The fisherman has finally been boxed into a corner, if he doesn't negotiate with them, the resultant deaths will be on his head because he has a chance to stop it and if he does he'll be labeled a coward.

There's a 5% chance that I may be a victim if BH carries out their threat and bomb Lagos, I am not ready to be cremated alive by some suicidal maniacs hence GEJ should dialogue with them or wipe them out b4 d stipulated 78hrs. A coward who saves lives is better than a brave fool who gets people killed. That's my 2cents.

BTW: America is presently negotiating with the taliban, so who says US don't negotiate with terrorists? Too much 24 dey disturb some people

Una don start again ba? This foolish news has been dispelled in another thread na haba!! The guy na thief not bomber.

Yeye, even almighty US cannot level a country d size of S Korea in 3-4 mins much less a country of hungry soldiers and untested weapons.

Nothing Islamist about this shi.t, I'm sure its just propaganda politics. I refuse to believe until they categorically state it themselves then I can recommend them for psychiatric evaluation.

toba: This is a sign that Germany is winning Euro 2012.

YES! YES!! YES!!! YES!!! And SeBastian will score d winning goal in d final too.

Bastian, I knew u'll make me proud one day. wooooohooooo, now to teach chelshit a lesson @ d arena.

FC Bayern, wir fahren nach Athen. Schalalal lala lala....

Come on Bavarians we can do this!!!

Callotti: Still waiting for 2 people to die first, and sell off ALL their properties to the lowest bidders . . . . then I can burn the useless passport.

No need to wait, just get a gun and d rest will fall into place. Yeye person.

Kay 17:
I'm really disappointed. If human rights aren't declared and protected in the Quran, then its lacks authority.

You love to bask in your ignorance, don't you?

Alright, read only Suratul-Nisah and tell me what you see there.

logicboy:

Sorry, but the Koran has some difficulty with Human Rights. A muslim woman is not free to marry who she wants if the person is a non-muslim. It is not fair and it is clearly stated in the koran.

Also, the Koran permits polygamy.

Also, people have been punished for apostacy which is wrong.

Polygamy is not against human rights and its one of the ways in which the society takes care of its surplus women. Your assertion that the ratio of men to women is 1:1.06 is grossly inaccurate cos anthropological evidence shows that polygamy has flourished all over the world and until the neo-fascist laws laid down by the catholic church even in the west, so there's no way your figures can be correct. You can go ahead and quote the bible or torah verse where 'GOD' condemns polygamy.

Yes, Islam does not permit women to marry from another religion because most likely the woman will lose her religion and that's why Islam encourages Muslim women not to.

As for the apostacy laws you talked about; its subjective and the circumstances for implementation of such is extremely rare.

If you want to know more about how the Qur'an extols human rights just google it or read the biographies of any of the four rightly guided caliphs and see how justly they ruled their people using the Qur'an and Hadeeth.

GEJ just keeps embarrassing Nigeria in ways you least expect. How can a C-in-C go to Germany and tell d whole world that our Army is incompetent, doesn't he know what that does to d morale of d men of d Armed Forces? This gaffe alone is enough to endanger the lives of our boys @ home and in peace keeping missions all over world by emboldening our enemies, BH, MEND and other local militias to attack our military installations. Even if he was going to ask for military help from Germany, he should have done that in private not in the manner that is unbecoming of the C-in-C of d largest army in black Africa.

I don't blame him though cos we all know he doesn't connect his tongue to the braim before uttering statements, I choose to blame his Advisers; Abati, Reno nd co. Rather than sit this man down and tell him he should watch his ridiculous public speeches they are busy fighting media wars with those criticizing their boss.

all4naija: This is always the issue. I quite agree there is nothing wrong exerting pressure on the government, most especially, in a country like Nigeria. Should it be based on well provided evidences? 'Not just do something or we protest', as you said is not just enough to go about it. What are the reports on ground about what they are protesting for? Who is in charge of that sector of the government which must be placed on placards? The need not to see beyond the government alone is appalling. I think most of the marketers and the importers are private companies, they too must come to mind. How many times have they reported this kind of problems to the body responsible in addressing the problem? When you have enough evidences in your hand taking on protest becomes an intrinsic routine or part of a solution. Yet, anybody can come up with some debilitating issues in the country just to cause disruption. If there is nothing shady in it, then people can go for the protest. Those going to join should ask questions than following the bandwagon for protest sake. Protest can be very disrupting sometimes - destroying innocent people's properties and at the end come up with no or near-nothing result.

Going by this post, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you haven't read the report yet. Corruption of the highest order involving members of the present cabinet, this is the best chance for GEJ to prove us; his critics wrong or face what is to come.

oiseworld:

@monsta, this issue of northern leaders bribing the US not to be labelled a terrorist, i think its true. I don't know where beaf gets his information from but, i've heard it before. This actually is the second time am hearing it. I would not say its actually a bribe. But a kind of an agreement. And i know they spent all hell of money on it.

