your embattled camp and juxtapose with what I consider to be the practical solutions to these humongous problems. Whether we like former President Olusegun Obasanjo or not he’s a man who truly believes in the unity of Nigeria. I cannot but be very charitable to him on this occasion. As a man who played a crucial role during the Nigerian civil war, I believe this has made him permanently paranoid and terminally neurotic about the likelihood of Nigeria ever breaking up in his lifetime or even thereafter. Obasanjo was therefore the one man God used to make it possible for an Ijawman to ultimately become the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

It is no longer relevant or important to us if Obasanjo did what he did genuinely out of love for the so-called minorities to have a chance or for very personal and selfish reasons. Even if his decision to install as President and Vice President a sickly Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and a taciturn Dr Goodluck Jonathan is turning dangerously pyrrhic, credit must still go to Baba Iyabo that he fulfilled all righteousness by handing power to you through the backdoor, thus empowering you to grab the chicken that lays the golden eggs that we all savour today. The essence of this unusual but objective hagiography on Obasanjo today is that you should have done everything humanly possible to tolerate and accommodate his human foibles and overt idiosyncrasies.

The costliest mistake you ever made was to have allowed your relationship with a veteran of many wars to degenerate to the level fisticuffs or what the Yoruba call ‘roforofo’. It is a battle you can’t afford to fight because you have no chance of winning it at the end of the day. Please try and tell those illusionists who typically swarm around the corridors of power like locusts that if they have forgotten how God brought you to the pinnacle of the temple, your memory and gratitude are intact. And that you will never encourage Lucifer to send you on a kamikaze dive.

The second mistake was the manner your acolytes exposed your second term bid prematurely. It was totally unnecessary. As an African, you must be aware of the adage that a wise man always keeps the name of his impending baby to himself until after his wife delivers. The manner they’ve been threatening hellfire and brimstone if you don’t secure a second term has been very rude, crude and outlandishly provocative. No Jupiter can stop you from running if you so desire and eventually decide to try your luck again. It is true that you promised to serve only one term but it is still entirely your privilege and prerogative to change your mind. That can’t be a crime because we all do it most of the time. It is also your Constitutional right and you should not have been lured into dissipating some badly-needed energy on useless rigmarole and semantics.

Sir, if I were you I would have concentrated rigidly and passionately on delivering the dividends of democracy by making life better for the generality of Nigerians. Your greatest armour against real and imagined enemies is performance. If you can make conscious effort to curb the wasteful ostentation and the obsession for pomp and pageantry ascribed to your office I’m certain even your vociferous critics would become your assiduous fanatics. What you have advertently done by abandoning governance on the altar of pecuniary politics is to allow your common enemies to gang-up and have enough time to mobilise their war-chest, assemble their arsenal and fire their long-range missiles.

The third mistake is the commonest in all wars known to mankind. You opened up your flanks by fighting too many people on too many fronts. Only a poor General does that. In the haste to crush the rebellion of some of your former foot-soldiers as well as your implacable enemies, you got sucked in because you were stupendously engaged in too many directions. This was bound to take its toll on you and your combatants. Coupled with that was the obvious fact that you underrated your opponents. That is usually a regrettable strategy in guerrilla warfare.

It should have been clear to you that you had to employ a new, even if temporary, modus operandi once the Governors loyal to you were soundly and roundly beaten by the Amaechi supporters. If I were you Sir, I would have made a tactical withdrawal by sticking to the lie that I knew nothing about the Nigeria Governors Forum crisis and maintain my straight poker face. I would have reassessed the efficacy of those who sold the dummy that all was well but could not deliver the goods after fallen jejunely for the scam of collecting some fake signatures. What I expected you to do was to accept the temporary defeat with equanimity and invite Rotimi Amaechi into a room and embrace him warts and all.  You seemed to have done this at Port Harcourt Airport and expected you build on that window of opportunity. I was one of those who saluted your statesmanship on that occasion but was sorely disappointed when you allowed the opportunists to send you back to the trenches.

