EzeUche22:

It depends on the part of the continent. We Africans are not truly a one united monolithic people. We are made up different cultures, languages, religions and heritages. Some of us had the wheel while others didn't. Some had bronze making capability while others didn't. The bushmen of Southern Africa did not have these tools yet the Zulu did and live in the same region.

Ok but the principle of what he's saying isn't changed by what you just said, Africans gained from European contact and African poverty is a direct result of their own lack of intellectual capacity. This in a nut shell is what he was saying, The wheel being an example of the lack of capacity which is related to poverty. He implied that it cost Europeans more to maintain colonies. In other words, if they were businesses then colonialism would be written as a loss to the europeans.

So the over flogged argument that Europeans stole and pillaged the African continent is baseless in this esteemed economist's view. DO you think Africans gained or lost from contact with Europeans

He said some parts of Africa had not invented the WHEEL by the 19th century. Meaning that Africans had no capacity to develop which is why we're poor and Europeans wealthy. African contact with Europe improved Africans living standard. Do you buy this??

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Embattled former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, is suffering from an undisclosed ailment for which he has been hospitalised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.


He was said to have broken down in prison custody a few days ago and taken to the hospital where he was said to be responding to treatment.


The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, disclosed this when fielding questions from journalists at the commission‘s headquarters, Abuja, on Friday.


The occasion was the visit by the Central Planning Committee for Nigeria at 50, Women and Children Special Events.


The group was led by the President, National Council for Women Society, Mrs. Ramatu Usman, who is also the chairperson of the planning committee.


The visitors announced that the EFCC boss would be conferred with the award of ”Nigerian Golden Amazon” in the ”Most Outstanding Female Public Servant” category during Nigeria‘s 50th anniversary in October.


Usman said Queen Elizabeth of England and the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, would present the award to underscore its importance and that of the Yeoman‘s job Waziri had been doing.


Farida said that the extradition of Ibori was on course, given the continued collaboration between the EFCC and the London Metropolitan Police over the matter.


She said, ”Ibori is in a hospital in Dubai, but the process for his extradition is ongoing. We are working and exchanging information with the Met.


”The process is long. Some Met police are even coming here soon in this regard. He will be extradited to London soon to face trial.”


Ibori fled the country after the EFCC issued a warrant for his arrest, following his refusal to honour an invitation to answer charges that he misused state funds for personal gains.


The former governor was arrested in Dubai on May 12, on the strength of an international arrest warrant issued by INTERPOL, but got a reprieve when the court granted him bail.


The bail was, however, revoked, on June 9, as an aftermath of the conviction of the ex-governor‘s sister, Mrs. Christine Ibori-Ibie and his associate, Miss. Udoamaka Okoronkwo by a London court.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201008142105048

Theres no such thing as core north and middle belt, its just north!!! believe it or not, the north is one bloc. Whatever the core north says, the middle belt will follow, its always been like that, the core north agreed to MKO and the "middle belt" followed, the core north agreed to Obasanjo and the 'middle belt followed" Whether you like it or not, the core north as far as nigerian politics is concerned is a major factor. you cannot be a president in nigeria without the core north's support, as much as you'd want to erode the power they have, just face reality. The core north, your sokotos and kanos run Nigerian national politics. Its always been that way, Don't forget we're talking about the same people that waged a war of conquest from sokoto all the way to oyo, swallowing kwara in the process and "emiratizing" it.
Why many southerners choose to look down and degrade northerners baffles me.

In all instances, you'll notice the resemblance thats if you're not die hard white lovers like sage or ezeagu!! furthermore, white is a disease, take a look at the gentleman who is turning white due to a medical condition after taking pills for his liver problem, I have never heard of a disease that turns you black but one sure does turn you white

Look at the boys eyes, and study some ancient egyptian self depicting art. Look at the girls hair style and her features as well and then look at ancient egyptians.

with regards to ancient egyptians, if you look at their depiction of themselves very well, if you study the art and examine the facial features as well as the color they paint themselves, you'll see that they closely resemble the beja people, very close resemblance. The beja are a people that live in northern Sudan today, they are an ancient people

Onlytruth:

The picture is clearer now.
I was alarmed initially that the president may have his hands on too many pies, especially as relates to private enterprise. That would be alarming indeed.

While they are at it, they must not forget that this woman built that exchange from under $2 billion in 1999 to over $100 billion last year.

