Nigeria can change for the better, but we have to stop fooling ourselves and pretending that our current political arrangement is alright. The key is that the power of the centre must be weakened so that the various tribes would stop fighting among themselves over who should be the head of state. The current status quo is an exercise in denial and self delusion.

There will be no peace without war. Let's massacre the fucking leaders and end the fucking suffering. "Suffer not the witch to live" says the scripture.

this is so not funny, this guys need to take a look at this

Now that we know the past and the current leaders are worthless, lets us now decide how to move forward, we cant afford to wait anymore, comrade lets come together and move the country forward!!!

Nigeria is even worst more than the way it is before,

they don't feel concern about it all,

I loved nd enjoyed reading d jokes

Only God can deliver Nigeria from these our very corrupt leader.

Nigeria cannot get better unless we decided to fight for ourselves from the slavery that has been imposed on us the the ruling elites,i commend the bombing that happens on october 1st but how i wish the bonb exploded right inside the eagle square and kill all the political elites that has been ruling and embezzling the nation ever since independence,we should copy what Ghana did and lets murder them all so we the fellow country people can finally enjoy the the dividends on democracy.Enough is Enough!!!!!

Posted by: frankcimc

I think most our leaders then were simple and willing to serve their ppl,

Yes, indeed!!!


Posted by: mike oscar

Tafawa Balewa looks like a hungry beggar.

Yeah, some hungry beggar. Indeed.
How many beggars can afford to send their kids to england for primary school education, in the 60's?
This was a Grade 2 teacher who courtesy of our nothern brothers suddenly became our first Prime minister.
Within 5 years he can afford to send his 10 yr old son to england for schooling.

The rut in that country started with this so-called "gentleman" a.k.a "golden voice of nigeria" or better still, TB.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/they-are-re-opening-an-old-wound-%e2%80%94-balewa%e2%80%99s-son-muhktar

Yo guys check out my new Yorubaland flag.

The other one was just too ugly. Blue stands for the Lords, White for Peace,and Red for the Commons.

Those cartoon pictures are very funny.

[size=20pt]THE REASON WHY THIS COUNTRY IS RUINED IS BECAUSE OF THOSE EVIL PEOPLE CALLED AGUIYI-IRONSI, S.L AKINTOLA, FESTUS OKOTIE EBOH, CHUKWUEMEKA NZEOGWU AND EMMANUEL IFEAJUNA. [/size]

Nothing has really changed in Nigeria. For those of you who think Tafawa Balewa was typical of the politicians of those bygone days, please read this Time Magazine article on the first Nigerian coup of January 1966 in the link below:


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842386-1,00.html



In my opinion the strategy of Nigerian leaders since independence has always been this: Divide, rule and steal. If that doesn't work, plan and execute a coup and promise to hold elections as soon as practicable (don't give any firm dates). It is simple but it works all the time, just like 419.

Awesome post.

Nigeria: The more you look, the more you become blind.

Did anybody see the video? The guy spoke fluently was expecting worse. Maybe they had better education back then His English is even less accented than today's university student from naija yankee wannabeez

Posted by: tEsLim

Did anybody see the video? The guy spoke fluently was expecting worse. Maybe they had better education back then His English is even less accented than today's university student from naija yankee wannabeez

Yeah, we (most of us, anyway) saw the video .

So he spoke fluent english? Na dat one we go chop?
Despite his "queens english", the guy wasn't fit for that post and he messed up, big time.

Whilst we had the ilk of Awo, Zik ati bebelo, the brits foisted a school teacher on us with no political experience who also doubled
as a stooge. No wonder within a few years, he manifested his incompetence by creating the clime that precipitated the coup.

Despite his fluent english, TB was a thief who suddenly was able to send his 10 yr old son to England for completion of
his primary school education. In the meanwhile, in his region the poor were denied free basic education.


This damn nation was founded and sustained on mediocrity.

Alh sir Tafawa balewa is an epitome of a true leader.
He died leaving just a house for his estates.
How many houses does ur local govt chairman has today?