Don't be surprised of the world you are in. Things are actually happening that you don't know. I know the govt forwarded the issue and the names of boko sponsors to the US. If the US then tag them non terorrist then,something strong must have happened as you and me know that they are.

So you actually think the Americans will play with the lives of their citizens because of a few million $$? They are not naija politicians na. The govt did not forward anything to the US govt, the report they worked on was based on an investigation carried out by the CIA field office in Lagos in conjunction with d FBI, and the reason they didn't tag BH as a terrorist group was because they believed BH was a result of socio-economic problems in Northern Nigeria and dat its a political tool used by some politicians to cause mayhem hence not a direct threat to the west. Google is ur friend, its not a classified report. Don't let the likes of Reno feed you with beer parlour joint conspiracies.

all4naija: I hate people playing tea-party game. If his intention is actually to fight corrupt than put any ulterior motive behind it then it is a good idea. He should provide enough evidences for the reason why the protest most be upheld. He shouldn't leave room for propaganda of any kind before I can say he means something worth doing. There are lots of things to fight for in the country yet the ordinary Nigerians can not be lured into disrupting peace for the aim of political propaganda.

For those who are willing to join the protest should demand for reasons for it and what would secure lives in their always-victimized positions.

Bakare's conditions are clear; do something about the nasty report or we protest! No political gimmicks. There's a need to exert pressure on the govt. sometimes to achieve the desired results just like we did during the Yar'adua debacle and Jan 1st tyranny.

.

Beaf:
FAIL.

I can only laugh at your weak attempt to sell false logic with sentiment.
When the govt argued for the removal of subsidies because it was driven by blinding levels of corruption which govt was not willing to tolerate; you clowns and buffoons retorted that there was no subsidy.
Now that the subsidy has been partially removed and it has become glaring that govt was right all the time about the unbearable levels of corruption driving it; you clowns and buffoons have forgotten your "there is no subsidy" freak argument to rally a demonstration against a govt which is out to save the common man.

Is there any group more confused and dishonest than you lot?

Unfortunately, many innocent folk are deceived by your snake tongues without realising the full enormity of the battle before the govt. The oil barons are a very powerful group indeed, particularly those from your core-North; this group alone owns 80% of Nigeria's indigenious oil wells and make twice as much as the ENTIRE Niger Delta does, yet they are not up to a 100. Not only that, they do not have to pay states and LG's like the FG does; so dollar for dollar, it is an unequal battle; they are more liquid than the FG. [b]In fact, they are liquid enough to lobby the US senate and US govt over the terrorist status of boko haram, and anybody knows that the sort of money required for that will make the entire population of 160 million Nigerians catch cold.

Regardless of financial clout, the battle against the parasites, leaches and vultures will be won and the common man set free in the north, south, east and west.
Mark my words.

Thank goodness the army has tanks to crush subversive freaks.

[b]

Beaf:
FAIL.

I can only laugh at your weak attempt to sell false logic with sentiment.
When the govt argued for the removal of subsidies because it was driven by blinding levels of corruption which govt was not willing to tolerate; you clowns and buffoons retorted that there was no subsidy.
Now that the subsidy has been partially removed and it has become glaring that govt was right all the time about the unbearable levels of corruption driving it; you clowns and buffoons have forgotten your "there is no subsidy" freak argument to rally a demonstration against a govt which is out to save the common man.

Is there any group more confused and dishonest than you lot?

Unfortunately, many innocent folk are deceived by your snake tongues without realising the full enormity of the battle before the govt. The oil barons are a very powerful group indeed, particularly those from your core-North; this group alone owns 80% of Nigeria's indigenious oil wells and make twice as much as the ENTIRE Niger Delta does, yet they are not up to a 100. Not only that, they do not have to pay states and LG's like the FG does; so dollar for dollar, it is an unequal battle; they are more liquid than the FG. In fact, they are liquid enough to lobby the US senate and US govt over the terrorist status of boko haram, and anybody knows that the sort of money required for that will make the entire population of 160 million Nigerians catch cold.

Regardless of financial clout, the battle against the parasites, leaches and vultures will be won and the common man set free in the north, south, east and west.
Mark my words.

Thank goodness the army has tanks to crush subversive freaks.

Beaf:
FAIL.

I can only laugh at your weak attempt to sell false logic with sentiment.
When the govt argued for the removal of subsidies because it was driven by blinding levels of corruption which govt was not willing to tolerate; you clowns and buffoons retorted that there was no subsidy.
Now that the subsidy has been partially removed and it has become glaring that govt was right all the time about the unbearable levels of corruption driving it; you clowns and buffoons have forgotten your "there is no subsidy" freak argument to rally a demonstration against a govt which is out to save the common man.