My fear is that they would replace her with another Malam, and before you know it, the exchange would cease to be itself.
Not saying that we should tolerate crime, but I'm yet to see why Soludo was replaced with Sanusi.
I've followed Nigerian leadership history long enough to know that merit is alien to us. If by pure chance we get one ingenious leader in a position, like Ernest Ndukwe of NCC and this woman at NSE, why should we always scheme to oust them, only to replace them with mediocres?
I'm watching this one.
NO MALAM REPLACEMENTS PLEASE!

YOU are a bigoted fool, a complete idiot and waste of space! Northerners or people you like to call "malams" which funny enough means scholar, are some of the best business people in Nigeria, You have your Dantata's and Dangote's and Chanchangi's and a million others some of them didn't even go through western education but are billionaires in their fields of commerce. Its sad that you think this way because Dangote is a northerner and his company employs more southerners than northerners which goes to show you his detribalized attitude. He can easily turn it into a sectional firm.
I think southerners really need to get their heads out of their arses and quit ignorantly stereotyping northerners. Its getting old and its really ignorant.

How come northerners have ruled Nigeria for most of its existence if they're fools as you like to believe. Hausa people are descendent's of ancient Nubians in case you didn't know. YOU are a sad fool. No mallams, since its your father that owns SEC, bafoon.

tkb417:

This guy

they shd stamp error on your certificate

cos one individual is rich means the country has achieved?

i said give me a feat recorded by the country called Sudan and u typed that thing

what should i call you? dundee?

So what has Nigeria ever "achieved" The fact is, there are more Nigerians (way more) that go for their university education in Sudan than there are Sudanese people who visit Nigeria for any given reason!! They don't have a broken education system like your own country, which attracts your citizens to their country, that in itself is "achievement"
Secondly, why do Nigerians have this need to look down on other African countries? Imagine the posts here, what are they doing in Sudan? are they UN peace keepers? Nigerians are an ignorant set of people, Sudan is better than Nigeria, Ive been there and they have better electricity and water supply than Nigeria, Their govt caters for their people and They don't have have nearly as much govt CORRUPTION as Nigeria, that is commendable!! Sudanese people are very patriotic too!!

manny4life:

And, ? What are you trying to say?

And your point is?

My point: Sudan is not as impoverished as many of us would like to believe
               Khartoum is actually a beautiful city
               From my experience going there, You find the 3 main Nigerian tribes living there, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba


The Hausa go there either for transit on to Saudi Arabia, or begging on the streets or students
The Igbo for trading/hustling and transit point to other parts of the world
The yoruba are students since their universities dont have strike and are very good schools, no wonder!

So Don't be too bumbed out if they're deporting Nigerians coz Nigeria has nothing on Sudan really.

sudanese girls

more

These are some pictures of Khartoum, the capital of sudan

You know what? I think politically speaking, Nigeria is at the level of medieval Europe as far as political development and general mentality is concerned. Then, the had rigid hierarchical class systems, same in Nigeria today. You had the Royals at the top, the nobles, the serfs etc. Even then, a serf could rise to be a noble but the chances were slim and this individual would face mockery from peers with "noble blood"

Nigeria is an epitome of "REVOLVING DOOR" politics:

Musa Yar'adua- Minister of Lagos Affairs, first republic
Shehu Musa Yar'adua- Chief of Staff, Supreme headquarters, effectively vice president (his dad was minister)
Umaru Musa Yar'adua- Governor then President of Nigeria- (his blood brother was vice president)
Murtala Shehu Yar'adua- Minister of state, Defense (his father was vice president)

A governor today is a senator tomorrow and vice versa, the door keeps revolving!!!
Some people just have it in their blood, to rule is simply in the blood!!!
There are many examples of families all interconnected or siblings who are all in top positions in the country!

nat138:



I want to believe that some of these figures are cooked up and not real, is the NPC crazy
how on earth can states like Jigawa, Borno, Zamfara, Kastina and all those others end up
with such high figures, were the cows/goats/sheep and trees in those states also counted along
side human beings?
As for IBB he is a goner, even if the elections are rigged and he succeeds in becoming the president,
he will DIE in no time, pls someone should remind of almighty Abacha incase his shallow brain has forgotten so soon.
And for the IDIOTS that are supporting him, they should go on, the little naira notes they are given will not be used for any reasonable venture, it will vanish like a whirlwind.

