Seun:

Fixed. Apologies.

Thanks man

Many Nigerians, it seems, are insulted that Ibrahim Bademasi Babangida, who loves to be called IBB, wants to rule Nigeria again next year. It is 25 years since he first grabbed power and pronounced himself President, and 13 since he was forced from it in disgrace. At that time, he had said he was “stepping aside.” Today, it seems he has tired of life on the sidelines, and is upset that he ever showed such weakness. He wants the nation back in his pocket.

There are some Nigerians who are cheering his decision, offering him their “support” to return to the presidential villa.

IBB’s decision, to reclaim what he evidently considers to be his property, is not surprising. It is the final confirmation that Nigeria belongs not to its people, but to a few self-absorbed megalomaniacs who think they own her.

IBB clearly believes this concept of ownership. But there are things that you own that you are ambivalent about, and it seems to me that IBB both loves and loathes Nigeria. He loves Nigeria because when he controlled it, he felt tall and wise and eloquent. He was the most powerful animal in the jungle.

The other side of this self-importance is that loathes the nation so much he conceives of it as his private toilet. A toilet may be marble and gold, but it is still a toilet.

Now, it is difficult to argue with a man who wants to use his own toilet. It is a “whenever” proposition: whenever he feels like using it, he rises and goes there. It is only when you want to use someone else’s that you seek permission or directions.

Nigeria is IBB’s toilet, and he seems to resent the thought anyone may be forgetting that. In 1993, he merely “stepped aside” for someone else to sit on it. Since then, to his outrage, he has seen every manner of man go in there and play IBB. We ought to understand that the real IBB could only have been seething with rage for at least 13 years.

But now, we learn something new: he is either a man with a very limited memory or intelligence, or both. He may have the usual drummers and dancers telling him he is a giant, but surely he must know that is way short of the truth? His eight years were one long hoax, and all he achieved was to set new standards for deception, brutality and corruption. He abused his toilet with extreme prejudice.

From his perspective, some of those that enjoyed the privilege were never really qualified. One ingrate had the audacity to die in it. Another tried to outdo IBB: he was so messy his filth ended up on the ceiling! One never came out.

But while IBB’s decision to reclaim his toilet may not be surprising, the celebration by his “supporters” is not. This is because there is really no such thing, by definition, as an IBB supporter. What he has are hangers-on, groupies, and shameless political prostitutes and refugees who know that IBB means easy money. When IBB says he wants to use his toilet, they tell him their mouths are open.

They all know that he is ruthless and cynical. They know he is the father of impunity; the one who provided public corruption with the cloak of acceptability. They know that IBB stands for Insensitivity, Bravado and Brutality.

I repeat: IBB knows—better than you and me—that he lacks credibility. He knows that all of those chanting his name have respect only for the billions of Naira he is sitting on. He knows they expect he will “settle” them, and that in some cases, he will gladly cover up their sins.

No, IBB is coming up for IBB, not for Nigeria. And he fully expects to “win” any election because he believes it is available to be bought. He knows it is a simple business arrangement: he spends the money, and his groupies get him the prize.

The irony is that he sees no indignity in pretending he wishes to seek votes. One Moshood Abiola once sought the approval of the voters. That was at the end of the monumental hoax IBB sold to Nigeria beginning in 1985, a political restructuring where citizens where at once equal owners and partners in either of two parties, “one a little to the right, and the other a little to the left.”

It is now clear that IBB meant the right and the left of a cruel magic trick: In elections that were unusually peaceful and credible, Abiola—who thought he was IBB’s personal friend—won. The punch line is that under IBB’s scheme, that victory became Abiola’s death sentence.

But it was not the first time IBB had betrayed a close friend. In the case of General Mamman Vatsa, who was falsely accused of a coup plot, IBB put him to death before anyone had a chance to plead with him.

And so the chaos, disillusionment and decay into which IBB plunged Nigeria in 1993 now cruelly seem to have been misconceived as the historic preparation for his return. Nigeria stinks, but IBB is the hero coming to rescue it.

Need further proof of the depth of IBB cynicism? Here is a man that has had the opportunity to meet and work with the best of Nigeria for over half his life. In the army, the government and civil society, it is inconceivable that he has not met hundreds of Nigerians of good, solid quality.

If IBB were a true patriot, he would have identified the best leadership material among them. He would have helped to nurture them. Like Olusegun Obasanjo, his good friend, IBB is so presumptuous and arrogant that he remains his only standard of measurement years after he was first publicly called him the most despicable political traitor in our history.

Think about it: children born when IBB was pronouncing himself President in the mid-1980s are now running the world. They know not only today, but also where things are going. They are using new ideas and technology to fashion the future. The likes of IBB, on the other hand, want to take the future back to the past. His nation are not his people, they are his toilet.