Is there any group more confused and dishonest than you lot?

Unfortunately, many innocent folk are deceived by your snake tongues without realising the full enormity of the battle before the govt. The oil barons are a very powerful group indeed, particularly those from your core-North; this group alone owns 80% of Nigeria's indigenious oil wells and make twice as much as the ENTIRE Niger Delta does, yet they are not up to a 100. Not only that, they do not have to pay states and LG's like the FG does; so dollar for dollar, it is an unequal battle; they are more liquid than the FG. [b]In fact, they are liquid enough to lobby the US senate and US govt over the terrorist status of boko haram[\b], and anybody knows that the sort of money required for that will make the entire population of 160 million Nigerians catch cold.

Regardless of financial clout, the battle against the parasites, leaches and vultures will be won and the common man set free in the north, south, east and west.
Mark my words.

Thank goodness the army has tanks to crush subversive freaks.

This guy will go to any length to spin a story to defend his paymaster, he now accuses the US of receiving bribe from a fictional '100' Northerners to remove Boko Haram from the terror list.

This is a whole low for you Reno, your conscience must be buried somewhere in the deserts of Nagev for you to unrepentantly spin ridiculous and laughable lies.

Yes we shall be free from the shackles of the leeches bleeding my dear country dry including your master and his cohorts, be they from the North, East, West or South, regardless of the party they belong to, irrespective of their religion, they shall face the most powerful force on earth; the voice of the innocents and oppressed.

I detest this idea of having a 'secret' detention centre in Lagos :|. Its not even secret anymore since a loud mouth 'intelligence' officer decided to leak it to the press, this shi.t stinks of a conspiracy by the powers that be to destabilize Lagos, a payback for the #OccupyNigeria debacle.

Kay 17:

You still haven't provided the islamic states that aren't monarchies

The ideals of democracy and human rights are not in the Quran, they are modern ideas which Islam is not up to date with.

I also don't understand why Muslims must lord over their neighbours, why are islamic rules forced on nonmuslims? Most have their own faiths and convictions. And these islamic parties will legislate apostacy laws and blasphemy laws. If Islam is descending into the political arena, can it withstand the scrutiny and criticism??

Also can an atheist serve in a political office, maybe president. Will homosexuality be decriminalized and recognized under islamic reign??

You don't listen much do you? I believe someone on this thread already told u that no Muslim country practices Islamic governance so your question on monarchy is irrelevant.

Islam may not be an advocate for democracy but the Qur'an places a high responsibility on leadership and government, it extols values that if adhered to will guarantee a system more people oriented than imperialist democracy.

Before you foolishly conclude that ideals of human rights are not in the Qur'an, I'll advise u pick a copy to read so you can see the folly of your ignorance.

Saro

speedyboi:
All what you quoted were the life styles of those that has lived on earth......it was not God that was commanding them to kill....some where kings commanding their handsmen to kill because of greediness and some other reasons. The old testament is for Christians to leårn from the mistakes of their past fathers and note the good people......have you seen anyone killing and using the bible as backup? Even if it is misquoted? Mtcheew....please if you want to quote next time from an old testament, quote the whole chapter so that people can know the whole story not just some abstracts.....most happenings in the old testament are stories and you will understand if you read the whole chapter or even the whole testament cause the happenings are interconnected

Now u know how it feels when u pple quote some abstracts from the Qur'an without understanding the tafsir of each verse and use it to back up ur pejudice against Islam.

And yes it was God that commanded them to kill not some fictional king;

9. Exodus 32:27-29
Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:

'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the
camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend
and neighbor.' "The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day
about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, "You have
been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own
sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."(NIV)

The new testament is more subtle in its call for violence:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to
the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a
sword.Matthew 10:34

I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it
were already kindled! Do you think that I have
come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you,
but rather division. Luke 12:49-51

And he said unto them, When I sent you without
purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing?
And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them,
But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it,
and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword,
let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say
unto you, that this that is written must yet be
accomplished in me, And he was reckoned
among the transgressors: for the things
concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord,
behold, here are two swords. And he said unto
them, It is enough. Luke 22:35-38


Christians of the past have used these verses to justify killings of 'unbelievers', the advent of protestant xtianity changed the face of the religion forever when they chose to eschew violence and embrace peace.

At least muslims defend themselves and try to explain the verses to the prejudiced fellows but all u get from the xtians is old testament BS or that u need the holy spirit to understand the genocide sanctioned by their God.