When guy are marrying four wives with each wife having more than five kids, how wont their population be that much[color=#990000][/color]

I have my sources. But this is just the tip of the Iceberg. All elite in Nigeria are married to each other especially in the North where oligarchies dominate

Col. Sani Bello, who is the current chairman of MTN and amni oil and gas and also former governor of Kano state son's are married to Dangote and abdulsalam abubakar (former head of state)
Sani zangon daura, former minister of Agriculture is married to Yar'adua's younger sister.

Have you heard the term civil service marriage? Check this one out. Daughter of Nu’uman Barau Dambatta, a Federal Permanent Secretary is married to the son of Abubakar Mustapha, Kaduna State Head of the Civil Service. Former Minister of Power and Steel and younger brother of the influential Kano-based AVM Mukhtar Mohammed,chairman of the popular Freedom Radio, Kano, Bashir Dalhatu is married to the daughter of the late General Sani Abacha, Zainab, while her elder brother, Mohammed Abacha is married to the daughter of the late Brigadier-General Umaru Mohammed from Hadejia, Jigawa State.

Says Minister Lobbied For Anambra PDP Ticket


The politics of ego between former Central Bank Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, and Information and Communications Minister, Dora Akunyili, got messier on Monday with the disclosure by Soludo that she had failed to persuade the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to anoint her the consensus candidate in the Anambra State Governorship poll on February 6.

This is why the woman is fighting me, he alleged.

Soludo also narrated how Akunyili and Turai Yar’Adua fell out after the former First Lady refused to influence her husband to ‘anoint’ her the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a ticket 47 people vied for.

A statement issued by Soludo’s Media Assistant, Bonaventure Melah, said Akunyili was the clandestine “48th aspirant” who did not have the courage to resign her job as Minister and face the people through the primaries.

“She rather devoted all her energies to lobbying (Yar’Adua) to appoint her as ‘the consensus candidate’ – and there are several witnesses and evidence to this fact.

“Since she lost the nomination to Soludo, she has never spared any opportunity to vent her bitterness. Most politicians know that Dora has negative electoral value in Anambra and cannot ‘make’ a Councillor let alone a legislator.

“Indeed, Dora knows that any candidate who publicly associates with her will lose election in Anambra. To ascribe to herself any influence whatsoever in the making of a Governor smacks of a huge dose of delusion!”

Soludo said he was reacting to the “outlandish and childish accusations” levelled by Akunyili that his thugs prevented her from attending her sister’s funeral and also followed her to her father’s village in Nanka.

She alleged that Soludo was probably angry with her because she could not make him Anambra Governor.

He noted that while her intention could be her usual “infantile propaganda,” the allegations are weighty enough to warrant a response.

He said the aspect of Akunyili’s allegations that sounded childish was the futile attempt to link the Governorship election to her imaginary threats.

The statement added: “It should be noted that Dora Akunyili’s allegations were made at a ‘press conference’ called several days after the burial/funeral ceremonies.

“Is it not curious that (she) who attended the burial/funeral with blaring sirens and a horde of heavily armed policemen and SSS (State Security Service) personnel would be attacked by ‘thugs’ who also chased her to her village, and to date, there has been no formal report of the incidents or threats in any police station, and there was no arrest of any of the ‘thugs’.

“We only read about ‘thugs’ on the pages of newspapers. Or, was Dora Akunyili referring to the over 8,000 guests and politicians from all the 21 local government areas in Anambra who came to condole with Soludo as the PDP flag bearer in Anambra as thugs?”

Soludo said it is recorded on tape that Akunyili praised him in church for taking care of her sister and announced that all those who had come for her and her family would be entertained at her father’s compound in Nanka.

“Were the thugs chasing her before or after the praises and announcement at the church service? From the church, she joined the thousands of people to walk all the way to the sister’s compound and personally observed the burial.

“After that, she again personally caused a public announcement to be made to the effect that her guests should follow her to Nanka (as the custom demands).

“There is a video tape of her activities, with her acknowledging greetings after the burial until she entered her car. When did the thugs come in and only Dora Akunyili (out of the thousands that attended) saw them? You can fool some people some of the time but never all the people all the time!”

According to Soludo, what makes the allegation laughable is that one of his major contributions to Anambra and Nigerian politics is his insistence on non-violence and absence of thuggery.

He said it is on record that during the Governorship vote, about 400 thugs were arrested and none was from the PDP, which is the new politics he is spearheading.

“Furthermore, to imagine that Soludo who was deeply mourning the death of his beloved mother- in-law (whom he described as his own mother) would organise thugs to disrupt the funeral which he personally organised says volumes about how far Dora’s fertile mind could go in concocting imaginary threats.