I still don’t know who subsequently persuaded you to fall for the self-immolating decision to continue to recognise the Jang faction when it was obvious the man lost the election fair and square. That was the moment you lost all moral authority and rights by allowing some political adventurers to drag you down the depths of their abject pettiness. You should have borrowed a leaf from Obasanjo’s experience with the once powerful Atiku Abubakar who controlled the Governors and practically brought the former President on his knees begging for support. As a veteran soldier, Obasanjo was sufficiently trained in the art and science of tactical retreat.  The crafty General knows that he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

The example of Obasanjo’s strategic cowardice was very instructive and opulently didactic. As he told everyone who cared to listen: what Atiku did was tantamount to pulling out a loaded gun and pointing it at his head. He knew it was no use arguing with a man who could pull the trigger in a mere matter of seconds. The only option left was to use the power of native intelligence and foxiness by persuading the man not to commit premeditated murder. Once Atiku made the error of pitying his supposed prey and showing mercy, he became a dead man walking himself. Same goes for James Ibori who walked into a similar trap.

Sir, though your case is slightly different it still bears some resemblance to that of Obasanjo. Your infantry men wasted all your bullets without catching an antelope not to talk of capturing elephants, the king of the forests. You should have wooed Amaechi to your side at all cost because he was apparently equal to all your own combined forces. A hunter should always be proud of a brave son. You can do with a few guys like that in the days of tribulation. It is noteworthy that Governors control their states. How do you hope to secure your second term ambition if you control less than half of the states in the country? What is more, Amaechi is capable of delivering one of the largest votes to you from Rivers State or conversely waste most of it if he decides to be vengeful.

Finally, I wish to assure you Sir that it is not an act of timidity to seek peace and tranquillity in a country where everything seems to be going haywire. Whosoever tells you to unleash terror and mayhem on your enemies is not a true friend. Elections are won as a game of figures. The candidate who is able to attract the largest number of voters becomes electable. Rigging may never work like it used to due to several developments in the world. The New Media, otherwise known as Social Media, is breaking down walls of intimidation and oppression. Telephony and the internet combined have become more lethal than most conventional weapons. At the touch of buttons, many wonders can instantly unfold and make it possible to monitor occurrences in distant places. There is also the human factor, like the case of that Kwara man who rejected the fake election that awarded him victory when he knew in his heart that he lost. Mass education is beginning to change how we do many things even if slowly.

Your best bet is to stay on the path of honour, peace, equity, justice and unimpeachable truth. God has been too kind to you. Even if you return to your village today, you have enjoyed what no one has ever attained before which is being permanently in power and high positions since coming into relevance and prominence from relative obscurity. There is nothing more to add. If you work harder on a few of the content of your Transformation Agenda, you may easily end up as a hero. Getting a second term if you stay lucky will then be icing on your national cake. You don’t need all this stress and blackmail in the name of seeking what is not necessarily glorious. I read somewhere that a man is powerful when he controls power and powerless when power controls him. The choice is yours.

Sir, permit me to conclude with a powerful Yoruba proverb: when we are praying not to be put to shame but the prayer is not instantly answered we should start praying that God should at least keep us alive.
This is my story. This is my song.                  

America Senate Gives Obama Go Ahead To Bomb Syria

America Senate committee, on Wednesday, passed a resolution to bomb Syria in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons on August 21 that killed over 1,400 people as they slept in their homes.The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10 to 7, with one present, to let President Barack Obama mount a bombing campaign aimed at the Syrian regime's weapons of mass destruction for up to 90 days, albeit within a more limited scope than Obama had requested. Specifically, the committee included language that would prohibit the use of U.S. troops on the ground "for the purpose of combat operations."
The President told Congressional leaders he wants to “degrade Assad’s capabilities”. He said: “We have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition (and) allow Syria ultimately to free itself from the terrible civil war, death and activity that we've been seeing.”

Source: Huff Post

Crisis In PDP: Atiku,Oyinlola,Amaechi And 6 Other Governors Form New Faction.

