Chinkobanana:


Get your head out of your arse bro. I understand maiduguri is a war zone right now and it is expected to be unsafe but does that paint the same picture for the entire Nigeria? The answer to this is no.

There are 35 other states which are regarded safe so why do you refer me to only maiduguri? Is Nigeria Maiduguri alone?

Texas is about two thirds the size of the entire Nigeria and is not a safe state due to mass shooters as well. So i am in a better position to tell you what is what.

I am planning to return home to my Delta state or stay in Abuja. You think we have got it good here? Wake up bro.

And there he goes, throwing insults. Mr head not in arse, don't get emotional over trivial issues. If USA is not safe for you return back to Nigeria, no one is holding you back.

That people don't tell of insecurity issues in other states of nigeria doesnt mean that they are safe. Comparing safety of Nigeria to the united states is just plain silly.

You may not have it good there but you have it better than people in Nigeria, you can argue all you want at least you agreed maiduguri is a war zone, I'm sure chicago is also a war zone right?

Chinkobanana:


You are right. Chicago is the holy grail of gun violence. It happens there like the air you breath. Much of it goes unreported. You will never catch me dead in Chicago.

No wahala you are free to relocate back to nigeria since its safer in your opinion. And please relocate to maiduguri and then compare it with chicago after youve relocated.

We will be patiently waiting for your safety analysis of both countries.

richie240:
more like, did you learn sth from mercy?
Invest in plastic bumbum and win 60m.

Just imagine the post nah, hailing mike but voting mercy. My brother mercy is who we all should learn from.

I dont understand, you're hailing mike and all his good qualities yet no one saw that as a yardstick to vote for him to win?
Instead its people like tacha and mercy that were wild on the show whom y'all were forecasting and supporting to win.

Abegi mah hear word.....learn something indeed. We learned from mercy instead. Oloshoism can win you 60 million bucks. Who mike character epp? Certainly not even him.

Aswear this dude cracked me up. He completely missed it from the first line in his write-up.

Oga OP I get you wanna be a champion of female morality and classic dating tactics but you missed this one by a mile. Guys aren't the only ones looking to score. I can tell you women these days need the hammer down more if not equal with the guys.

Not everyone is looking for a fulfilling relationship, some people just wanna lash and move on. Stop stressing your mental faculties on trivialities. There are bigger problems in the world than who is "knacking" who.

Please look for solutions to climate change or discuss about jollof rice. There are bigger fishes to fry (Pun intended).

Ubenedictus:
How does this prove he didn't rape her?

Ladies can chat naughty and even start things up when they reach your house...
But when they say no! Please stop even if both of you have pull off your clothes.... Anything after no is rape.


All the chat does not prove anything. If at that moment in Paris she said no and then he violently continued... Then it is rape.

The chat does exonerate him. One part of the chat has her asking him to come over for another bout of sex after the first, she even asked for him to bring a gift for her son who was a fan. She went further to ask for another round before her departure flight from paris

olaBC007:
' I will teach u the level of grace that u don't understand ' see crazy format from a man of God

As in ehn! The scope fear me sef.

Nigerian singer, Timi Dakolo has taken to his Instagram handle to call out popular Abuja based Pastor, Biodun Fatoyinbo who is the founder of The Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) over his alleged sexual relationship with female church members.
In a series of post on Thursday, the singer called on members of the church to “try and find” these ladies and men who have at one time come out to say their truth but got shut up by the pastor and his “criminal lawyers”.

Alongside a picture with text written on it, Timi Dakolo captioned the picture, "COMMONWEALTH KO ZION NI...CHURCH IS SUPPOSE TO FIX BROKEN PEOPLE AND NOT CRUSH PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP IN CHURCH NEEDING GOD.

"DEAR AGGRIEVED AND AGGRESSIVE CHURCH MEMBERS, PLEASE USE THE SAME ENERGY YOU ARE USING TO CALL ME, AND THREATEN ME OR SLIDE INTO MY DM TO SEARCH FOR THIS VICTIMS AND ASK THEM WHAT REALLY HAPPEN. THAT IS WHAT JESUS WILL DO."

The picture with text written on it reads: “From florin to Abuja to Lagos to Dubai to Port Harcourt to London and any city he visits, your pastor is leaving a trail of broken women, sexually abused and mentally strangled. From Avalanche to Gratitude, from Pastoral Care Unit to Host and Hostesses, from witty Inventions to Hospitality Unit. They are found in every department in that “Church”. He hand picks his victims and ruins them.

So none of you wonder why a dedicated church worker or leader stop coming to church and don’t want to talk about it. Suddenly rumors start flying around the person being evil, I will tell you all straight up, all your branch pastors know about this evil going on for years and are part of it.

“Some of the victims they will threaten some they will pay off and some they will spur by isolating from the “Church Members”. Oga “Criminal Lawyer” always ready to do the dirty work behind the scenes just to drown the truth. Dear Church Members, try and find these ladies and men to hear their side of the truth before crucifying them or branding them evil. Trust me, their side of the story will SHOCK YOU.

“Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm? They have used that line to scam us well well. How we carefully uproot a scripture and give it an interpretation that soothes us without actually knowing the context with which it was said./ Both the congregation and the pastor are very much anointed. Jesus did not die two separate death. One for the pastor and another for the congregation. The House of God is a place of prayer not a den of thieves.”