Case of kettle calling pot black; those who worship a God of genocide calling another persons God, bloodthirsty..na wa oh

[Quote]
Numbers 31:17Now therefore kill every male among the little
ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying
with him. 18But all the women children, that have not
known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Joshua 10:28And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote
it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he
utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein;
he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he
did unto the king of Jericho. 29Then Joshua passed from
Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought
against Libnah: 30And the LORD delivered it also, and the
king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with
the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein;
he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he
did unto the king of Jericho.31And Joshua passed from
Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped
against it, and fought against it: 32And the LORD delivered
Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second
day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the
souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to
Libnah.
2 Kings 2:23And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as
he was going up by the way, there came forth little children
out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up,
thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24And he turned
back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of
the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the
wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
2 Kings 15:16Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were
therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they
opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women
therein that were with child he ripped up.
Psalms 137:9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy
little ones against the stones.
Psalms 137:9Happy is the one who takes your babies and
smashes them against the rocks. (NLT)
Ezekial 9: 5And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye
after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare,
neither have ye pity: 6Slay utterly old and young, both
maids, and little children, and women: but come not near
any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my
sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were
before the house. 7And he said unto them, Defile the house,
and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went
forth, and slew in the city.
Hosea 9:16Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they
shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I
slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
Hosea 13:16Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath
rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their
infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child
shall be ripped up.
[/quote]

woodcook:

So brother are saying that Muslims are trying to catch up with the numbers above?

He's just trying to prove a point as to why we should see terrorism as with is; a crime and not a religious struggle. Just like xtianity was not blamed for the trans-atlantic slave trade and all Germans were not blamed for Hitlers Jewish massacre.

BTW: Sabon gari in Kano is not predominantly xtian, but populated by southerners (xtians nd muslims). Our reporters should stop helping BH propagate the hate abeg.

PDP is indeed a big joke! No wonder OBJ abandoned ship. What's their beef with Aregbe sef? I guess it shows they are scared of him.

As for the anthem BS, Ogun state has had an anthem for as long as I can remember does that mean they're seceding too?

On Friday, April 13, 2012 , at about 0210hrs Nigerian time, fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (M.E.N.D.) attacked and destroyed one manifold and one wellhead on a trunk line operated by Agip Oil Company, in Clough Creek, Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria . 

As opposed to our earlier intentions, there will be no pause in our assault on the Nigerian oil industry. There will forthwith, be sustained strikes on all pipelines and facilities remotely related to the Nigerian oil industry. Additionally, M.E.N.D. will commence with attacks on MTN South Africa infrastructure in the Niger Delta region.                         
Concerning attacks on MTN related infrastructure, M.E.N.D. will issue shortly, a set of guidelines to MTN employees, customers, and owners of properties accommodating MTN related communication equipments. These guidelines are intended to minimise civilian casualties and forestall the unnecessary destruction of privately owned properties accommodating MTN equipments.                   

At this juncture, we deem it necessary to address a misinformed editorial published in the Nation newspaper of Sunday, February 12, 2012 .                   

Ordinarily, this article which is bereft of intellectual value is undeserving of our attention. However, the misinformation disseminated by the Nation newspaper is injurious to its readership and must be checked in good time.

In its misguided editorial, the Nation affirms its confidence in the South African government and justice system. This paper, earlier published an article entitled ” Libya-Nigeria , South Africa in cold war over Gaddafi’s fate; Panic over likely release of Okah by South Africa . In this article, the Nation newspaper quotes a reliable Nigerian government source as saying, “if Okah is released through a circumvented process, Zuma will be the loser at the end of the day.” This statement infers that the South African president is benefiting personally from the continued incarceration of Henry Okah in South Africa . How then can the Nation turn around and declare the continued detention for almost 19 months now, without trial or proof of a Nigerian citizen to be a just action?                       

The Nigerian media industry is at its lowest point with unscrupulous journalists, editors and publishers on the payroll of Goodluck Jonathan. The Nation newspaper appears to lean towards this direction.             

Nigerians will recall that the unconditional offer of amnesty made in good faith by the late president Yar’ Adua, was intended to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue aimed at addressing the demands of the people of the Niger Delta. A Jonathan presidency and amnesty for militants were not a part of our demands and therefore will never be a solution to armed agitation for justice in the Niger Delta.                    

President Goodluck Jonathan has mismanaged the goodwill demonstrated by M.E.N.D. by misrepresenting himself and his band of charlatans as the reason for the relative calm experienced in the Niger Delta. We have never had any respect for Jonathan and today, most Nigerians understand why.         

To date, not one of the demands put forward to the Yar Adua government has been met; neither has the Nigerian government initiated dialogue aimed at addressing any of our demands.           

Our decision to attack South African investments in the Niger Delta is directly related to the conduct of president Zuma regarding the continued incarceration in South Africa of Henry Okah.             

What is happening in South Africa is a travesty of justice which must be condemned by all. What country on earth besides Nigeria  will so easily surrender its right to try someone it accuses of masterminding a bombing on its national day? Why does the South African government seek the extradition of Shrien Dewani from England for a murder committed in South Africa ?

