Yar adua's accent is similar to Buhari's

Who's being paired with UMORU?

shehuchaji:

Why did Gov. Yar'adua shun the debate?

He does not need to join the debate charade, he has already won the (s)elections.

Besides any serious question might have sent him for emergency treatment in Germany.

Hello Umoru, Obasanjo speaking!

Only Chris Okotie can attempt to match Pat Utomi and even at that it will only be with plenty grammer; Pat Utomi is a man we nigerians can be proud of any day but there is something wrong with his campaign team.

Its a pity the way the debate went. To counter the NTA (Govt. owned TV propaganda) AIT should have got other private stations like silverbird, minaj, states owned TV where PDP does not rule and others to rebroadcast the live transmission. Even radio stations should not have been left out to get the message to everyone but as usual they wanted to take the credit alone so we are left with a viewership that might not exceed a million viewers which in the end will not even remember who said what.

Reuters News Agency watched the Utomi/Buhari debate yesterday (http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06384256.html)

---

Nigerian candidates slam government in TV debate
Fri 6 Apr 2007, 7:34 GMT


By Tom Ashby

LAGOS, April 6 (Reuters) - Nigerian presidential candidates berated the government for incompetence, corruption and non-performance in a televised election debate on Thursday night that was shunned by the ruling party.

Umaru Yar'Adua, candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), declined the invitation to participate in the live show on privately-owned African Independent Television, and his place at the podium was left empty.

Former army strongman Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria People's Party, the main challenger to the ruling party at this month's election, and Pat Utomi, candidate for the fringe African Democratic Congress, took to the stage.

"The truth is that most Nigerians will not be able to see us because Nigeria is almost in total darkness," said Buhari, in reference to a collapse in power generation over the past few months which has left most Nigerians with only a few hours of mains electricity per week at most.

Others would be unable to watch the debate because they were too poor to afford a television set, he added.

"The incompetence of the Nigerian elite is unprecedented. It is incumbent of anyone who aspires to leadership in this country to immediately check corruption," Buhari said.

Nigeria is the world's eighth largest oil exporter in the world, but most of its 140 million people live in absolute poverty on less than $1 a day.

Elections on April 14 and 21 should produce the first transition from one elected government to another since independence from Britain in 1960.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's election in 1999 ended three decades of almost continuous army dictatorship, and he is constitutionally required to step down after the vote.

HIGH OIL PRICE

"In these eight years, God has been extremely generous to Nigeria with the highest flows of crude oil revenues in the history of this country," Utomi said.

"But poverty is the highest, power is hardly ever available and the quality of life is so low," he added.

Nobody was present to defend the government's record.

A spokesman for Yar'Adua said he missed the debate, which was endorsed by the electoral body, because he was busy with other appointments. A senior official at the television station said the little-known state governor had offered to appear on another programme a week later on his own.

Yar'Adua, whose candidacy rests almost entirely on the backing of Obasanjo, has been campaigning on a platform of extending the government's IMF-backed economic reforms.

These policies have brought budget discipline, debt relief and phenomenal growth in the telecommunications and banking sectors, but failed to pull the majority out of poverty.

Analysts say Yar'Adua will rely on the PDP's deep pockets and unrivalled nationwide network to deliver votes.

Civil society groups have accused Obasanjo of hindering preparations for the landmark polls to help the incumbent party hold onto power.

Buhari, on the other hand, finds his support among millions disaffected by poverty, unemployment and crime.

The former military ruler, whose 20-month rule in the early 1980s was characterised by economic austerity and harsh punishments for crime and corruption, criticised Nigerian governments for submitting to the IMF, and promised more subsidies in agriculture to get young people back to work.

AIT has done a great job - I give it to them.

Sunny, Mariam Babanginda elder brother is Insane and should not be taken seriously.
His dressing,gesticulations,speech are all evidence that there is something wrong with him upstairs.
He once said Niger-Delta should show gratitude to the North for allowing them take thier crude oil.
He said oil flows from the North and the North can stop it they decide. What a silly comment!
Back to the debate,I thought Lawrence Adedoyin was disqualifed.
Yardua absence from the debate is a sign that he does not regard the electorate for he is sure of winning thru massive rigging since his benefactor said its a do or die affair.
Another Insane candidate is Moji Obasanjo, but na wah oh!! So the Presidency of Nigeria has become so cheap that psycho's are contesting.
The debate was okay but only Pat Utomi stands out. His cooment and vision if allowed to rule this country will bring us out of the doldrums.

Is there any site we can watch this?Can someone pls upload it on youtube.Well for me its Pat Utomi.How was his debate?

Pat Utomi was simply wonderful. he didn't find a match in Buhari. Concise ideas. Sharp and straight to the point. Every Nigerian should be proud to have him as president

wetin happen to Chris Okotie?
Yaradua couldn't have come, since OBJ no go fit dey on stage with am, u feel me?