It will be recalled that in 2013, a former church member Ese Walter had in a blog post revealed her alleged sexual encounter with Pastor Fatoyinbo in a hotel in Lagos. According to her, the Pastor told her to feel at home and should not be "shy".
She alleged that he told her to order for "alcohol, feel free and order what you want."

Ese Walters said she felt guilty at first that she and the pastor were getting involved however, Mr. Fatoyinbo told her that he will “ teach you a level of grace that you don’t understand."

Source: http://saharareporters.com/2019/05/30/timi-dakolo-calls-out-coza-pastor-fatoyinbo-over-sex-church-members

This news is inaccurate. The violence is contained within a location in town please, it's not spreading anywhere. Todays violence was a reprisal attack from the indigenes within the angwan rukuba/Tina axis.
They claimed one of Thiers was killed by the Hausa/Fulani community in the dogon dutse/nasarawa axis. They claimed this was the third time it's happened in 3 weeks.
Tensions escalated and the indegenes went for revenge.
Security forces came in within he hour and in thier usual fashion began shooting sporadically. Hopefully the situation has been contained but this is Jos, nothing is certain.

masseratti:
oga Buhari played ball... He just didn't use Ghana must go... He used same constituency allocation to play ball... He dragged it at 1st, but if he really had integrity he would av seen it through or challenged them at the Supreme Court, he didn't he played ball.

dont mind that guy? he thinks saint buhari is incorruptible and different from the rest of our other politicians, him eye go clear soon.

Africa’s most populated country and the world’s 26th largest economy is heading for a meltdown as a direct result of envy politics.

It was an election between a multimillionaire pro-business candidate seen as part of the establishment and a self-proclaimed hero of the masses who railed against corrupt elites and promised to fight for the little guy. While this may seem to be the story of pretty much every election nowadays since the shock victory of Donald Trump in 2016, the results of Nigeria’s recent elections contain a very important message from an imperiled country about the dangers of using socialist rhetoric and envy politics as a tool of governance.

It is a story that shows how the populist tactics deployed by Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have infected the global political discourse, becoming powerful tools for emerging dictatorships and incompetent governments to entrench themselves in power. Whether dressed up in right-wing clothes as in Trump’s case or presented as new age “socialism” as with AOC, the basic method is the same – the weaponization of envy and use of scapegoats to achieve political goals at the expense of good economics and common sense.

If the collapse of Venezuela got the world’s attention, the impending collapse of Nigeria, with six times the population of Venezuela, will be positively seismic. This is what happened, and here is how the world can learn from it.

‘Poverty is Good’
Typically decided along ethnic and religious lines, these elections took on a decidedly economic posture, with the generally prosperous South voting as one for the first time in favour of Atiku Abubakar. This was an economically liberal challenger and successful businessman who promised to introduce comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation in his campaign manifesto after Nigerians were forced to become prolific crypto traders due to the woes of the naira, which fell over 85 percent in 2016 alone. The largely impoverished North, however, voted almost unanimously for the famously statist incumbent Muhammadu Buhari.

Following four years of woeful economic performance, including Nigeria’s first recession in a quarter of a century, Buhari’s campaign message was no longer that fighting corruption would grow the economy – which it clearly failed to do in his first term. The message was something altogether different – that Nigerians should learn to accept poverty as the price for “fighting corruption.”

While this message elicited stunned reactions from many voters, it turned out to be right on the money in terms of hitting the emotional lever of an even greater number of people.

Despite being far behind where it should be on a per capita basis, Nigeria’s $411 billion economy has a significant population of US Dollar billionaires and millionaires, in addition to a large population of middle class professionals in cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Ibadan – predominantly in the country’s South. This fact is often overshadowed by the preponderance of extreme poverty, particularly in the North.

There is a very sharp economic divide between Nigeria’s prosperous South and impoverished North. | Source: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

The glaring economic divide between North and South has been used alongside with ethnic and religious politics in the past, but this election was the first time that no attempt was made to promise economic growth to those in need of it. Instead, the message was that poverty in Nigeria is a sign of virtue because only the “corrupt” are able to live well. Like a certain social media sensation-cum-Congresswoman across the Atlantic, Buhari was the “man of the people,” campaigning with a message that their honest poverty is not their fault and is nothing to be ashamed of.

Like Buhari, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has achieved great success by branding herself as “the candidate of the people.”

Like in the U.S., this approach worked brilliantly, with voters responding positively to a message that absolved them of responsibility and found a comfortable and suitably visible scapegoat. On the surface, AOC’s message is “billionaires and corporate money are distorting democracy,” but what voters are actually expected to hear and respond to is a class warfare dog whistle saying “rich people think they are better than you.” Similarly, the message Nigerian voters really got from the “live within your means” mantra was “those smug city people feel superior to you because they have some money which they probably stole.”

Populism is Good Politics
For Buhari’s campaign team, it meant avoiding discussions about real issues like Nigeria’s bloated, inefficient, and excessively powerful central government and the unsustainable nature of its welfarist federal budget.

Almost 70% of Nigeria’s 2018 budget is reserved for recurrent expenditure | Source: Daily Trust

To have such a discussion would mean explaining why amidst the naira’s 85 percent fall against the dollar in 2016, Buhari’s government chose to maintain an unrealistic official exchange rate which was used to subsidise religious pilgrims heading to Mecca for the Hajj.

Such conversations would include discussing the opposition’s stated plan to privatise NNPC, Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm that essentially functions as an independent country on its own, with no practical oversight by or accountability to government. Also included would be the federal government’s opaque and inefficient public contracting, procurement and funds disbursement process.