The South African government is simply being used by the Nigerian government to hold Okah in prison for as long as it possibly can. The South African government also knowingly provided fabricated evidence to ensure Okah was denied bail in 2010. Jacob Zuma’s gain in all this is financial. Sacoil Holdings is a front for Zuma’s financial dealings in Nigeria . The South African president has also facilitated the award of several contracts in Nigeria to South African government owned establishments and individuals in Zuma’s favour.  After years of fighting for freedom and justice, South Africans now find themselves saddled with yet another typically African, corrupt and dictatorial government.             

Yes, we will attack South African investments for the interference of President Jacob Zuma in the judicial process which has resulted in the perpetual incarceration of Henry Okah.                         

It is a shame on all black Africans that it has taken the government of Jacob Zuma less than four years to undo the work of the great Nelson Mandela and other heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle, abseiling South Africa into the abyss comfortably occupied by countries like Nigeria , Congo and Angola .  It is apparent from the success of the Nigerian government that this corrupt and politically naive South African government understands only the language of force.     

We will persist with our attacks on the Nigerian oil industry due to the inaction of the Nigerian government concerning our just demands on behalf of the oppressed people of the Niger Delta.  The Jonathan administration has  used the dubious “amnesty programme” as a guise to line the pockets of Goodluck Jonathan, his wife Patience, Jonathans cronies and members of the amnesty committee whose sudden wealth remains unchallenged by the Nigerian media.

Fighters in the delta do not posses relevant high school qualifications. Those being sent abroad are relatives and friends of Jonathan, amnesty committee members etc.                         

The entire process is a fraud on the people of Nigeria who are being promised peace in the Niger Delta, in the absence of justice.  There is absolutely nothing the Nigerian military or unprincipled sections of the Nigerian media can do that will halt our march to freedom!
 
The Nigerian oil industry and South African investments in Nigeria will witness an assault unprecedented in the history of armed conflict in the Niger Delta.
 
MEND will once and for all expose Goodluck Jonathan and his band of so called ex-militants and shameless Ijaw elders for the frauds they are!

Jomo Gbomo

http://kayodeogundamisi..com/2012/04/south-african-interest-in-nigeria-will.html

Omojuwa: If God asks “who is Nasir?” What will you tell him?
El-Rufai: I will tell God that ‘God you know everything about me, so why ask me’. But I am just an ordinary human-being with very strong beliefs about a few things. I grew up in a country that on many grounds you can consider to be a fair and just nation because my father died when I was 8 but I went to school, the best schools, all public schools. I got a good education and I had every opportunity to realise my potentials as a Nigerian growing up in the 60s and 70s. One of the strong beliefs I have is that Nigeria can be that country where everyone will have an equal opportunity to realise his potentials because I am a living example of that and then as I got out of university and began to build my life and family, I saw the country deteriorating, going the way of a very unequal society where a young person like I was 20 years earlier would not have had any opportunity to get an education, a job or anything like that and I feel very strongly about things like that.
I believe in a strong and united Nigeria. I believe that strongly because throughout my life, I have been helped up and assisted by people that are not from my part of the country and by people that do not practise my religion. So I believe strongly that God made this country for a purpose and we should be one and we can be a great nation.
But apart from these few core beliefs, I think everything in life is negotiable, I think everything can be discussed. I think that one’s position about things and about life are subject to change based on the information and facts available. So I will say to God, you know me better than anyone but I think I am just an ordinary Nigerian that has been lucky and blessed by God but with a few core beliefs and extraordinary passion to see our country achieve greatness. For me greatness means equality, equal opportunity for all. For me, equality is the overriding value that trumps everything
Omojuwa: Specifically, what separates you from the conventional Nigerian politician?
ElRufai: First, I never think of myself as a politician. I know this is hard to appreciate because I’ve been on the campaign trail with Buhari-Bakare but I think that the conventional Nigerian politician is a layabout, someone with no profession or means of livelihood but politics. Someone who is willing to move from one political camp to another for advantage, someone that believes that to succeed in politics, you need a godfather and more importantly, the conventional politician in Nigeria thinks that politics is a way to be employed and be wealthy. I am none of these because I have my profession, I’m a quantity surveyor by profession and I established my quantity surveying practise in 1982. It is still going on. I have partners that run it and I still live off quantity surveying basically.
I got into public service quite by accident because someone that I knew became military head of state and he asked me to advise him for 2 weeks and it turned out to be 10 months and in the process of handover I met President Obasanjo who now invited me to join him so I got into public service without a godfather and strictly on my own perceived competence. So I don’t see myself as the average politician and besides I have never contested for office. The whole world is being run by young people. Obama and Cameron are my kid brothers, I’m older than them and I think that the demographic nature of Nigeria with 70% below the age of 40 means that we should have people within that age bracket running the country. It’s a new generation, new ways of thinking, technology has changed so many things yet we have analogue people running the country which is part of the problem. I think I have been lucky, I’ve done a lot at a very young age and it’s time to just take it easy, make some money and live well in my old age
Omojuwa: Talking about public office, some are of the opinion that you are still angry with President Obasanjo for not anointing you with the candidacy in 2007
El-Rufai: (Laughs heartily) I’m not angry with President Obasanjo, I don’t think I ever will be because he is one person that gave me the singular opportunity to serve my country. He is not perfect, he has his faults but Obasanjo stood by me, not only did he give me the opportunity but I did some very difficult jobs and he stood by me. He was a loyal boss and I would never be angry with him and I never desired to run for any office so the question of being angry because he didn’t anoint me does not arise. I think who he chose to anoint was his choice and as his ministers we supported him because at the time all we were interested in was him leaving because if you remember we had just gotten out of the 3rd term debacle and we were all concerned that maybe the residual ambitions of the “3rd termists” had not died so what we were more interested in towards the end of 2006 is for all of us to leave. So when he told us that he had decided on Umaru Yaradua it was more of a relief for us than any anger. Of course some members of our group like Nuhu Ribadu and Femi Fani Kayode felt that is should have been someone else, it should have been me and all that but to me it was never an issue because I was already planning my life post Obasanjo administration and I really wasn’t interested.
I think the problem I’ve had in public office has been the fortune or misfortune of handling controversial assignments which gave me a lot of visibility and President Obasanjo also found me to be reliable so he gave me many more assignments than my portfolio as minister of Abuja and that gave people the impression that he was preparing me for something but I know my boss very well, he was not preparing me for anything, he was just loading me with work because he thought I could handle it.