Exactly 15 years after the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed, it broke into two factions on Saturday  in Abuja.
The spate of crises afflicting the party  since inception reached its peak when top leaders of the party walked out on President Goodluck Jonathan at the party’s Special  National Convention to form what has been christened New PDP.
Those who left the convention venue to form a factional PDP were a former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,  seven governors, three ex-governors and scores of Senators and  members of the House of Representatives.
The aggrieved leaders addressed a crowded press briefing at about 4pm at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua where  they sacked the Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee of the party.
A former acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje was appointed the new National Chairman of the party.
The sacked National Secretary of PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was reinstated  as  the party’s scribe.
Sam Jaja was also  returned as the Deputy National Chairman of the party.
Other members of the new National Working Committee would be announced on Monday.
Amidst backslapping and liberation songs, the PDP leaders said there was no going back in putting a new leadership in place for PDP.
Those at the session were Atiku, Governors Sule Lamido; Rabiu Kwankwaso; Abdulafatai Ahmed; Babangida Aliyu; Aliyu Wammako; Murtala Nyako; and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
Others were the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar  Shagari; the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Musa Ibeto; the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari; ex-Governor Abdullahi Adamu ( who was a former Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the PDP); ex-Governor Mohammed Sha’aba Lafiagi; ex-Governor Olagunsoye
Also in attendance were  some members of the National Assembly including the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibril, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Mohammed Zakary; Hon. Dakuku Peterside; Senator Magnus Abe; and all statutory delegates and members of the National Assembly from the seven states.
As the presence of each of the political heavyweights was announced, shouts of ”  Chanji  dole 2015″ ( Change in 2015 A Must) filled the hall.
The confidence radiated by all the governors suggested that some notable leaders of the party were pulling the strings to effect change in PDP.
In his speech,  Baraje, who was a former National Secretary of the party, said:”We address you today as leaders of PDP, who are worried by the increasing repression, restrictions of freedom of association, arbitrary suspension of members and other such violations of democratic principles by a faction of our party led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur .
“While we have done everything humanly possible to bring to the attention of critical stakeholders within the party the dangers inherent in the course being charted by that leadership, it has become very clear that the desperate permutations towards 2015 general elections have blinded certain people from the consequences of their actions.
“Not only has the constitution of the party been serially violated  by Alhaji Tukur and fellow travelers, all the organs of the party have been rendered virtually ineffectual by a few people who act as though above the law. “Unfortunately, it is obvious that that they get encouragement from the presidency whose old calculations are geared towards shutting out any real or imagined opposition ahead of the party’s presidential primaries for the 2015 elections.”

Culled from The Nation

Ali Afifi, Egyptian Man Addicted To Stealing Cuts Off Own Hands In Line With Sharia Law

An habitual thief who was left so ashamed by his uncontrollable urge to steal, took the drastic step of cutting off his own hands.
Ali Afifi is believed to have been motivated by Sharia law when he amputated both hands in separate incidents.
The Egyptian lost his first hand by holding it under the wheels of a train five years ago.




His shocked father had him institutionalised, but the 28-year-old repeated the action with the other hand upon his release.
Afifi, who posed for these pictures this week, is said to have asked a Muslim scholar to sever his hands because he could not stop stealing “after losing the war against the devil,” Emirates 247 reported last year.
Afifi said: “But the Sheikh refused my request, saying he is not a ruler or in a decision-making position to take such a decision… he advised me to repent and seek God’s help... I then decided to cut my hands off.”
Describing his addiction as a "disease", Afifi began stealing lunches from friends as a child, before moving onto items in shops, mobile phones and gold jewellery, the Mail Online reveals.
Sharia law is practised in many strict Muslim countries and typically involves harsh punishments for murder, theft and adultery.
Interpretation of the law can vary between cultures, but it is commonly agreed the punishment prescribed for theft is the removal of the thief's hand.
“[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands in recompense for what they earned [i.e. committed] as a deterrent [punishment] from Allaah. And Allaah is Exalted in Might and Wise,” Islam Web cites the Koran as saying.
Amputation for habitual stealing is still practiced in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and northern Nigeria, the Inquisitr points out.
The Egyptian courts have not permitted judicial amputations for many years, though last year an MP called for the application of Islamic law for certain crimes.
"This is God's law and is not optional," said Adel Azzazy.

Culled from Huff Post

BABY DADDY SYNDROME (BDS)