Rather than discuss a lack of investment in education and healthcare, extremely poor power generation and transport infrastructure, or the lack of proper separation of powers making the executive a law unto itself, the campaign was instead spent attacking the convenient fig leaves of “corrupt people”, “treasury looters,” and “arrogant elites”.

In the absence of reasoned debate or actual policies and achievements, a large vote-buying effort was also deployed, in what some have referred to as the “weaponization of poverty.”

AOC, Trump and Farage In One
Weaving together the anti-elitist appeal of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the bloviating news-magnetism of Donald Trump and the skilful sophistry of Nigel Farage, Buhari’s campaign painted a picture of a country held hostage by “corrupt” elites, “treasury looters” and their middle-class subalterns who wanted to vote in a pro-business candidate to preserve the corruption status quo.

In 2015, Buhari defeated an incumbent candidate with a Ph.D. who was perceived to be incompetent due to being an airy-fairy ivory tower resident. This time around, his challenger’s wealth was portrayed as a moral failure in a manner reminiscent of how Ocasio-Cortez has portrayed the existence of billionaires amidst poverty as morally unjust.

While the world of shouty Fox News anchors and social media-savvy Congressional freshmen may seem relatively tame in comparison to the literal life and death politics of Africa’s largest country, it is important to note that Nigeria itself was not always this way. The unfortunate sequence of military coups and poor economic decisions that saw the country lose an entire generation of talent to the developed world could not have taken place without popular support from the very people most affected.

It may be difficult to picture Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Donald Trump leading the U.S. into a dystopian future where middle-class professionals are disparaged as the “enemy”, and widespread poverty is held up as a virtue, but such situations can take decades to incubate. The incubation takes place in three stages that often overlap – an anger and dissatisfaction phase, a demonization phase, and then the catastrophe.

Demonization and Scapegoating
The first phase is already well underway across most of the developed and developing world. From Bangalore to Baltimore, everyone is united in anger about something. Regardless of the wide disparity of living experiences around the world, the general mood is that things are worse than they have ever been, and something or someone must be held to account for it. Politicians eagerly feed the narrative that something has gone terribly wrong, and they will fix it.

The second phase is also underway across much of the world. During this phase, scapegoats must be identified and separated from the assumed ‘virtuous masses’. In Nigeria, the scapegoats are “elites”, which translates practically to “anyone who is not poor.” Anyone with a university-level education and a stable source of income is an “elite” who is collaborating with “corrupt treasury looters.” Across the developed world, the scapegoats may vary from immigrants to Blacks, to Muslims, to “the 1 percent.”

To the impoverished and angry Nigerian voter, their predicament is down to “people who are stealing Nigeria’s money,” regardless of how easily that argument falls down when challenged by the most cursory analysis. Their world is a zero-sum game, where if someone eats three times a day, lives in a comfortable modern residence and drives a car, they must have those things because they “stole” them, or they work for someone who stole them.

However intellectually redundant such a viewpoint is, it has a powerful emotional resonance that is often amplified by lack of education and existing ethnoreligious divisions between North and South.

To the angry voter across much of the developed world, their discontent is caused by immigrants coming over and being given all the jobs and housing, or it is down to the Muslims and refugees being allowed to come into the country and create their own laws and live outside the constitution unlike the long-suffering, salt-of-the-earth natives whom nobody ever listens to.

Perhaps it is the Blacks who are committing all the crimes and nobody can criticise them for fear of being called racist, or most recently, it is the 1 Percent (or even the 0.1 Percent) – the globalist plutocrat oligarchs who pay fewer taxes than everyone, and who have taken away all the jobs and healthcare and placed everyone in debt.

Nigeria’s Unfolding Catastrophe
For most of the world, the catastrophe phase is not underway yet, so perhaps a look at Nigeria, where it is well and truly underway will be instructive. A poor economy dependent on a single export resource looks set to continue on its self-imposed implosion, driven by generous subsidy regimes, ridiculously unsustainable social intervention programs, rapidly ballooning foreign debt and a growing annual recurrent expenditure bill that it cannot hope to afford.

In a wrong-headed attempt to plug this funding shortfall, the government has embarked on a high-handed tax collection effort, repeatedly violating the law by unilaterally freezing bank accounts belonging to small businesses and private individuals in the absence of valid court orders or even demand notices. Understandably, this has spooked investors and accelerated the outward flow of investment, which is conveniently labeled as “corrupt money” leaving the country, as against a policy failure driven by envy and fuelled by incompetence.

Alongside this is the growing spectre of oil losing its value, as the world’s biggest oil buyers including China and Europe switch to renewable sources over the next couple of decades, which will effectively render Nigeria’s government penniless overnight. Amidst all this, due to a populist aversion to promoting family planning, Nigeria’s impoverished population over the next decade will add another 137 million to its numbers – the biggest growth of any country on earth excluding India.

Already, tens of thousands of middle-class Nigerians are upping sticks and moving to destinations like Canada, Germany, Australia and the U.S. in preparation for the impending crisis. An entire generation of highly skilled labour including doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, nurses, pilots, accountants, entrepreneurs, artists, programmers, artisans, academics and management personnel is being lost to the developed world, leaving behind an exploding population of people living in extreme poverty.