I am going to disagree with people calling TB names because he sent his son to England. Many a well-to-do family could afford to send their kids to UK in the '60s, why can't the president do the same if he could afford to do so?
My uncle was trained in England so also some notable Nigerian including Prof Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi, Onosodes and co. And I do also know that the position of a Prime Minister enjoyed certain privileges, his son could have been invited to UK by the then Queen Elizabeth (my emphasis). Why not? In hindsight, Alhaji Alhaji and some of the children of 'Northerners' were brought up in Queen's palace. Whether Balewa was foisted on us is a debate for another forum, but I think he was an epitome of simplicity.

.

I will answer ur question once you clarify how Tafawa Balewa (previously a primary school teacher)
could afford to send his 10 yr old son to England for primary school education, on becoming our PM.

If TB is ur idea of an "epitome of leadership" then its a no-brainer why the whole bleeping country is in such a mess, now.

omo u don old oooooo hnn agba letu(Maple)

EFFRAKATA:

Alh sir Tafawa balewa is an epitome of a true leader.
He died leaving just a house for his estates.
How many houses does your local govt chairman has today?

IF HE WAS SUCH A GREAT LEADER WHY DIDN'T HE FIGHT CORRUPTION IN HIS GOVT? HIS FINANCE MINISTER FESTUS OKOTIE-EBOH WAS EMBEZZLING MONEY WHILE S.L AKINTOLA COULD HAVE WON THE AWARD AS THE MOST CORRUPT POLITICIAN IN THE COUNTRY AT THE TIME. ITS NOT AS IF THIS GUYS WERE THE ONLY CORRUPT PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY, THERE WAS CORRUPTION ON ALL LEVELS OF GOVT AND ALL THIS CAME TO THE FOREFRONT AT THE CENSUS OF 1964 THAT WAS HEAVILY MANIPULATED. IF TAFAWA BALEWA WANTED TO BE A TRUE LEADER HE SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT CORRUPTION WHOLE HEARTEDLY IN THE COUNTRY IN THE 6 YEARS HE HAD TO DO IT.

@ T9ksy. Unless you can objectively substantiate your argument that a Prime Minister of that time could not afford to send his son to England for primary education, then your observation becomes a mere conjectures. Let me state here that in the '60s, England was a visa-free, all you needed to do is an onward return ticket to Nigeria. If the number citizen then, with all the paraphernalia attached to that office could not afford to send his son to UK for primary education, then the thousands of eminent Nigerians that were trained in the UK in the '60s and '70s could have possibly benefited from that seemingly corrupt Balewa government??

Dapo4u:

@ T9ksy. Unless you can objectively substantiate your argument that a Prime Minister of that time could not afford to send his son to England for primary education, then your observation becomes a mere conjectures. Let me state here that in the '60s, England was a visa-free, all you needed to do is an onward return ticket to Nigeria. If the number citizen then, with all the paraphernalia attached to that office could not afford to send his son to UK for primary education, then the thousands of eminent Nigerians that were trained in the UK in the '60s and '70s could have possibly benefited from that seemingly corrupt Balewa government??

Don't mind them jare? they think that everybody is a thief.

interesting

i have always really admired Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. A true leader to say the least.

At first - I did not believe that first picture,  One thing is true: In Nigeria of today, that can never happen again. Even a local Govt Councillor will not seat on a Clean bench with his kids, let-alone take a public photo on it for the media, !!

Posted by: Dapo4u

Unless you can objectively substantiate your argument that a Prime Minister of that time could not afford to send his son to England for primary education, then your observation becomes a mere conjectures. Let me state here that in the '60s, England was a visa-free, all you needed to do is an onward return ticket to Nigeria. If the number citizen then, with all the paraphernalia attached to that office could not afford to send his son to UK for primary education, then the thousands of eminent Nigerians that were trained in the UK in the '60s and '70s could have possibly benefited from that seemingly corrupt Balewa government??