Omojuwa: Talking about your principal work in Abuja, you destroyed many houses in Abuja. The question is, when carrying out activities like that, do you think of the women, children and families affected by this destruction?
El-Rufai: I don’t like to use the word destroy, de stroy is a negative word. We removed illegal buildings, that is not destruction, it is correcting. When you build a house on a water line or sewage line, it constitutes threat to public health and public interest and it was against the masterplan, regulations and the right thing to do is remove it. Now, there are consequences of removal. People will lose their homes and for many people, building a house is the largest single investment one makes in a lifetime and I’m a quantity surveyor, I make a living from putting up buildings not removing them so it is very painful to remove a building. But like most things in public policy, we have to balance costs against benefits, you have to ask yourself, I’m doing this and it’s costing something but what are the benefits? You have to move on if the benefits outweigh the costs. Many of the people affected by our removals were rich and wealthy people that just violated the rules because they thought as big men they could get away with it. Ministers, Generals, Inspectors General of Police, Senators and so on, those were the people most affected by our removals in Abuja. There were some poor people in the suburbs that built shanties, many churches and mosques that were also violating that we removed. Yes, we weighed the costs but what are the benefits. The benefits are that we were inculcating in the minds of people, an orderly society where rules prevail. You are also saving people from the consequences of these fractions. For instance, the first place we began removal of illegal structures was a place in Abuja called Accra Street where about 10 buildings were built on a sewer line and once you drive into Accra street then, the smell of raw sewage is the first thing you meet because the buildings have settled and broken the sewage lines. So we started there to make the point that when you come into Accra Street, you know that there’s something wrong because immediately you get into the street, the smell of faeces confronts you and we removed all the buildings. There was even a hospital on Accra street where surgeries were being carried out amidst that smell and all the bacteria associated with it so we removed all of them. If you pass by Accra street today, you smell nothing because we fixed the sewage lines. This is how it is, some of the buildings were on water lines like the house of the PDP Chairman, Ahmadu Ali. Now if that building settles and blocks a water supply pipe, the whole of Asokoro district will not have water. Do you want to wait until that happens for you to say if I ….people will suffer so I will leave them. In any case they are big men, chairman of the party and his wife so we leave them and then 30,000 people that live in Asokoro will not have water for days. How many children will die from that? So it is a tricky balancing game but once you are in a position to take decisions, you must weigh them and take a decision because not taking a decision may be worse than being hesitant in taking one. So we did what we had to do. It was difficult, painful and we know that there are human conditions of the decisions that we took but on the whole we believed that the benefits to the people of Abuja and the city itself far outweighed the costs