Nigeria has the largest population of people living in extreme poverty | Source: QZ Africa

The Sahara desert meanwhile, is also claiming an estimated 3,500 sq. km of arable land from Nigeria every year, which is a contributing factor to the presence of Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen – two of the world’s deadliest terror groups responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, maimings, and abductions over the past decade.

Envy Politics is Deadly Politics
Through all of this, a class of anti-intellectual populists in Abuja continue to raise clenched fists before adoring crowds, admonishing them to “live within their means” while demonizing economic ambition and wealth. They have achieved great political success by weaponizing the economic envy of a large, impoverished population, publicly glorifying poverty as a virtue while collecting the world’s most generous compensation packages for political office holders.

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari acknowledges cheers at his 2015 swearing-in | Source: CNN

Outside in the real world, however, following the news of Buhari’s re-election, the Nigerian Stock Exchange lost 196 billion nairas (about $542 million), as the investment outlook continues to dim on Africa’s largest economy. The net result of years of envy politics and demonizing wealth and intelligence is a country that has hit the metaphorical iceberg, and continues to cheer while the band plays as the ship sinks.

Buhari’s supporters in the Northern city of Kaduna take to the streets in celebration after his election win | Source: Daily Trust

The next time a politician – be it AOC or Donald Trump or Viktor Orban or Nigel Farage – tells you that your life is terrible because of this or that group of people, it would do you some good to think about whether this is what you want your future to look like, before giving in to your base instincts.

The unfolding lesson from this part of the world is very clear – the politics of populism and envy may be very good at winning elections, but they clearly are not good at running successful economies.

wetdick:


acting like a victim again, you are confused.

you fellow women here are busy killing, suffering, putting pepper into their house help virginals while some of them are doing genital mutilation and the others dumping their young babies in dustbins and you say you fighting for who?

there are black women and there are the angry black women, the angry ones like you are the masculine ones who do not understand anything about being feminine.everything is about revenge, fault finding rather than personal responsibility and finding real solutions.

My brother you get time and energy to be educating that one, talk from now till tomorrow she's set in her ways.
just ignore her jare. if she has power let her go arrest him and lock him up. All they can do is use social justice wars to ruin his rep.

AWKA—Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Peter Obi has insisted that the statistical data he reeled out during the Saturday December 15 Vice Presidential debate were accurate, as he obtained them from competent sources.

Obi has been greeted with outright criticism from some Nigerians, who claimed that most of the statistical data he reeled out during the debate were not correct and overblown in most cases.

Obi’s Media Adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, in a statement yesterday, called on Nigerians to disregard those going about debunking, as  incorrect, the data used by the former Governor of Anambra State to support his points during the 2018 Vice Presidential debate.

Obienyem said that engaging in what he called “statistical fallacy” was a mark of persons without honour and insisted that Obi did not do so during the debate as, “the sources of all the facts and statistics he put forward could easily be verified.”

In the statement made available to journalists, Obienyem  itemised all the points that Obi made during the debate and gave the source of Obi’s data, which he challenged those doubting their authenticity to verify.

Part of the statement read: “During the debate, Obi said that Nigeria used over 50% of her revenue to service debt. This can be verified from DMO’s 2017 reports on Nigeria’s debt stock and total debt service. Obi said the country’s total debt stock was N22.7 trillion, about USD80 billion.

This can be verified from DMO’s June 2018 report on Nigeria’s debt stock. Obi said that Mexico’s GDP was over USD1 trillion and its GDP per capita was over USD8,000 This can be verified from World Bank report on:  https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?locations=MX&view=chart). Obi said that South Africa’s stock market capitalization was USD900 billion. This can be verified from Stock Market Clock (https://www.stockmarketclock.com/exchanges/jse). Obi   said that Nigerian bank loans is made up of 15% of GDP.

This can be verified from   the World Bank (source: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FD.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS?locations=NG&view=chart). Obi said that Nigeria had the highest number of the Poor at 87 million – growing by six persons per minute.

This can be verified from Brookings Institute publication, ‘The start of a new poverty narrative” published by Homi Kharas, Kristofer Hamel, and Martin Hofer on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 (source:  https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/06/19/the-start-of-a-new-poverty-narrative/).   Obi said that Nigeria’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking moved from 152 – 157.

This can be verified from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2018_human_development_statistical_update.pdf ).   Obi said that the Misery Index in Nigeria worsened. This can be verified from https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/hankes-annual-misery-index-worlds-saddest-happiest-countries). Obi said that the FG budgeted N340 billion on health and paid over N1 trillion on PMS subsidy. Education budget was about N400 billion. This can be verified from  https://punchng.com/subsidy-on-petrol-hits-n1-4tn-per-year-says-fg/.  Obi said that the ease of doing business ranking was currently at 146.

This can be verified from http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2019-report_web-version.pdf).Obi said that China created 7.2 million jobs within first 6 months in 2018. This can be verified from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201809/17/WS5b9f2aeda31033b4f46566bb.html).

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/vp-debate-obi-insists-on-statistical-data-provides-sources/amp/

KARACHI, Pakistan — After protesters blocked highways and forced the closing of schools and businesses, the Pakistani government and Islamist leaders enraged over the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy reached an agreement late Friday that allows further appeals and bars her from leaving the country.

The woman, Asia Bibi, was convicted in 2010, on little evidence, of violating Pakistan’s law against blasphemy by insulting the Prophet Muhammad. She spent years on death row before she was acquitted Wednesday by the country’s Supreme Court.