“Anyway, Nigerians are used to the crocodile tears and faked threats – all in attempts to woo public sympathy. Dora is taking her propagandist skills rather too far!”

Soludo alleged that Akunyili knows more than she is willing to tell the public, knows about her age-long quarrels “as usual” with members of her family and her elder sister.

He said her age-long quarrels with her late sister are also public knowledge, and that her late sister personally told her stories to lots of people in Anambra several years back.

“They had nothing to do with neither Soludo nor the 2010 elections. Dora did not talk about her desperate attempts to disrupt the burial/funeral by attempting to organise a parallel funeral site beside her sister’s compound (which is an abomination).

“She did not talk about the fact that the traditional ruler, the community and her own kindred resisted her abominable act, reported in Tribune and Daily Independent on July 17.”

Soludo said he is aware that “she decided to concoct the stories and go on the offensive after the newspaper reports clearly indicted her. She had to find a fall guy, and of course her phobia for Soludo provided the convenient alibi.”

He, however, vowed to resist any attempt to drag him into Akunyili’s unending quarrels with her family, nephews and nieces.

He recalled that he was the first to congratulate Governor Peter Obi after the election, to demonstrate “a rare sense of sportsmanship uncommon in this part of the world.”

He said he has since reconciled with all the major political gladiators in Anambra, and they were all in his village to condole with him during the funeral.

“Akunyili should find another excuse to explain her abominable acts during her sister’s burial/funeral. She has misfired in this one!”


Source (daily independent) http://odili.net/news/source/2010/jul/27/400.html

Beaf:

^
Carry your fear go anoda place jare!
There is nothing like "the North", it doesn't exist; just as much as "the South" doesn't exist. The politics of the day keeps showing it over and over, the hostilities in Plateau and Adamawa keep emphasising it, the Middle Belt keeps screaming that they have been conned and cheated. . .

IBB is more likely to end up in jail, than he is to becoming a presidential candidate, talkless of president.

You must not know the north, it'll always stay as one, northerners have strong bonds, even in adamawa, you should go and see the way fulani people live with christian minorities, peacfully! A christian minority from the north would rather see a hausa speaking northern president than jonathan, after all, who is he closer to, the hausa fulani man or the ijaw man?? most of these christian minorities speak hausa as a first language!!

I've figured out your tricks, you and a seemingly aggressive southern media want to use the divide and conquer tactic to break the north's political power by insisting on separate identities for different groups in the north. IT WON'T WORK! IT CANT WORK

In the south, or south south per say, you have this problem of ethnic nationalities, ijaw, urhobo, itsekiri etc there are no "ethnic" nationalities in the north, See, I'll let you in on a little secret, in your history, you had little contact with each other, and when you did, it was conflict driven which is why you have thing like IJAW NATION, in the north, its just Arewa which in Hausa means North (all inclusive) Also The hausa fulani had extensive contact with the minorities in the region and a social order was established long before European contact so everyone knows the history and knows and accepts the hausa fulani people as the dominant group in the region, they've overlorded the area (up to Kogi, Okenne etc) for centuries and you feel your divide and conquer move will upturn all that history? That is naiveté of the highest order. The truth is, even the "middle belters have assumed a northern identity, in Jos their monarchy is based on the emirate system, they wear the clothes you find on any northerners back, the same type of caps, they eat the same food. Mr. Beaf, food for thought!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v32CkzCqcyo&feature=related


twins, one black the other white

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGZVG4_upDo

for all the people saying the mother went behind the guys back, how about the case of the two "white" apartheid supporting parents in south africa who gave birth to a black baby.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/files/2008/04/jeremiahwright210.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-342715.0.html&usg=__GQtLJIqXEQfEGYJr84AVoVHpj2k=&h=210&w=210&sz=10&hl=en&start=21&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=I-7gLax7h5npIM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3DModupe%2BOzolua%26start%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1

Donald Duke is the former governor of cross rivers state.

A comprehensive expose on how elections are rigged in the country has been unveiled by one of the insiders in the political process and former Cross River State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke. Last Wednesday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Duke gave a blow by blow account to a gathering of pro-democracy advocates, including the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), of the modus operandi of State Chief Executives and Resident Electoral Commissioners to thwart the mandate of the electorate, not just in states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but all the others. In his opinion, it is not just a question of replacing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, but getting a critical mass to come out to vote and ensuring that votes count.
The Guardian today delivers excerpts of his extempore speech:

“LET me start this way. Professor Maurice Iwu is truly an enigma; he enjoyed the limelight. He enjoyed all the attacks, thrown and meted at him, he remained undaunted. I think, he belongs to the school of thought that believes that bad publicity is better than no publicity. So, even though he was being attacked and scolded and all sorts of things were said about him, he didn’t shy away from even going to the United States and talking to Nigerians in the Diaspora about his work, he didn’t shy away from it. I was told he organized a rally to ensure that he will come back to do the work he was appointed to.