Trends are quick to catch on in Nigeria. Once somebody does a thing and it's successful or gets a favourable response, a lot of people tend to follow suit.
It happens with business, religion, politics, even child bearing.
It also happened in the music industry. Sometime ago, the music business wasn't as attractive as it is now. Then, it was seen to be a venture for the never-do-wells and academic castoffs. But then, "2face" happened, and the sun of the industry began to shine brighter.
That's when a lot of other people began to have interest. Even people who were doing God-knows-what overseas returned home to catch a piece of the action. And very soon, they dominated the industry (that's a story for another day).The bandwagon effect. That is why lots of people are dropping out of school to pursue music. It's the reason why graduates keep their certificates locked away and head to the studio.
However, there is another bandwagon effect catching on in Naija. It may be detestable to some people though.
I'm talking about nothing other than the baby daddy culture that is fast taking seed among our musicians.
According to my definition, Baby Daddy Syndrome (BDS) is a culture of impregnating a woman without marrying her, yet carrying out other obligations.
The first and the most legendary baby daddy is 2baba himself. That man is such an addicted baby daddy that he had to do it six times. Yes...you can close your mouth now. 2face Idibia actually put three different women in the family way six different times without being or getting married to any of them. Thankfully, he has finally gotten married to one of them now, but that is not our Area Of Concentration.
Following behind 2face is Peter of P-Square fame. This brother is a (proud?) father of two children, all delivered by one woman. When Peter first impregnated his older lover, Lola Omotayo, some of us thought it was a mistake. But then, some years after, another "mail" has arrived; Peter was blessed with another baby boy early this year in January through his regular Baby Mama (BM).
And just as if it's a competition, or a status symbol, Peter's twin brother, Paul, has also made sure that when they are calling sufferers of BDS, his name wouldn't be missing. And he was successful, as just a few days before compiling this report, he was blessed with a son, Andre, through his BM, Anita.
Another famous Baby Daddy (BD) is MayD. The former Square Records signee didn't stay too long with the label, but he stayed long enough to imbibe the BD culture. He had a baby boy with his girlfriend, Debola, in January this year.

Another important member of the BDS club is none other than the Akpako master himself, Terrible Gabriel aka Terry G. You know, I have often wondered on how Terry G would perform as a father (a mischievous fellow even said his baby will be born high). Anyway, it turns out he is a good one. The singer was spotted recently shopping with his baby (whom he flaunts at every oppourtunity) and his baby mama.
Of course, my list wouldn't be complete if I don't mention the Kid who has a kid. Yes, I'm talking about the pakurumo crooner, StarboyWizkid. When he sang "I love my baby" in 2011, we thought he was talking about his girlfriend, but now we know he was singing to his child. Even though the young millionaire and silky voiced singer has come out to repeatedly deny the claims that he has a baby, how can we explain some pictures which surfaced online a while back in which he was posing with a baby who looked exactly like him? Well, he can deny all he wants, but God is watching him in 3D sha.
After all has been said, the kernel of my story is that though celebrities are not preachers or imams, they have huge moral responsibilities to the people. Whatever a musician does goes a long way in influencing millions of other individuals, most especially youths.
The African culture believes strongly and reveres the sanctity of the marriage institution, and one of the reasons for marriage is procreation. As a matter of fact, most religions frown at pre-marital sex.
So what are our celebrities actually teaching us? That we don't need to spend a whole lot of money organizing a wedding? That we can just impregnate someone and voila, a baby is on the way.
Methinks, these entertainers should stop acting so darn irresponsible. If they aren't ready for wives and families, then they shouldn't attempt making babies.
Apart from pregnancy, how about AIDS and the battalion of other Sexually Transmitted Diseases out there?
Surely, BDS is one bandwagon effect that I don't want to catch on

Culled from E24-7 Magazine

Image Of The Day: NEPA And Same Old Story.

Did you see the news headline? That is our once beloved NEPA screaming and  promising ' No More Black-Out' and stating 1986 as a deadline date to achieve this. Here we are in 2013,27 years after, NEPA has change name to PHCN ( name change only) but we are still on the same page singing same old tune.Singing Sunny Okosun song, we are waiting for, waiting for the wind of change.........

Mike Tyson Confession- I Am On Verge Of Death From Drugs And Booze

The ex-heavyweight boxing champion,Mike Tyson, has claimed he is on the verge of dying due to his ongoing problem of drug and alcohol. He said on ESPN's Friday Night Fights,'' I wanna live my sober life. I don't wanna die. I'm on the verge of dying, because I'm a vicious alcoholic.
He admitted to being a continual substance abuser but was hopeful he was finally becoming clean.
"I haven't drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that's a miracle," he revealed.

Nambia's Dillish Wins Big Brother Africa- The Chase

Beautiful Dillish Matthew, representing Nambia, will be going home tonight with $300,000 prize as the winner of this year Big Brother Africa- The Chase.She beat Zambia’s Cleo to the second place to win the ultimate prize.
Congratulation to a beauty with character!