Despite her legal victory, which was hailed worldwide by rights groups, Bibi’s lawyers and her family have expressed fears for her safety because hard-line Islamist parties in Pakistan have called for her execution.

Under the accord, which some analysts viewed as a capitulation to extremists, the government agreed not to oppose the filing of an appeal in the Supreme Court of Bibi’s acquittal. It also agreed to initiate legal proceedings to prevent her from traveling abroad.

The government also said it would release all protesters who had been arrested since Wednesday. For their part, the protesting religious leaders offered an apology if their statements had offended anyone, an apparent reference to their criticism of the military leadership.
While several Western countries have offered to grant Bibi asylum, allowing her to leave Pakistan immediately would provoke further turmoil for the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan is on a visit to China, seeking a financial bailout package for the country’s distressed economy.

The protesters, led by a cleric named Khadim Hussain Rizvi, had been demanding that Bibi be placed on the exit-control list, a roster of people barred from leaving Pakistan.
Ben-Her Gill, a leader of the Christian community in Islamabad, the capital, said Bibi was still in Pakistan, at a secret location under the protection of authorities.
Protesters took to the streets of several cities Friday, demanding that the Supreme Court reverse its ruling and that the three justices on the panel that had issued it, including Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, be dismissed.
Cellphone networks were suspended in Islamabad and in three other major cities in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, as authorities tried to stop protesters from organizing and expanding the demonstrations.

A highway connecting Islamabad to the city of Lahore was blocked, and rail networks across the country were severely slowed by the protests. Schools in Islamabad, Punjab and Kashmir were closed because of the demonstrations.

Religious leaders had also demanded the ouster of the head of Pakistan’s military, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, accusing him of acquiescing to Bibi’s release. Soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri, another prominent protest leader, urged army generals to revolt against their top commander.

The military said Friday that it had nothing to do with Bibi’s release. “The armed forces hope that this matter is resolved without disruption of peace,” Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, the army’s spokesman, was quoted by state-run media as saying.

Bibi, a mother of five in her early 50s, has been a central figure in the debate over Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say are often used to persecute and intimidate members of religious minorities. Blasphemy is a combustible subject in Pakistan, with emotions flaring over mere rumors that Islam has been insulted. People accused of it are often killed by mobs even before police can take action, rights groups say.

Bibi was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad after getting into an argument with Muslim farmworkers in June 2009 in her native village in Punjab. She was dragged to a local police station and charged with blasphemy. In 2010 she was convicted and sentenced to death, the first woman sent to Pakistan’s death row for blasphemy.

In 2011, Salmaan Taseer, an outspoken secular governor of Punjab province who had campaigned for Bibi’s release and for changes in the blasphemy laws, was shot and killed by his own police bodyguard.

Two months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister of minorities and the only Christian Cabinet minister in the Pakistani government, was shot to death outside his home in Islamabad after he, too, called for changes to the blasphemy law.

“The stakes attached to Ms. Bibi’s case are extremely high,” said Saroop Ijaz, a lawyer based in Lahore.

Salman Masood
MEHER AHMAD
Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/pakistan-bows-to-protesters-bars-christian-from-leaving/?amp=1

A few weeks ago, there was a deep outcry in Lusaka, Kitwe, Chingola, Ndola, Livingstone and all other Zambian cities and towns. What could be the problem in the land of Kenneth Kaunda, that could have made people express this general deep anger throughout the country? 

Zambians had woken up to the alarming news and were wondering how their best international airport would be taken over by another country. The country has defaulted in its debt repayment to China and consequently, China is about to take over the Lusaka International Airport.  

As if that was not enough, a few days later, news went round the land of Chipolopolothat talks were underway for some Chinese companies to take over others priced assets: the power utility company, ZESCO, and other strategic national institutions and assets like KKIA, etc.  

Nevertheless, Zambians were not really surprised, because they were aware that their government had been securing unending loans from China in recent years and many were also aware of Zambia’s indebtedness to China to the tune of $8 billion in the past few years.  

The outcry was very strong, because Zambian state-owned TV and radio news channel, ZNBC, was already being run by the Chinese, who acquired 60% ownership that has given them influence over what should or should not be premiered on their stations. 

The fear of China, the beginning of wisdom

The fear of China taking over national assets has now pervaded the entire African continent, as several African nations stand the risk of losing their sovereignty to this big creditor. The world’s most populous nation will seize national assets, once these owing governments default on the Chinese loans hanging round their necks. 

Two weeks ago, Sierra Leone’s newly sworn-in president, Julius Maada Bio, cancelled a $400 million Chinese-founded project to build a new airport in the country. Former President, Ernest Bai Koroma, had signed the loan agreement with China, before he lost election in March; despite World Bank and IMF warnings that the project would impose a heavy burden on the country.  

The decision comes amid concerns that many African countries risk defaulting on their debts to China, which might lead to the take-over of several assets funded by the project. 

Nigerian projects that could be taken over by China if… 

In the past three years, Nigeria has gotten over $5 billion loan from the People’s Republic of China, which has resulted in the execution of infrastructure projects across the country.  

This was revealed by President Muhammadu Buhari last month in Beijing, at the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Round Table meeting, attended by African leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese loans now make up 8.5% of Nigeria’s external debt of $22.08 billion, as at the end of June 2018. 

To be fair, Nigeria sets aside a reasonable percentage of its budget for debt servicing yearly, and most likely would not fail to service its Chinese debts. However, Nairametrics takes a look at key Chinese-loan-funded infrastructural projects in the country, which might be taken over by China, in case Nigeria defaults in its debt repayment to the Asian giant, depending on what is contained in the terms of the loan deals. 