Why do I call him an enigma? The truth is, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission has little or no bearing on the success of elections, that’s the truth. To me, it’s actually immaterial because he is head of the administration he takes the brunt. The best he can do is perhaps, draw up a blueprint but the implementation of that blueprint is outside his control. So, if elections are rigged in say -Taraba State- we don’t do that stuff in Cross Rivers State (laughter),
Every one looks at Iwu and he proudly says we did this or that. Hogwash!
Let me now take you through the process of an election. We have a hundred and twenty thousand booths in Nigeria. At the hierarchy, you have the Chairman of INEC, then you have the zonal Commissioners, then you have the Resident Electoral Commissioners and they are the heads in every state the zone as the name implies; we have six zones in Nigeria, so you have six of them. Then you have the Resident Electoral Commissioners and there are 36 of them of course, and Abuja. Then for each local government, you have an electoral officer. Beyond that you have a hundred and twenty thousand polling booths, headed by presiding officers. The people think that at the end of the elections, the PDP would just decide who wins and who doesn’t and announces the results. I think the process is a bit more sophisticated than that.

This is what happens; the Resident Electoral Commissioner is usually from another state. The electoral officers, they move around. They are usually from that state, but for the conduct of elections itself, you would probably move from Cross River to Akwa Ibom or to Abia, but these musical chairs don’t mean nothing.

When the Resident Electoral Commissioner comes before the elections are conducted- of course when he comes to the state, usually, he has no accommodation; monies have not been released for the running or conduct of the elections and all that because we always start late. He pays a courtesy call on the governor. It’s usually a televised event you know, and of course he says all the right things. ‘Your Excellency, I am here to ensure that we have free and fair elections and I will require your support.’

Now, at that courtesy call, most governors, at least I did, will invite the Commissioner of Police because he is part of the action and he sits there.

After the courtesy call, the Resident Electoral Commissioner now moves in for a one-on-one with the governor the says, “Your Excellency, since I came, I’ve been staying in this hotel, there is no accommodation for me and even my vehicle is broken down and the last Commissioner didn’t leave the vehicle, so if you could help me settle down quickly;’ and the governor says, ‘Chief of Staff, where is the Chief of Staff here?’ And the Chief of Staff appears. Governor says: ‘Please ensure that the REC is accommodated–put him in the Presidential lodge, allot two cars to him, I give you seven days to get this done. Then the relationship has started; I am going to share some of these things with you so that we don’t leave here with any illusions. A lot of us, folks who have gone through an election or have been elected for one thing or another, see groups like Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the CLP as woolly-eye dreamers, you have to come down to the backsides, since I am now a hybrid between both. I want to bring you both down to backsides. Let me take you down to what happens so that you can change it because if you don’t change it, we here won’t suffer but I think of our children will.

We the elite, I am one of them, we send our kids to the best schools around the World, when they come back they are misfits, they cannot fit in and so ultimately we are designing a system that would destroy us in the end.

Let me take our minds back to Somalia. Somalia is mono-religious, mono-ethnic; they only have clans (but) they have one tribe. What has happened there? It’s a failed state because the elite in Somalia were so disconnected from the people that once they had some money, they buy houses in England, Washington and all those places; they were not investing, putting their best foot forward and I think that was what Pastor Bakare was talking about. If you want to be in a contest, you put your best foot forward; at the end of the day, there was such a disconnect that even till today, they cannot bridge it. Let me tell you, the last recognized President of Somalia is buried in Lagos- Siad Barre.

We are multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-problematic. The reason why most people worry about us is if we explode, who will contain us? Let me also say this, I know what I am saying now is an aside, I will go back to the elections. When we conducted the census in 2006 or so, the raw figures said we were over two hundred million; when they went and processed the figures it came down to 140million.

When you look at those figures and compare to those we had in 1991 at a growth rate of 2.1 or something like that, it is really just an extrapolation, because we were too embarrassed to admit our true numbers. If we get it wrong, we will fail like Somalia; in Somalia, half of them are in Kenya, Ethiopia, and a few are in Europe here and there; who will contain us in all of West Africa and Central Africa and for that it is imperative not just for ourselves but for the rest of the continent that we get it right.