Omojuwa: A related question is that as the minister, how many plots of land did you allocate to yourself?
Elrufai: To myself, no no I did not allocate. In fact I got into FCT with 2 plots of land because Gen. Kontagora as Minister of FCT gave me a plot of land in Asokoro and Abba Gana, when I was in BPE gave me a plot of land in Gudu and by the time I left, I had only the Gudu plot because I revoked the Asokoro plot for non-development. because the terms of grant in Abuja is when you are given a piece of land, you have 2 years to develop it otherwise the government can take it back. Of course we don’t usually apply the 2 years because sometimes there is no infrastructure in the location so you have to make provision for that but by 2006 I gave an order that any plots allocated 8 years earlier that have not been developed should be revoked and my plot was affected so I revoked it. So I left office with 1 plot of land even though I got in with 2 plots. The tradition of public service in which I was brought up in Barewa College is that as a public servant you should not benefit from your actions. So I could not bring myself to approving the allocation for plot of land for myself even though the Federal Executive Council had given me a directive that every minister should be given a plot of land and everyone got except me. So I did not. But other friends of mine and relations applied and did get because as Nigerians they are entitled to those plots of land and I don’t apologise for that. I know that when I went to the senate one of the senators said you gave plots of land to your friend and wife and so on. I said yes I did, when you become minister, allocate plots of land to your enemies and he had no response. It is typical Nigerian hypocrisy because the rules say that every Nigerian above the age of 18 can apply for land in Abuja and your friends or relations are not lesser Nigerians. It only becomes abuse when you give them 10 plots each. The rules say give everyone 1 plot, when it is developed, you can give another one. These are the guidelines for allocation in Abuja. So if I am found to have given 10 plots of land to 1 person then you can say this is abuse but a plot of land that every Nigerian is entitled to you are saying that because someone is my friend, he should lose his rights as a Nigerian, that’s ridiculous and hypocritical and I didn’t do that.



Omojuwa: Back to the present, from the relative economic successes of the Obasanjo years, what h as brought us to this dire straits…..
Elrufai: I think we made a mistake in selecting who to succeed us. I say we in the sense of the Obasanjo administration. Of course it was Obasanjo personally who made the choices but as his cabinet ministers we acquiesced to it and I think that perhaps the biggest disaster that happened to Nigeria was picking the Yaradua/Jonathan ticket. The Obasanjo Administration particularly in his 2nd term began to lay some solid foundations for Nigeria’s future – Some very important decisions to resolve our infrastructural bottlenecks for instance, electricity, a new rail system. A few things were started that if we had continued with the rail system, the Lagos-Kano rail, the East-West rail, the East-West road, the 7 power plants in the Niger Delta using gas, the. Mambilla hydro-electricity plant. If all these were done on schedule, by now they would all have been completed. Because apart from Mambilla that was to take 7 years, all the other projects had 3-4 year timelines. The Abuja metroline for instance was to be completed in 3 years. Abuja would have had a train system by now and we signed all these contracts but the Yaradua/Jonathan Administration just put a hold on all of them. In the case of the power plants, they are now paying cost overruns in the excess of $7billion. The power plants themselves cost about $3billion. But because they kept them on hold for 3-4 years, they are paying cost overruns of $7billion for the power plants all together and we are going to get the power plants 5 years later than scheduled. I think that a wrong choice of successor caused all these problems on the one hand. On the other hand, and the economic management incompetence of the administration that succeeded us also threw away a very important opportunity for Nigeria.
By the time we left office, we had about $50billion in reserves and $23billion in the excess crude reserves. That is what we handed over to the Yaradua government and in that period, they have enjoyed the highest level of oil prices. At a point, as high as $148 per barrel. In the 4 year period of Yaradua/Jonathan, the governments of the federation earned nearly $170billion from oil alone. If you put these together, in 4 years they got $200billion and what did they do with it? Absolutely nothing! You cannot point to any major road that has been built, the rail system has not been built, the power plants have not been built, nothing has been done and $200billion (Over N3 trillion) has been frittered away to accounts in Dubai and so on and so forth. I think that was most unfortunate because if the infrastructural foundations laid by the Obasanjo administration from around 2005 had been continued, the power supply situation would have been improved, the railway system would have been in place and now we would have been looking at the Calabar/Sokoto, Lagos/Calabar line because that was the plan. It was a 10 year plan, $43billion and the first phase was the Lagos-Kano rail line. We have lost that, I doubt if we’ll ever do that again because the resources to do it only come once in a while.
Since we discovered oil in 1956, Nigeria earned about $200b between 1956-1986. It took 30 years to earn that amount but Yaradua/Jonathan were lucky enough to earn that amount in 4 years and wasted it. So there was the succession problem and the mismanagement problem that has brought us to where we are