Abuja Urban Rail System 

This $500 million rail project was constructed with loans sought from China and happens to be the first urban rail system in the entire West African sub-region. The rail was commissioned in July this year. 

Abuja-Kaduna Rail System 

This is another $500 million Chinese-funded rail system that has been completed and operational in Nigeria. The amount was borrowed to complete the project, which brought the total figure to $1 billion. The 180km rail line connects Abuja and Kaduna and was commissioned about two years ago. The rail line system is the first in Africa that uses modern Chinese standard and technology.  

Investigations by Nairametrics revealed that the rail line is functioning efficiently with no issues, and one could only hope that it would not be taken over by China. 

Upgrading of Airport Terminals 

This is one of various on-going projects worth $3.4 billion that Nigeria is leveraging Chinese funding to execute across the country. This amount was jointly borrowed under the administrations of Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan. 

In 2013, Nigeria secured a $500 million loan from China at 2.5% interest rate, for the construction of four international airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with China Exim Bank. The MoU for the loan was signed in Beijing, with the delivery of the four new International airport terminals to be constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). 

The new terminals, “designed to rival some of the best around the world”, were to be part of the achievements of President Jonathan’s administration, ahead of its 2015 re-election bid, however, none of the terminals were completed before he lost his re-election bid. The Port Harcourt International Airport terminal, part of the deal, was commissioned last week by President Buhari. 

Lagos-Kano Rail Line 

This is another project that is part of the recent $3.4 billion Chinese loan to construct infrastructural projects in Nigeria. Though the rail line is an extension of the Lagos-Ibadan standard rail gauge, it is to be funded with about $6.1 billion loan to be used on Ibadan-Ilorin-Minna-Kaduna- Kano line.  

The railway will run parallel to the British-built Cape gauge line, which has a lower design capacity and is in a deteriorated condition. 

Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project 

This is a $1.2 billion loan power plant that is currently under construction by the China Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC). It was initially billed to be completed towards the end of 2019, but will now be completed in 2020.  

The Hydro Power Plant will produce 700MW of electricity and it is a joint project between Nigeria and the Chinese government at a financial contribution ratio of 25/75 per cent respectively. It is expected to produce a yearly power generation of 2,640GWh and supply electricity to the National Grid. 

Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line 

This rail line is being funded by a $1.6 billion loan secured from the China Exim Bank. A sum of $1.6 billion was borrowed by the current government for the construction of this standard gauge Lagos-Ibadan rail line that will connect Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos to Ibadan. The project is a segment of the Lagos-Kano Railway modernisation project. 

Fibre Cables for Internet Infrastructure 

The Export-Import Bank of China provided a loan of $328 million to support Nigeria’s National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase 11 (NICTIB 11) between Galaxy Backbone Limited and Huawei Technologies Limited (HUAWEI). This project is expected to boost Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology sector. 

Furthermore, less than 3 months ago, Nigeria signed an additional $1 billion loan from China for additional rolling stock for the newly constructed rail lines, as well as road rehabilitation and water supply projects. 

Can China take over these projects, if…? 

The Federal Government hardly disclosed the full terms of its loan agreements with the People’s Republic of China. However, the Federal Government has dismissed insinuations of the possible takeover of the economy, by the Chinese Government, if it defaults on loan terms. 

According to a statement issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) last month, Chinese loans are cheaper compared to other international bodies and agencies and there is no risk of default on the Chinese loans. 

“The public should be assured that Nigeria’s public debt is being managed under statutory provisions and international best practices, and there is no risk of default on any loan, including the Chinese loans. 

“Thus, the possibility of a takeover of assets by a lender does not exist. 

“For the avoidance of doubt, government’s borrowing in the domestic and external markets, including Chinese loans, are all backed by the full faith and credit of government, rather than a pledge of government’s assets.” 

Nigeria won’t default in repayment

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed in Beijing last month, during the FOCAC meeting that Nigeria would repay the loans “as and when due”.  

The president said:  

“These vital infrastructure projects synchronise perfectly with our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Some of the debts incurred are self-liquidating. Our country is able to re-pay loans as and when due in keeping with our policy of fiscal prudence and sound housekeeping.” 

Experts’ Reaction 

In her opinion, an economic expert, Sarah Pius, said: 

“So far, China recently threatened to take over national assets in Zambia, for defaulting in loan repayment; then, what stops it from doing the same to Nigeria, if she fails to service the debts?” 

An economist and former Director-General, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chijioke Ekechukwu, believes that Chinese loans are not totally bad. He said, 

“I don’t have any problem with Nigeria borrowing from China. The only problem I have with Chinese borrowing is that the entire funds will eventually be repatriated to China. 

“This is so because when the Chinese Government gives you loans for infrastructure, they will insist that only Chinese companies handle the construction. 

“These funds end up going back to China instead of creating more wealth in Nigeria.” 

However, speaking with Nairametrics, Kunle Bada, an Economics lecturer at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko differs.

He said, “I don’t believe the Nigerian government will be that naughty to include the takeover of national assets in its loan terms with the Chinese government. So, I don’t even want to think of possible takeover of our infrastructure, in case we default in loan repayment.” 

Since the President has assured that loans will be repaid as at when due, one can only hope that Nigeria keeps to that promise, in order to prevent Nigerians from going through the agony and anger Zambians are still passing through. 