I am seriously anticipating a debate between Okotie and Utomi.  Those two seem like the only credible candidates of all the Presidential aspirants right now.  Therefore, a debate between them will enable Nigerians to really determine and vote for the more credible fellow. . .



. . . and that's going to be useful, only if there's going to be a free and fair election at all.

olawa20:

Pat Utomi was simply wonderful. he didn't find a match in Buhari. Concise ideas. Sharp and straight to the point. Every Nigerian should be proud to have him as president

Wow i knew he wldnt fail me.Utomi is different from all oda presidential candidates cos he gat great vision and he is a man full of ideas unlike d odas who are confused and empty(No disrespect)

People use ur votes wisely pls.

goodguy:

I am seriously anticipating a debate between Okotie and Utomi. Those two seem like the only credible candidates of all the Presidential aspirants right now. Therefore, a debate between them will enable Nigerians to really determine and vote for the more credible fellow. . .

A debate between the two will result in 2 Nigerians speaking big big grammar with one of them having vision but not how to actualize it while the other will use words that sometimes do not make sense without any idea of leadership at all.

Considering they are southerners, they are only wasting their time and money unless they want to be addressed as former presidential candidate.

you guys don't cease to amaze me. you mean that because someone spoke flamboyant grammer is an indication that he will make a good president? this is not a university SUG election where the most eloquent wins the president. eloquence doesn't necessarily translate into achievements. aldof hitler was an orator.

utomi and okotie may be good but don't base your assessment of these gentlemen based on their command of a foreign language.

D debate was also aired on frcn stations. Can utomi win? Pdp is already treating yar adua like a president

D debate was also aired on frcn stations. Can utomi win? Pdp is already treating yar adua like a president

More of the haba, we have flenty flenty minerals, we have fanta, we have coke, who say we no have minerals?
Just beacause one has made dirty money does not make him a presidential material.
Only in Nigeria!

you guys don't cease to amaze me. you mean that because someone spoke flamboyant grammer is an indication that he will make a good president? this is not a university SUG election where the most eloquent wins the president. eloquence doesn't necessarily translate into achievements. aldof hitler was an orator.

utomi and okotie may be good but don't base your assessment of these gentlemen based on their command of a foreign language.

Guys let us stop entertaining mediocrity in our country. As much as we do not have that luxury of having a good talker as president lets not underplay its importance. A leader needs to be very inspiring to carry people along and thats very impostant.

Have you seen any speech by JF Kenedy?, have you heard Tony Blair addressing the British people? Barack Obama is a front runner in Democratic party election today in America because of his ability to inspire others (see Speech "The Audacity of hope" DNC 2004).

Being a good leader is not necessarily what you are able to do but what you are able to get others to do, you simply can't achieve this if you are not inspiring. The ideas, policies, strategies can be hired by employing the best brains in your cabinet but the ability to inspire others is priceless.

For God sake when will I see my President among other world leaders and be happy to identify with him?

D debate was also aired on frcn stations. Can utomi win? Pdp is already treating yar adua like a president

He was part of the last FEC meeting

McKren:

For God sake when will I see my President among other world leaders and be happy to identify with him?
He was part of the last FEC meeting

The day we get the north of our backs and are free to vote for the man of our choice! But for the north would Awolowo, Abiola and Utomi not be president today?

Thanks to the north we are saddled with Sheu Shagari, Yar adua, Atiku, Buhari et al!

I can imagine a Nigerian presidential election without the shackles of the north. Imagine a presidential debate between Gani Fawehinmi, Olu Falae, Pat Utomi, Chris Okotie . . .
Rather we are busy squabbling over Atiku and Babangida! Only in Nigeria!

Obachanjo isn't a northerner, he hasn't been fantastic either.

the problem is Nigerian, not just northern.

debosky:

Obachanjo isn't a northerner, he hasn't been fantastic either.

the problem is Nigerian, not just northern.

That is why Nigeria is going no where soon. We don't see beyond our noses! Did Obasanjo even win the presidential elections in his own ward or state?
Was it not the north that voted enmasse for him?

But for northern votes would Olu Falae not be president today?

If obasanjo were to run for local government elections in Ogun state would he have beaten the AD candidate in 1999?

winning in your home is not the best measure of victory.

the largest votes for Obj came from the South South, of all the six regions, and the tribalistic voting of the AD in 1999 is nothing to be proud of, even a dog wdve won the election in the SW if it has AD written on it!

the South also supported Obj, even moreso in 2003. I repeat these problems are Nigerian, not Northern

the political violence being experienced today is most prevalent in the SW and SS, not in the North, the whole nation is at fault here.