Omojuwa: How do you think they can salvage. the economy based on these “gory” pictures you have painted?
Elrufai: Oil prices are still high. I think there is still an opportunity. I don’t think they’ll remain high for too long because the issues in North Africa and the middle east are being resolved so oil prices are going to moderate but I think the first step the government needs to take is to cut down the size and cost of running the government. The government is too big; it has grown too big in the last 4 years. Many agencies have been created that duplicate the work of other agencies and it’s all just to get jobs for the boys. So they need to do a thorough analysis of all the agencies in government and just shrink them, merge ministries e.t.c. Before we left office we did mergers of ministries for instance, based on experience we found that part of the problems we have with power supply arose because NEPA needs to buy gas from Nigerian Gas Company which reports to the Minister of Petroleum Resource. So we merged the two and created an energy ministry (power and petroleum resources). That way, there’ll be no disconnect, less bottlenecks and no conflicting instructions. The same minister is telling you, make sure there’s gas for Egbin to operate. We also merged works and transport into a Ministry of Transportation because transportation is multi-modal. You cannot build roads without regards to where railways or seaports are. We have a situation today in which Apapa port doesn’t have a rail connection and the road to Apapa is overburdened that it has become a bottleneck. Even when you clear goods out of the port, moving them out of Lagos is a problem because there is no coordinating mechanism to ensure that since we have a port there, we must have a railway terminus there. So we merged all the transportation ministries into one single Transportation Ministry so you have aviation, works and transportation. All of them were one ministry before we left. Yaradua came and split them again. We merged police affairs, internal affairs which had prisons and so on into one Interior Ministry because Police cannot work independently of Civil Defence Corps, prisons and so on so we thought that they will operate better based on experience under one Interior Ministry. We did all those things but the Yaradua/Jonathan administration reversed all of them. So they have made the Ministries bigger again and even created new ones so today we have a Ministry of Science and Technology and a Ministry of Information Technology. These are just creations to have ministers all over the place and they cost money. If they didn’t cost money, it’s okay because every Ministry must have a Minister, Permanent Secretary and at least 5 Directors. The Ministry must have Admin, Finance and Accounts, Planning research and statistics and then the core functions of that ministry. Each of these directors cost money and they have deputy directors under them which cost money so you’ve just created a sprawling, inefficient bureaucracy that is delivering little or nothing. They have to look at the number of Ministries and Agencies and merge and shrink them. They have to look at the cost of running these ministries and agencies. Because right now, 75% of our revenues, the entire 2011 budget goes towards running the government. That will not develop Nigeria, it will make a few people happy i.e about a million people who work for the Federal Government. They have to do that, they also have to look at their salaries and allowances; particularly that of the legislators. It’s criminal and ridiculous for a Nigerian legislator to be earning 10 times the salary of an American legislator when the per capita incomes disparities are very clear. It is crazy. A typical Nigerian legislator costs us $2-3million per annum. A senator in the US does not earn $200,000 because Obama’s salary is about that amount so we have to look at ourselves and take some very difficult decisions that are realistic and consistent with our levels of resources and development. That can only be done when leaders know their reason for being there is to deliver services and develop the country. Not just to take care of themselves but the feelings one gets these days when you look at how we spend our resources is that the people in power are just there to take care of themselves and that has to change.
They also must do something about the macroeconomic instability caused by fiscal indiscipline. Because the government is spending so much money that it does not have, it is putting so much pressure on the exchange rate and to keep the exchange rate stable, the Governor of the central bank has had to raise interest rates. When you raise interest rates, what happens is that you kill the real sector because businesses now borrow at very high rates of interest and in turn these businesses cannot expand, create jobs or hire people. Meanwhile every year, 3 million young Nigerians join the workforce. So this is a problem that’s building up and unless the government is willing to take some hard decisions, to cut back spending, to channel resources towards capital investment and what will secure the future of Nigerian, we are going to have a big problem a few years from now. We are going to have this massive bulge of young people that are educated, unemployed and angry and all kinds of bad things would happen. What you are seeing is just a tip of the iceberg because if you look at the Boko Haram phenomenon you will see clearly and understand. Most of the Boko Haram people are educated people. Their leader, Yusuf has a diploma in engineering, the one executed by the police. But you go to school, hoping that will open up opportunities for you, get a degree, you don’t have…..western education is bad, you begin to believe it. This is how they began to grow and have now become a problem for everyone. If you look at the levels of investment in the North-East of Nigeria compared to other parts of the country, you’ll understand why because they have the lowest levels of investment in infrastructure and education then you can see why the problem is from the North-East. It’s not a muslim thing because we have muslims in Zamfara but they’re not doing this kind of stuff. I think that the government needs to look at the challenges on the ground, take a very sharp knife and cut back on the size, cost of running government, wasteful expenditures and allowances, jets in the presidential airport and channel the money towards health, infrastructure, education etc and the country will have a chance again

PS: I’ll continue from here later this weekend.

Source: http://omojuwa.com/2011/the-elrufai-interview-exclusive/

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Better remove ds foolish post b4 u spend d next 28yrs in kirikiri nd go mad like cliffy.

As for the foolish tribal warlords of NL comparing what that joke of a first lady did with Tinubu's birthday, its either you don't live in Lagos or didn't experience the BS lagosians went through, when your Dame came visiting. No wonder some peeps on twitter are already jokingly talking about Republic of Lagos.

Either these guys are seriously deluded or they don't really understand the gravity of what they're doing. Killing unjustly in Allah's name? And talking about heaven like its your birthright, may Allah reward you and your sick followers with the worst punishment in hell.