Source: https://nairametrics.com/nigerian-assets-that-may-be-taken-over-by-china/amp/

LordAdam16:


It's light handed. I think this is the first issue we're openly disagreeing on in NL.

She's a feminist, I'm a realist. Many times we agree, sometimes we don't. Life goes on.

-Lord

ohh! feminist you say? now I understand where her displeasure is coming from. Your responses were quite clear and concise to me, I thought she was just trolling.

Daeylar:


FINALLYYY!!!!!
I've been tired.



I give zero fuçks. I understood when you tried to be reasonable, I just stayed to rein you in anytime you tried to go out of line with your funny theories just because you want to support Andy.
At least it's over



Consistent or not. You don't know what happened.



Nice that even though this is the rule, a higher level employee, an executive recently resigned and was given no exit package.


At least they started from somewhere, Forgot again where they specifically stated that senior managers and above were included?

From "None of those employees was an executive" to "all fingers are not equal" .
The ball must enter. Just keep shifting the goalpost

Like I keep saying. I'm glad those protesting keep doing so. If it would make things change that would be nice.

All right, I'm done also

You really are funny. Are you just trying to get on the guy's nerve or just playing around? Hahahah.

LordAdam16:


Don't mind them. This is a classic 'crying wolf' situation. They are blurring the lines and very soon, people will start caring less.

How can you equate adultery to rape, when as at 2016, AshleyMadison (a married affairs site) had 46 million users.

Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sex crimes. I don't see anyone saying it was undeserved. Yet a guy who had a consensual affair who lost his job, about to lose his marriage, and lose custody of his kids is not enough punishment. He should also have lost his $90m severance package after making a billion-dollar invention.

Mandela had an affair. Let South Africa stop paying his family his entitlements. He shouldn't have been given a state burial. He is therefore no longer a beacon of hope and the best that the world has to offer.

People just make outlandish statements without thinking.

-Lord

Wish I could just sit with you share a bottle of wine and some peppersoup. Problem with libtards is they have no idea when stupidity takes over and all they do is just become bitter, vindictive animals.

Men are fast becoming endangered species in the west, and this unchecked man-hating called feminism is doing a number on them and they don't realise it.

FTrebirth:


LOL!

i know he's a fool-blown hateful bigot. 9 out of 10 posts from him must have something to do with igbos.

my guy, it's just sickening. To think some of his friends or neighbours who are Igbo don't realise the hate and poison he carries inside. just ignore him, he can afford to spew bile on a faceless forum. Meet them in real life you would be surprised.

Bidobado1:


No other tribes are littered across Nigeria like your people. No other tribe takes advantage of the economy of others like your tribe does and no other tribe is HATEFUL of their host communities like the igbos.
Why can't you people just fvcking go away, like Fvck off back to biafra. How many people of other tribes clamor for positions in other people's states like yours, your fvcking parasitic tribe just can't stay in their shitty Republic instead of spewing bigotry everywhere.
Fvck off to igbo Amaka land, create your own website and Fvck off anything to do with Afonja, wretched Fvck.

you accuse a whole tribe of hate and bigotry when yourself is full of the same hate. I wish people wont descend to your level and ignore comments like yours. Do not let hate kill you...life is short.

KingOfAmebo:




I would rather sit at home, study my bible and pray with my lips to God through our Chief mediator Jesus Christ than burn my fuel going to church to listen to a man like me playing table tennis with my brain.
Why exactly is the church contribution to Nation building? Nothing, except building the bank account of their pastors...ignorant members.

#GodsChurchIsNotABuilding
#YouTooCanSpeakToGod
#YouTooCanPrayAndGodAnsweres
#WorshipGodNotYourPastor

say no more brother, you've capped it all. These sheeple know the truth, but like brainwashed people, they suffer from cognitive dissonance. They know what the church of Christ stands for or rather should stand for, but too caught up in defending the bloody GOs.

If their main aim was contributing solely to society and helping the needy, we would see projects that are conspicuous and undebatable. instead all we hear of those type of good works are whispers and rumours. Church branches littered everywhere instead of NGOs and meaningful things.

Give me a church that improves the lives of the people both physically and spiritually, I would walk miles to attend it.

ladygudhead:
some of you are getting my message wrongly, it's deeper than you see. Thats why i owe no apology. It is not in me to look down on people.

I don't recall demanding for one, your post was self explanatory and a lot of folks saw it as described.

Christianity was born to cater especially for the poor, weak and needy.

You claim to be christlike, I can tell you he (Christ) would not have made such comments about the little giving of the poor. someone was trying to point that out to you......The widows mite story.
Be what you profess, or at least pretend to be.

ladygudhead:
Are u not understanding that i didnt speak on a one-side notion.i was'nt bias in my point, i hit on d amount aswell as i hit on d mind it will come from. You are being bias in judging me here.

madam I read your initial statement, it was so condescending. poor people are part of the church and whatever they give, be it 10 naira goes a long way and plays it part in the work of the church. Simply say you made a mistake or did not mean to sound that way.

TIME FOR THE MASSES TO WAKE UP!
The problem of Nigeria is not the ruling class or the cabals but the masses . After close examination of the issues affecting Nigeria one can say equivocally, that the masses are not ready for the same change they are asking for and which they desperately need.

The Nigerian citizens over the years have allowed the ruling class to manipulate them against their own good. The masses due to ignorance still can not understand that they are being used by leaders to achieve their selfish goals. The tool used by the ruling class has always been the same; good old religion and tribe division which is formidable weapon.