Can you validate his wages plus all the fringe benefits that made TB beliveed that his 10 yr old son should go and finish his primary school education in England? Please, note the bolded part. In the meanwhile, the same man did not appreciate the essence of educating his own people. Guess his poor people do not deserve to be educated, huh. Yet they want to remain in power. Even Ojukwu's father who was already a millionaire at the time, did not send his son to england for primary school education.

Can you give example of those "eminent nigerians" who were trained in the uk from primary school level, onwards?

Not only was TB's govt corrupt, it was also grossly incompetent. He was unsuitable for that post and he made a real harsh of it even as he was articulating lucidly and clearly in his borrowed "queens' english" that, everything is fine. True leader? yeah right

If you guys still can't discern the genesis of our imbroglio then , am afraid i can't make it any more comprehensible to you.

@T9ksy. Let me begin by saying that I am NOT out here to defend Tafa Balewa. I was not a student of History, I hardly knew who he was except that he was a Nigerian Prime Minister when Nigeria became a sovereignty state. I was only applying logic here when you observed in your earlier post that 'how could he afford to send his son to England immediately he became a Prime Minister?' The bone of contention here is AFFORDABILITY right?

But your last post touched on many issues: affordability, belief, incompetence and corruption
First, could a Nigerian Prime Minister afford to send his son to England for primary education? Yes, as a Nigeria Prime Minister, he could adequately send his son to UK without recourse to state purse. Nigerian presidents have never been poor! Everything is provided for in the Nigerian constitutions (my emphasis).

Second, should he have sent his son to England for Primary Education, when those deemed financially stable than him objected to that venture? Honestly, in the '60s and '70s, with our high standard of educational system, I would object to that also. But does it make corrupt? No, I don't think so. This observation does not make those that chose to bring up their kids in Nigeria to be less corrupt either.

Now, was Tafa Balewa our best candidate for the post of prime minister then? No Sir, there were better candidates in the persons of Azikiwe,Awolowo, Enahoro and co. Would they have been more competent than him?Awolowo and co were NEVER tested at that level, so there can be no basis for comparison.
You said his government was grossly corrupt because some of his ministers were corrupt. You might be right but don't forget that, Dr Tai Solarin, resigned from his appointment as People's Bank Chairman because of proven cases of embezzlement in the organization. If Tai Solarin was absolved of wrongdoings ,maybe Balewa was also a victim here.

davidif:

[size=20pt]THE REASON WHY THIS COUNTRY IS RUINED IS BECAUSE OF THOSE EVIL PEOPLE CALLED AGUIYI-IRONSI, S.L AKINTOLA, FESTUS OKOTIE EBOH, CHUKWUEMEKA NZEOGWU AND EMMANUEL IFEAJUNA. [/size]

@davidif

If you can show me what makes Aguiyi Ironsi evil, I will appreciate it. Please give me historical facts and not just assumptions and opinions.

Based on my investigations, I am of the opinion that Aguiyi Ironsi may have been one of (if not the only) worthy Nigerian leaders. Belwa may not have been bad too, but I rather not reveal my reservations about him. I am not very sure of the authenticity of my reservations about him, especially his leadership abilities; so in-order not to be unjust to the poor man, all I will say about him was that he was not a bad fellow; from my findings, Belwa was modest, also he spoke good English.

About Aguiyi Ironsi, I haven't found anything wrong that he did. Actually he sacrificed his life to avoid bloodsheed; if he were like other African Generals (Idi amin for example), Danjuma would definitely not have been able to kill him. Aguiyi Ironsi was killed due to his lack of brutality.

However, I understand your sentiments about the likes of Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna. A lot of Igbo's like to celebrate Nzeogwu; although I am proudly Igbo, I will never celebrate Nzeogwu as a hero.

That first coup, as well as all the subsequent Nigerian coups, was very unnecessary. The first coup occupies a very agonising position because it introduced the idea of coups in a country that was still very infantile. Also, contrary to what the tibalists say, that coup was not an Igbo coup.

But I digressed a little. I await your response on the issue of Ironsi. I trust your response to be devoid of assumptions and tribalistic sentiments.

Thanks