Stowaway Teenager Travel In Arik Aircraft Wheel From Benin To Lagos

A young lad named Daniel Ikehina sneaked into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik flight from Benin airport and flew safely with the aircraft to Muritala Muhammed airport, Lagos. The boy beat the airport security at Benin but he was not that lucky in Lagos, where he was arrested after passengers saw him emerging from the aircraft tyre hole.
According to Punch Newspaper, the situation has become a major source of worry among the authorities and has also led to a blame game between FAAN and Arik Airline.
FAAN, in a statement on Saturday, said it held “Arik Air liable for the circumstances leading to the stowaway of a teenage boy on its aircraft at the Benin Airport.”
In a statement signed by Dati, FAAN, said, “Arik Air acted with impunity by not stopping the aircraft to check when the crew and ground personnel’s attention was drawn to an abnormality on the tarmac.”
According to the FAAN spokesman, the procedure for such infraction is for the crew to abort the flight and return to the apron for check-up.
He blamed the airline for the alleged impunity, warning that the airport authority would not tolerate such infraction from any operator.
He said, “This is arrant display of impunity. The aircraft should not have taxied further, but return to the apron until a proper check is carried out on all parts of the aircraft.  FAAN will not tolerate such impunity henceforth from Arik or any airline. Any violation would be met with applicable sanctions.
Dati, however, said the teenager was already giving useful information to unravel this ‘misnomer.’

In a swift reaction, Arik, in a statement, blamed FAAN for the huge breach in security, noting that the incessant cases of security breaches at the nation’s airport had become a major source of concern to the airline.

Cheryl Cole Bum-Covering Tattoo Revealed

This is massive and it is on Cheryl Cole, it goes all the way from her lower back covering her bum.Tattoo artist, Nikki Hurtado , who worked on Cheryl Cole, posted the image above on his Instagram with a caption "Here is a in progress shot of a Tattoo I've been covering up and reworking."Really excited to show healed shots. It was some intense tattooing sessions. She's tough as nails,"
Cheryl confirmed it took 15 hours in total but painful.
I can not imagine what this tattoo will look like when Cheryl grow old and her body is saggy including her bum.
.

Image Of The Day: Wedding Cake

Lesson: Cut your coat according to your size (pocket)

Legal Luminary and Human Rights Activist, Mike Ozekhome Kidnapped

Mr Mike Ozekhome(SAN) was kidnapped on the Auchi-Ehor route yesternight. Edo state commissioner of police, Mr Foluso Adebanjo, while confirming the story,said four policemen were killed during the attack on Mr Ozekhome.

Image Of The Day: Mr Barber

Can you allow this barber to give you a nice hair cut. 

Lesson: Desperate times call for desperate measures

8 Successful Women Who Were Once Fired

Most people who have made it to the top of their field have hit some roadblocks along the way, such as failed projects, bad bosses and being passed over for a promotion.

What about those who were actually fired, and worked their way up from the bottom again?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for adult women is 6.5 percent. Over 500,000 U.S. workers were laid off in 2012. Getting fired happens, for reasons ranging from the practical to the purely ridiculous. But losing your job does not mean that your future is over.

Here are eight women who have been let go from jobs, but didn't let it stop them from finding huge success later on.

1. J.K Rowling

According to Business Insider, Rowling was fired from her job as a secretary because she spent too much time daydreaming about book ideas. Clearly that daydreaming served her very well down the road when she wrote the "Harry Potter" series.

2. Anna Wintour

In October 2010, Wintour spoke about losing a job early on in her career at Teen Vogue conference, telling the audience: "I worked for American Harper's Bazaar ... they fired me. I recommend that you all get fired, it's a great learning experience."

3. Kate Walsh

Before the "Private Practice" and "Grey's Anatomy" star got into showbiz, she was fired from her after-school job at Burger King. "The assistant manager didn't like me!" she told People magazine.

4. Kerry Washington

In May 2013, the "Scandal" actress revealed that she had a number of "heartbreak moments" before gaining success. "Before 'Scandal,' the only other two pilots I'd ever done were shows that got picked up, but I got fired," Washington said at theHollywood Reporter's Emmy Roundtable. "They recast my character on both shows." We're glad she stuck it out anyway.