Now, back to the elections, once that relationship has been established between the governor and the REC, if you are a governor who is ‘A Governor’, maybe two nights after you just pop by at the governors lodge and see the REC and say ah, ‘ah REC how are you doing? Are you OK?’ He says, ‘ah! Your Chief of Staff has been wonderful. He has been very nice to me; he supplied me the vehicles and everything is Ok’.

A few weeks to the elections, the REC sees the governor; you probably have on the average about three thousand five hundred, four thousand depending on the polling booths in every state. So, REC goes to the governor and says, ‘Your Excellency, could you please give us the names of about four, five thousand people so that we can hurriedly train them, we need them as Presiding Officers.’ You need experience. A good coach is one who has played and has lost matches in the past?

The REC now goes down and says, ‘we need to conduct a training programme for the presiding officers and em, headquarters hasn’t sent us any money yet, you know.’

And the governor is like: ‘How much would that cost?’

REC replies: ‘N25million for the first batch, we may have about three batches.’ Governor: ‘Ok, the Chief of Staff will see you.’
Now, the Chief of Staff, you call him: ‘Make sure, that we arrange N25 million this week and in two weeks time another N25 million and Seventy-Five million in all.’

Chief of Staff: ‘Your Excellency, how do we do it?’
Governor: ‘Put it under Security Vote.’

In other words, its cash, ok, now, cash in huge Ghana Must Go bags – some of my colleagues will shoot me- (turns to the audience) is any former governor here? (Crowd replies no!)

Good. Cash is lodged in huge Ghana Must Go Bags for the REC and of course, to be fair to them, they call their electoral officers and say the governor has been very benevolent; he has given us this and that. I say three batches because they have them in Senatorial districts. So, you have one in Calabar, you have One in Ikom and Ogoja, those are the headquarters of the Senatorial districts. Each one costs twenty-five million. Of course, the sums are not properly retired. I don’t know how much of this twenty-five million worked. But, there is a rapport this is going on.

The governor now turns round and says: ‘call me the party chairman.’ The party chairman appears and the governor says: ‘INEC requires 50 thousand people for conducting the elections. See to it that we meet their needs.’ The chairman goes and you hear in the evening on radio and television: There will be an urgent meeting of all chairmen and secretaries of XYZ party at the headquarters. They should report promptly at 10am (because) matters of urgent interest will be discussed. End of announcement. Now we have texts messages, so its easier, in no time everyone is here.
It’s a very short meeting, please go back and within 48 hours submit from each local government two hundred and fifty names of trusted party members. So in a week the deed is done. The names, sometimes even passport photographs if required are sent to INEC.

And the training programme is carried out. Let me pause a bit, this is at party level. They are usually civil servants. They may be teachers, whatever, but they are party members. The remuneration, for each of them for the elections from Abuja is 10,000 Naira for the day’s work. But the state in its benevolence gives 50 to 100,000 Naira to each of these folks right before this election.

This is even where it gets even more interesting. So, you have each of the three or four thousand polling booths; they are manned by party stalwarts. They are usually party stalwarts. You don’t send any peripheral member. The remuneration from Abuja has not arrived but that of the state was received 48 hours prior.

On the day of elections, each polling booth has no more than five hundred ballot papers, that is standard.

There is not a polling booth that is more than five hundred. So only two hundred people appear here, three hundred there, one hundred there, fifty there, four hundred there, at the end of election what happens. The Presiding Officer sits down and calls a few guys and says, ‘hey, there are a few hundred papers here, let’s thumbprint. This is the real election. Well, this is not a PDP thing. I am not here to castigate the PDP; it’s a Nigerian thing. This process may sound comical and jovial, it happens throughout the country, whether its Action Congress or APGA it’s the same thing. We are all the same. They start thumb-printing, some are overzealous. So at the end of the day you find some voting more than the number of people that were registered to vote.

Other wise they do it, you have 95 percent turnout. You start wondering where were the voters, I didn’t see so many people. And the election results are announced; XYZ party wins and it takes a week for this paltry ten thousand Naira for each presiding officer to arrive.

Listen to this before you ask your question: Who is the most important person in an election? – The presiding officer. And if there are a hundred and twenty thousand of them (booths) there are a hundred and twenty thousand presiding officers, they are the most important people in the elections, not the Chairman.