There is no argument that political violence is not the sole preserve of the north. Afterall the south west precipitated the fall of the 1st republic with their AG wahala.

The point of the matter: it is clear that in the south votes are cast based on what a largely literate population envision of their type of leader. In the predominantly illiterate north, voting is based on what the mallam says in the mosque of the biggest alhaji in town.
Why are state elections such serious issues in the south but not in the north?

I maintain if the south had been independent of the north, Awolowo, Azikiwe, Falae, Utomi, Abiola and co would have been president! Obasanjo would never win a state election in his own state. That first of all is a measure of your generall acceptance.
You claim the largest votes for OBJ in the 2003 elections came from the south south, was it in the same south south where there were more votes than the actual number of names on the voters register? Or in Delta where 100% of votes went to the PDP?

the southwest votes for the AD in 1999 had very little to do with merely being "tribalistic" afterall the PDP aspirants in the same states were not from the moon.
It had more to do with voting for an IDEOLOGY! A thing that is alien to Nigeria's brand of democracy.

I disagree on your last point, it was a matter of voting those you knpw. the leadership of the AD played the traditional line of being Awo followers, which got them acceptance, it was more personality/name recognition (of their 'son' Awo ) based than ideology, in my own opinion.

Ditto their failure in 2003 - people voted for 'their son' Obasanjo, and assumed his party was the one to vote for. As for the rigging in the SS, don't tell me its the northerners that went to rig there.

granted that without the North, some of those people may have become president, but the south has more than its fair share of charlatan politicians such as Alams, Anenih and the others.

this problem clearly exceeds North/South issues, though it is a factor.

debosky:

I disagree on your last point, it was a matter of voting those you knpw. the leadership of the AD played the traditional line of being Awo followers, which got them acceptance, it was more personality/name recognition (of their 'son' Awo ) based than ideology, in my own opinion.

Ditto their failure in 2003 - people voted for 'their son' Obasanjo, and assumed his party was the one to vote for. As for the rigging in the SS, don't tell me its the northerners that went to rig there.

If the south west voted enmasse for AD based on "those you know" in 1999, what would explain AD's shocking loss to PDP in 2003? Did AD cease to be an Awo party within the space of 4 yrs?
When southwesterners voted AD in 1999, it was with the optimism that we were voting for those who symbolised the ideology of Papa Awo. Within a few months it was realised that charlatans had found their way to office riding on the backs of an ideology they clearly did not identify with. By 2003, the Awo ruse could no longer work to keep AD in power!

debosky:

granted that without the North, some of those people may have become president, but the south has more than its fair share of charlatan politicians such as Alams, Anenih and the others.

this problem clearly exceeds North/South issues, though it is a factor.

Would Anenih win a state election without the PDP rigging machine? Of course no one is excusing the fact that the south has its own fair share of hypocrites. The issue is the southern electorate is wise enough to sift the wheat from the chaff.

I respectfully disagree - the chaff they sifted away in 2003 (according to you) apart from Oyinlola or Agagu, which of the 'wheat' they replaced the Ad guvs with have done the job?

the '03 loss was clearly the Obj factor, not any ideology, vote our son, vote his party, simple. only in the highly sophisticated Lagos electorate did that clear distinction between Obj (federal) and Tinubu (state) occur.

PDP rigging machine? isn't it southerners that are rigging it? or are the northerners the ones?

I doubt the electorate are as savvy as you think, some sections are, but most still depend on the pseudo-traditional thing of following what your leaders say, even in the South.

I insist this problem is Nigerian, the south may be marginally better than the North, but the level of deceit in southern politicians is just as high as the 'enlightenment' of the electorate - leading to the same end result as the North.

debosky:

I respectfully disagree - the chaff they sifted away in 2003 (according to you) apart from Oyinlola or Agagu, which of the 'wheat' they replaced the Ad guvs with have done the job?

the '03 loss was clearly the Obj factor, not any ideology, vote our son, vote his party, simple. only in the highly sophisticated Lagos electorate did that clear distinction between Obj (federal) and Tinubu (state) occur.

What choices did the people have? An AD that was clearly falling apart or the PDP rigging machine? Unless you provide an alternative, the people would have no choice but to vote the PDP after 4 yrs of massive disappointment with the AD.

Why was yar adua absent?

who is to provide this alternative? Is it Utomi with no structure and Okotie with no party?

even Utomi for all he has said, hasn't said anything about his party's ideology, its all a case of 'vote Pat Utomi', what does the party stand for?

we run an imperfect system, no doubt, but I will stick with a person who has learnt to produce even inspite of that system, rather than someone who 'promises' (Obj made promises too, he has regretted underestimating the scale of problems now).

We need alternatives no doubt, but till then? I will support the ones I feel have a true chance and structure needed to change things.

Who you go vote for? Stop complaining