5. Oprah Winfrey

The queen of daytime television was once fired from her job as a news reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. “I was removed from the 6 p.m. news exactly April 1, 1977,” Winfrey told the Baltimore Sun in 2011. “The general manager called me upstairs, and I thought it was an April Fool’s joke when they told me, ‘We have bigger plans for you; we’re going to put you on the morning cut-ins.’”

6. Felicity Huffman

The "Transamerica" and "Desperate Housewives" actress was fired from TV sitcom"Thunder Alley" in 1993. She went on to win a number of awards including an Obie in 1995, an Emmy in 2005, and a Golden Globe in 2006. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

7. Monica Potter

The "Parenthood" actress was fired from her role on "The Young And The Restless.""I was fired because I was terrible," she said in a 2010 interview. Lesson: when you fail, it's always best to have a sense of humor about it.

8. Sallie Krawcheck

Krawcheck, often called one of Wall Street's "most powerful women," was fired from her high-level position at Bank of America in 2011. She is now a business leader at 85 Broads. “I got grateful when I got fired,” Krawcheck said at the Third Metric conference in June 2013. “I said ‘how many people get to get fired and it’s on the front page of The Wall Street Journal?’”

Culled from Huff Post

Who Is Lying? Dame Patience or Amaechi?

Madam Patience released a press statement  earlier during the week in response to why she shunned the Deputy Governor of River State government at P.H airport in her last visit to the state to make final arrangement for her mother's burial. She said that while several groups and individuals from across the country came to condole with her, no official of the Rivers State government deemed it necessary to pay the family a condolence visit.
But the Rivers state government released the above picture on Tuesday, showing  the wife of the Rivers State Governor, Judith Amaechi, signing the condolence register during her visit to the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on the death of her mother.

So who is lying but picture,they say, do not lie.

APC Governors: The Hope Of A New Nigeria By Joe Igbokwe

Every nation has its own heroes and villains, cerebral and non-cerebral, strong and the weak, educated and non-educated, performers and non-performers, the good and the bad leaders, etc. In every serious nation, it is the work of the intellectuals to help fish the good guys out for the good of the commonwealth. It is the same intellectuals (the honest ones) that set the template for the leadership. They prepare the road map and the way forward. This is because they know that whatever good things that are happening in any successful country are byproducts of the good thinking of the honest intellectuals. They act as a bridge between the poor and the rich, the leaders and the followers. They are stars in conflicts resolution mechanisms.
Today, I want to once again take the calculated risk of engaging Nigerians on the need to embrace the eleven APC governors and some performing PDP governors as the new face of leadership in Nigeria. As we get closer to 2015, history is beckoning on anybody that wishes Nigeria well to stand up to be counted in the quest for a New Nigeria. We must admit that we have a leadership crisis in Nigeria. We must ask questions on how we got to this sorry pass in a country so blessed with both human and material resources. I am told that crisis in any serious country helps to usher in good and dedicated leaders. Yes, we must ask questions because those who ask questions can only be fools for five minutes but those who do not ask questions remain fools forever. The future belongs to the curious, the man who wants to know and the efficient.
Asking the right questions and opening our eyes to the realities of today can compel us to look at the direction of the opposition governors in APC and their friends and colleagues in PDP. I am talking about the Fayemis, Okorochas, Fasholas, Aregbesolas, Oshiomoles, Al-Makuras, Amosuns, Ajimobis, Shettimas, Yaris and the Geidams. Their colleagues in PDP like in Babagida Aliyus, Amaechis, Nyakos, and others are also in the picture. These men have what it takes to drive Nigeria to greatness. Nigeria is like a brand new vehicle without a driver. A brand new car needs a good driver to move it to a destination. The APC has thrown a frontal challenge to take Nigeria away from the paths of ruination. They are doing this through the performance of their governors and staking that as the most enduring requisite for future leadership of a misgoverned country like Nigeria. We have wasted fourteen long years of our national life and the APC is advertising itself as the credible alternative to recovering the long years lost to locusts.
A school of thought suggests that since we go to driving schools to learn how to drive a car, why should our leaders not go to leadership school before governing. Having served their states for four or more years and did well too I want to believe that they have got some reasonable training to move this country forward. Nigeria cannot be still looking for leaders with these trusted and tested guys in place. I suggest that Nigeria should trust these men even for a change. This is the time to make investment on these men for the benefit of Nigeria. This is the time for Nigeria to put its best men forward for the job to recue the sinking giant. This is the time we make deliberate efforts to fish out the brightest and the best for leadership. Leadership of Nigeria should no more be a game for mediocres and incompetent men who do not know the route to progress and success. I believe that is the greatest challenge the APC offers to Nigerians today. It is the greatest issue the coming of the APC and its make up brings to the Nigerian table.
The biggest problem facing Nigeria today is what to do with federal government of Nigeria. When you look around, there is nothing on the ground to justify the trillions of Naira Nigeria budgets every year. The positive developments one sees in Nigeria are always at the state level which leaves one to wonder why the center records little or no progress while appropriating hefty chunk of the national revenue. How do we get good drivers to drive the functional vehicles? How do we manage the huge human and material resources to build the new Nigeria of our dreams? How do we address the excesses of impunity in Nigeria? How do we deal with the power problem? How do we create jobs for our children? How do we feed our teeming population? How do we deal with the health sector that has gone almost bankrupt while our people die from preventable diseases? How do we create a healthy population? How do we deal with the problems of insecurity in Nigeria? How do we reduce corruption to the barest minimum and free our national wealth to work for our people? I can go on and on.
One good man on the Presidential chair in Abuja in 2015 can make the difference. One good man supported by these governors cannot derail. We cannot solve our problems with the level of thinking that created them in the first place. This is the central message the APC governors are sending today and they have shown, by words and performance that they are the future hope of the country. Nigerians should hearken to this call.