So, as long as we keep applying that same method, you will get the same results. Its crazy to think that because you substitute Iwu for Jega all will change. In other words, Iwu is a crook, Jega is a saint. Jega is great, he has an impeccable reputation. Iwu was great, now he seems not so great. Ok, they are both professors, they have reached the peak of whatever discipline that they profess. The point is that it is the system and the personnel and the chairman has little or no control over that.

Where are we now, we don’t even know when the elections will be. The Constitution amendment seems to be stalling somewhere. So it’s either in January or in April. Sometimes, we behave as if we invented democracy. We always want to draw new rules. We should know the day of elections. It should be fixed. We should know that on so and so date I think, America is the 4th of November or so and if it falls on a Sunday it doesn’t make a difference. The point I am making here is that date is fixed, you know; because in a democracy, election should be a norm, not an event. In our democracy, election is an event. Its like, we are going to spring on to you with fire works, hey, we are going to have an election, we are all running around- I know most politicians are broke right now, so we are all running around the field.

Secondly, if you have your ears to the ground there, are whispers that may be, we need to postpone this thing. The whispers are there. In a democracy, you postpone an election? You postpone things you didn’t plan for, not things that are there in the Constitution, that says you must do this, that and that, you can’t but –you know two ways of moving forward. This is where I like what SNG and CNP are doing.

We need a critical mass of Nigerians to get out and vote. It is important because the more ballot papers that are legitimately used on election day, the fewer available to be used to rig the vote, that’s the truth. Don’t keep to yourself and think that they will announce results. They are more sophisticated than that. And that’s why the aspirants who felt cheated and had the resources to employ forensic personnel, like those elections had the elections upturned in Edo and Ondo, because they could establish multiple voting by thumbprint.

So, if it’s an AC state the procedure is the same. I remember a state, that state will remain nameless. I hear the story that the then President was so determined that he must change the leadership of this state and he called the IG and said, ‘look, that Governor is a security breach. Let's have elections and flush the governor out, and the governor knows he is under siege. A week before the elections, a new police Commissioner arrives. And you know if you are a governor and a new Police Commissioner arrives before elections, you know something is wrong somewhere and he spends two, three days without going to see the governor, which is again a breach of protocol. The day he decides to see the governor, the governor says, I won’t be at the office. However, if he gives him a particular address they may discuss. Then the chap goes there and smartly salutes and it’s in a highbrow neighborhood of the city. (Shouts of Ikoyi rent the air.) ‘No! It’s Yobe!’ (The hall explodes in loud laughter).

The Commissioner of Police walks up to the governor and smartly salutes and says: ‘Your Excellency, I just came to introduce myself. My name is Mr. So, so and so. And the governor goes: ‘Ah, you are welcome. I heard you were here two or three days ago and I was wondering whether I won’t see you. Anyway, you are welcome. Have you settled down?’ ‘Yes I’ve been given accommodation and all that. And the governor asks, ‘where was your last posting?’ He tells him, he says fine.

Governor: ‘That car over there, this is the key and this is your house.
The Commissioner of Police now says: ‘Your Excellency, this Obasanjo is a very bad man. He is a very, very bad man. If you see all the things he has planned for you eh Olorun maje.’

How do we move on? How do we get out of here? What I have done is I’ve tried graphically to paint a picture of a process. How do we change this process?

One, I think, since we cannot change attitudes as quickly, we must ensure mass participation. In an election where there is a very high turnout, the results are usually genuine. The most celebrated election in Nigeria, June 12, 1993 what happened? People came out. The more people who come out to vote the fewer–there may be mago, mago here and there but there wouldn’t be much in such a critical manner to upset the will of the people. Beyond that, if you don’t vote in an election, you have no reason to criticize the government and I tell folks everywhere that guys, I would say, I have lived my life. You guys have not and you are all criticizing Nigeria but did you vote in the last election? Most of them say no then I say, you’ve lost the moral right to criticize what the government does because you were not part of the process.

Is there a way out? I think there is. I think we need to employ technology. It's just a suggestion and I want to share with you. I have said this in one or two fora and I’ve heard people say it has not been done in America or the West why should we do it here? I say they don’t have the attitude we have here. Necessity is the mother of invention. It is not necessary for us to do what I’m about to suggest.