Let me break it down, the citizens of this nation do not know that if they can come together as one people it will not take long to bring about the desired change and end all corrupt practices in this country. Right now both Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

Christians and muslims are all in suffering and yet it is the same Muslim and Christian brothers of ours in governance that has ruined this nation and yet the masses cannot wake up from their slumber . It is very easy for an average Hausa man to rise up and defend Hausa agendas, same holds true for the Igbo and Yoruba tribe and yet it is very difficult for people to rise and defend our collective agendas and that is why we all are suffering except the leadership.

Not long ago,rumor has it that T.Y.Danjuma openly admitted not knowing what to do with his acquired money and yet the same North he hails from has the highest number of beggars. Buhari and GEJ are nice men according to some and yet their children school or are all abroad.

If I may ask? how many of the Alimanjiris and nigerdeltans have they sent to Oxford? Likewise every other leader we've had and yet the very poor from both regions respectively are ready to die for them. It is the same Obasanjo used 7 billion Naira to build only library and yet there are millions of Yorubas who could not afford food and school fees for their children and many other leaders in the west who have accumulated wealth to high heavens while their people are suffering. for the Igbos the case remains the same. Rochas built public schools that are good for Igbo citizens and yet his own children are abroad.

Same in other regions of the country, we have leaders that never care for their people but only for their own self.

To the masses again I say wake up you have all been fooled for too long, if for any reason Nigeria collapses today we the masses are the ones to bear the brunt, because the rich political class have nothing to lose. They all have properties abroad and their children are already there, we have no other place than Nigeria and for this reason we must unite and fight for our collective right. If there is fight today between any of the tribes it is only the poor masses of involved tribes that will die and also lose the properties acquired through sweat and hard labour.
The leaders will be watching from a distance and when we are through with the self destruction they are the ones that will still meet and embrace themselves and talk of reconciliation. Let us be wise!.

2dugged:
you see,this is why I will not blame her if she accepts the phone, I had a nasty experience, so it will be better she knows where she stands with her bf before turning the toaster down,else it might turn out her bf was not even worth it in the first place, this I can boldly say from experience. Infact she might end up turning good men down and waste a good time of her prime and that her bf ends up messing her up,such school relationships have the tendency to end at "main gate" like uniben students will say

your comments are on point, but there's one aspect you guys seem to be forgetting........ they are both students and financially dependent on their parents. it has got nothing to do with being broke. they are dating as students and most likely won't end up getting married, so its a case of two kids dating and seeing where it leads.

if she has upright parents im sure she cant take a phone home without them asking her where she got it from.
my parents knew everything I had while I was growing up and dependent on them.....there where limits to what I could get with my pocket money. a nokia phone no problem, but come back home with an expensive phone you had a.lot of explaining to do.

your advice is more suited for after graduating and she becomes ready for marriage, she can avoid broke guys.

ollah1:


Loads of rubbish like you've written all day

awww....dont be mad you big baby, getting emotional already? here take a handkerchief......dont cry e hear.

ollah1:


Emotional response. Why can't you reply the question on a post card ?

you still using this lame line? everyone is .emotional but you abi? mr unemotional, condemn the violence in the quran and actions of mohammed you still dey emotionally run up and down. heheheheh....funny dude.....emotional response indeed.

AlanTuringAI:

I know you'll doubt Shekau, Osama Bin Laden and the likes are not Muslims too. The problem some of you have is denial. Instead of you to acknowledge that radicalism, fanaticism and extremism has become widespread in Islam of today, see it as a genuine problem and discuss ways these could be tackled, you'd rather cover up and make up excuses for such animals and blame the other religions. It's a pity.

thats just their MO, deflect the real issue and blame every other person and factor. ive been trying to get one of them ollah1 to admit their are violent text in the quran just as it is in the bible. he rather chooses to play hide and seek, goes to get verses from the bible that are crazy violent and posts none from his quran,. if I were to go get from the quran and post he would tell you its context and blame the west, like one of them is doing here.... referring you to scholars like english language is now rocket science.

islam needs a reform, the sooner they admit it the better for them.

ollah1:


If the discourse we have had isn't rational enough, then I wonder the kinda rational discussion we wanna have

stop beating about the Bush, condemn the violent text in the quran and acts of .Mohammed in the hadith. stop being a supporter of evil. it's simple......call your own bluff.

ollah1:


What does my condemning change?

it changes the situation of making you seem like an islamic apologist, and thus we can have a rational discourse without any religious subjectivity attached.

plus it shows you are truthfully against violence of any sort irrespective of where it comes from

ollah1:


I asked for a simple thing but you resorted to more emotions. Why don't you just provide it and call my bluff ?

cuz it's a waste of time, I can only continue and do all that when you condemn the violent acts in the hadiths and texts in quran......till then you can call your own bluff mr un emotional writer......hehehehe.

ollah1:



Like I have said, you are an emotional writer. How are they relugated? You failed to back up your claim after you initially said they don't even exist at all in their countries.

Regarding NK, if you need a proper schooling then you are disussing with the right moniker.

you are telling a bold face lie, and throwing shades by calling me an.emotional writer is just childish. you very well know how regulated other faiths are you can keep playing possum. I don't need to back up my statements with you......all you will do is to tell another lie.

ill only take.you serious when you condemn violent acts in the hadiths and texts in the quran......till then, bye mr islam apologist.