Rhyme Of The Day: Ise Loogun Ise

Did anybody remember this rhyme? If you do, then you are from 'Alawiye' set (meaning you don tay small). However, the words of this rhyme is ever relevant and it emphasised on the importance and beauty of hard work. It is written by J.F Odunjo, the author of  Alawiye series and other Yoruba novels such as Kuye : Itan omo odi ti eda ro pin.

Check out the meaning below:

Work is the antidote for poverty

Work smart my friend

Work brings Success

When there is no one to rely on, its like we are lazy

When there is no one to trust, we focus more on our work

Your mother might be rich,

Your father might own a thousand and one horses

If you rely on them,

In truth, you might be on sinking ground

Your arm is your family, while elbow are like your extended family

If you are loved by the world today

If you are rich, they will love you tomorrow as well

Or you in an exalted position

People will keep on cheering you

If you unfortunately lose money or position

See how people will turn their back on you

There is suffering for the foolish child

There is sorrow for a wayward child

Do not waste your formative years, my friend

Work hard because time wait for no one

*Hard work does not kill, wrong work does- Bishop David Oyedepo*

FG Vs. ASUU: The Game Goes On By Raheem Oluwafuminiyi

What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country…ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery. That…is precisely where Nigeria finds itself today! —Chinua Achebe