For the purposes of this, 3455, this number is for a phone and that number is unique to you and valid for that election or the set of elections. And each party has a numerical equivalent. AC could be 1, the PDP could be 5, the Labour Party could be 3, whatever. And on the date of elections you decide that your number even if you don’t have a phone, you can go to a centre where they have a bank of phones and once you put in your number 3455 it recognizes you, it cannot be duplicated. Its only you that has that number and for that election on that date, once its used it cannot be used by anyone else. Then you can do this one from your house or anywhere, and any time between the hours of 9-12. When it says which party, you say 3 or 4 whatever the number, they ask you, ‘are you sure you say Yes’. You press it then you’ve voted. With that, I think we can conduct election but people say ah, it’s to technological and I say, why do you always underestimate the people in the rural areas? If you send them money this way, won’t they be able to cash it? Why is it that when it is to conduct their civic responsibilities it becomes high tech? I know this country, I ran a state for eight years, I know the nooks and crannies of my state. We are not the most enlightened of states in the country, but you see, I had a deal with MTN and Glo to ensure that every community in Cross River State has a base station; for that I gave them sites free of charge; so, virtually every nook and cranny of Cross River has a base station. Even the most rural of places; even in Bakassi when we still had control of it. And they all use it. They still use it to call their folks in the urban centres to say send us money. Why is that when it comes to civic responsibility it is high tech? Because the politicians don’t want to use it, that’s the truth.
I am not saying this is a perfect system, it can be fine-tuned, that will ensure that within an hour or two every one has voted and the results are near perfect.

Of course, once you design a system, there are those whose work is to un-design the system. There are people like that and they work backwards. Once you have that we also think the same way. How do we work backwards, where can this be faulted? It can be faulted in many ways. The service companies if you are able to break-through the integrity of the system, you know, here and there; but I think we are going to think outside the norm.

The point I’m trying to make is we have to think outside the box. I want to commend the federal government, each time the government talks about elections, it keeps on talking about credible elections with brilliant sound bite. But it must go beyond the sound bite and lets not kid ourselves, by thinking that by putting a Jega there that all is well. With Jega there, all will be well if he is able to design along with his team a system that is virtually fool proof. In other words, he himself must understand the system of elections, he needs to know how it works and how its been holding.

As I speak to you, we’ve not started voters’ registration. That exercise will take any where from three to four months. It will take at least, ninety days to run through its course, another six weeks to tidy up before it is published; lets not kid ourselves. You can have elections anytime, but you can’t have credible elections in January. So, for those thinking we can have elections in January, I think we have to rethink the process; we cannot have credible elections in January. We may have elections but it may not be credible. Where are we? We need to get out of these holes; we need to traverse the length and breath of this country. We need to recruit an army of people may be 5, 000 in each state, two hundred young men and women who will reach our (people), give each of them a task to ensure that he registers at least a hundred person. That alone, will bring twenty million people into the fold. This is what they did in the Obama election.

Fortunately, I was monitoring the Obama election, whether you attain voting age or not, you are able to send text and move around and get people to vote. It's one thing to register, some folk tell me, ‘how can I go to line up for hours to vote for this person’. This is again what pastor Bakare was talking about, if people are not excited about the candidates they will not come out. ‘Look at the four people running, they are all clowns. I’ m going to watch television; I’m not going to vote because either way a clown is going to win’.

So, we have to get involved in the process. We can’t all run for offices, we all can’t.

PapaBrowne:

It already has. The recent Jos crises was the final axe!!

It is good for Nigeria. What I think would happen is that a new north would emerge. A north that is more interested in contributing to Nigeria's development rather than protecting the status quo. One reason I like OBJ is that he empowered progressive Northerners. These progressives have issues like almajiris and VVF on their minds and not some useless philosophy that was passed down by Ahmadu Bello.

Point of correction, i think people like you just talk without knowing whats on ground! just because there was a crisis in jos doesn't mean that the north is broken, you just wish it was but it isn't not even in the least bit, there a sizable Christian populations in adamawa, borno, bauchi, gombe, kebbi, niger, taraba, kaduna, plateau, nassarawa, and in all these states, the only ones to have any serious religious clashes are two or three!! so pls put things in context. Furthermore, we know that the jos crisis is not even religious, its political and economic and we know members of the same religion can fight over politics and economics, you people just wish the north would die but it never will, its too dominant in nigeria for it to fall!!! sorry for your dashed hopes!!! but the north will stay as one powerful bloc in nigeria!

@dede1

I absolutely concur! some people are so eager for the north to break up, but i dont think it ever will

@Tuyis, Yeah her family is exploiting her and you are protecting her!! Rubbish!