Since the beginning of yet another strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU last month, which not surprisingly has entered its second month, one wonders when we as a nation would remove ourselves form this wanton mortification of making the education a laughing stock among comity of nations. The question all stakeholders enmeshed in this opprobrium should be asking is whether something fundamental is not wrong with our collective consciousness, else, how come that in every two to three years, the news of ASUU demanding that its overlords in Abuja implement an agreement both entered into and which in turn leads to a painful strike, reverberates the whole nation?
Are we lacking in foresight as to understand that the Nigerian universities are dying gradually? Have we looked around to ask ourselves why the nation, whose youth out-numbers the old and very young, cannot remove itself from the shackles of societal malfeasance and hold forth the appellation: “we are the future leaders of tomorrow” by taking their destinies into their hands? For as long as the Nigerian youth accepts redundancy, fails to think for himself, cannot see where the rain began to beat him or take the bull by the horn, like many of their counterparts in developed nations, then it will be succinct to claim that the education sector which is supposed to train, build, inculcate, mould and educate vibrant youths against the morrow have failed in its entirety to bequeath such for a people who will take up the reigns of leadership from the old guards, a fault which is not theirs anyway.
If ASUU once again and for the umpteenth time has called for a strike, it is not because they do not see the peck in their own eyes, as it is evidently known that their own house is also not in order, but because from the very first day government whose responsibility is to pay very good attention to the education sector keeps faltering and reneging on agreements she entered into. For many who are of the belief that ASUU has no reason or justification to embark on this strike which has become one too many in recent times, they must understand that though it may look more like Oliver Twist asking for more, in the situation our education sector finds itself, once and for all, drastic measures ought to be taken in ensuring we do not become a pointer to ridicule anywhere in the world anymore.
If we have to look well enough the reason ASUU had decided embark on this strike and we feel the shame our universities have put up with, especially if we have to balance it with the education the likes of our parents had in the 60s, 70s and 80s and the pitiable ones our children have today, we then must understand ASUU’s pain and anger. Nobody likes to strike, nobody wishes to allow it take so long, in fact, it is not a good story to tell in our nascent democracy. Yet when a country is bequeathed with leaders who have no foresight, lack understanding of the socio-political terrain, remain clueless in tackling simple political arithmetic, and is occupied with how to remain in power until 2090, then strike becomes an option and a weapon to bring such government to its senses.
Many Nigerians cannot understand how we practice democracy in the country. Democracy and good governance go hand in hand and therefore, policies embarked upon by one government or the other must necessary be a continuum and should not shift unless necessary. One finds it very difficult to grasp well the story peddled by this government that the agreement it voluntarily entered into in 2009 with ASUU should be re-negotiated. It is the worst of arguments this writer has heard in decades and one wonders if this government is truly committed to transforming the education sector, if the so called campaign promise in 2011 is anything to go by. One would have thought the government of the day should have put forward the same argument during negotiations with the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC in the last subsidy protest. Perhaps, the vast majority of Nigerians wouldn’t be where they are today looking weary, fatigued and hopeless in the midst of plenty.
Even if government in its usual volte-face had thought the agreement needed to be re-negotiated, why didn’t it bring it to ASUU’s table long before the latter deemed it fit to embark on its ignoble strike? From this, there is no disputing the fact that there is so much insincerity among those in power and it is the reason the vast majority of Nigerians do not trust their leaders.
It is an irony that the education sector, more than ever, faces this type of humiliation, especially when the president of this country was once a university teacher and his minister of education, a professor in a vibrant field of academic study. No country in its right senses would have such individuals in power and watch as rot engulfs their education sector. With leaders like that who cannot engineer viable transformations within the sector they once held sway, we cannot but feel sorry for the entire country.
Our universities are no more role models for other countries to follow. Even the so called first generation universities have lost it, while mediocrity reigns supreme in the new ones. Individuals who lack the capacity to teach or engage in ground-breaking discoveries now fill our faculties and departments. Students who lack the intellectual vigour to learn now fill our departments with little or no capacity to communicate, write or engage their lecturers in intellectual debates. Most worrisome is the fact that one cannot find viable tools to hold experiments in our respective laboratories, reminding one of the total neglect in our secondary school laboratories. The structures which the Sardauna, Azikiwe and Awolowo had patriotically erected over 48 years ago still stand rickety today with nothing to show for a better one or even critical repair of the old. One could count the number of ICT-driven universities in the country and if one is lucky to find any, the structure is not enough to train students who are supposed to have pre-requisite knowledge of the ICT world like their counterparts elsewhere.
Our classrooms have become a national embarrassment where students now sit on windows and outside to receive lectures. University libraries are littered with books the like of Isaac Newton had used during his time yet librarians are employed year in and out without any innovation coming from them to transform their departments into world class. It is most saddening that more than 80 Nigerian universities cannot boast of a state-of-the-art library where students can get up-to-date books to embark on their research. It is no wonder that even reference materials used for PhD thesis today are as old as the country itself, when new materials have been churned out by the same author over five times. Most PhD thesis today appears unconstructive, lack coherence and almost adds nothing to problem-solving. A don once pathetically noted that there are a lot of questionable PhD’s today in Nigeria.
We seem to forget that strikes in our ivory towers have lasting implications for the future direction of the country. A medical student who is supposed to spend seven uninterrupted years in medical school suddenly faces a three month strike in his quest to become a medical doctor. At the end, he spends about eight to nine years for a seven year medical programme and is in turn given license to practice thereafter. If we do not know, we have bred a murderer and with his shaky training as a medical doctor in the murky world of medical school as a result of incessant ASUU strikes, we are bound to find our loved ones at their mercy. God help us if they survive with the way things keep going in this country!
If we continue to pretend as if all is well, we will only find ourselves to blame if not now then tomorrow, as the future does not even hold anything to cheer about