But the biggest danger to Nigeria is not IBB. It is those complacent and complicit Nigerians for whom no money is too filthy; to whom no politician is too disgusting. Some Nigerians never met a brigand they did not want to cheer. They enthrone serial murderers and rapists, even when their own families and villages are their victims. We lack the pride of which true men are made.

That explains why IBB does not see Nigerians. He is only about five-foot-nothing, but he sees only himself. He was last seen spitting at Nigerians as he annulled an election that would have given us a false start. His heart was thumping with fear that night as he fled from power.

But now, he seems to have found some courage, and so he wants to come back and laugh at his victims. My friend, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, has called on Nigerians to be prepared to vote with stones. I strongly endorse that strategy.

And I suggest that as we prepare our heaps of stones, a new chant must rise whenever they mention the Monster of Minna: I-BEE-BEE, ME!! ME!! ME!!! I-BEE-BEE, SHAME! SHAME!! SHAME!!!

Link:

http://www.saharareporters.com/columnists/sonala-olumhense/5864-ibb-the-monster-of-minna.html

daduke2k:

u still dey post and u get mouth

What do you mean by that? is nairaland the one feeding me or what? pls. if you don't know what to write is better you go to bed or find some better things to do with your time.

My name is His Excellency, Ahmad Yerimah and I am among the many members of the Legislature that make rules for the most populous country in Black Africa. For those of you who don’t know me, I was the first human being to have the bile to introduce Sharia law in my home state of Zamfara way back then. Anyway the only achievement I got from that Sharia is that I cut off the hand of one cow thief called Jangebbe. Ha ha, I cut his hand because he stole a cow worth N50, 000 and that night, I celebrated with N50million from the treasury of the state. Don’t say Haba! It is my entitlement; after all, is it only the South-South governors that know how to embezzle? We need to show them we have swagger as well.

Anyway, I am now in the hallowed chambers of the Senate and make laws for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Ha Ha, stupid people, lazy country that will make so much noise and shut up when people like me come out. One thing you don’t know about me is the fact that I am a thief, an armed robber and have done more exploits than Ali Baba. Walahi. What did that one steal that made him legendary? Mere gold and silver wares and he was not smart to do it alone; he needed 40 thieves.

Me, I was armed with my pen and made sure Zamfara State was left dry. Kai, when the people, the stupid boy I put there as Governor wanted to do shakara; can you imagine; small boy I made history as being the only governor that his deputy enthroned, started to announce he will probe me with Sharia; me king of Sharia. I did not blame him and the ignorant people that started shouting stone him according to Sharia law.

Idiots called Zamfaraians. I just went to my good friend and fellow thief, Mikky Andoakaaaa for reprieve and got an injunction from a High Court in Abuja. Ha Ha Ha Ha. They call themselves good people great nation when in reality they are stupid people, ignorant lot. Don’t they know that those laws are made for them; those low lives. People like us are immunded to the law. Yes, yes even when Oputa panel called IBB, Buhari and Abdusalami, they knew it was just the cry of fools.

Anyway, lets us leave the matter of the fool’s paradise because I am still enjoying my money. Recently, one of my wives became stupid because she had started becoming ambitious; asking me to follow the path of honour and do what is right. Haba, this Obasanjo dey corrupt people well well.
I sent her back to her parents and told her, I divorce you, I divorce you and I divorce you. That is my visa to get a new bride.
And I did in style.

I brought home a prized possession gotten in the spirit of slave trade and I am satisfied. My sweetest apple now is from Egypt. I had four wives until number two became ‘born again,’ then, I remembered my Sharia that allows me a maximum of four. That is the good side of Sharia for people like us; we use it for the masses like Jangebbe and others while we use the High Courts to immune ourselves form the law. It is not for free; we buy the judgements in the high Courts for our coverage. The name of the game is money and believe me I have given out more money to judges than I have to Imams.
My wedding Fathia was huge and took place in Nigeria because I would have been sent to jail in Cairo because my little bride’s country laws forbid marriage at such a tender age. But they don’t have sense. I doled out a cool $100,000 or N15, 000,000 for my bride price. Walahi, to spend stolen money is sweet. And for all those making noise, I have witnesses during my wedding. Thirty of my in-laws were flown in from Cairo to be there and I spent money from the coffers of Zamfara State.

My fellow Senators who also like them young were there with me at the Protea Hotel in Asokoro. Check my list; Deputy Governor of Zamfara state, Mukhtar Hanka. He paid the bride price on behalf of the groom’s family and to show we are thieves, he paid cash, no cheques. Even the Imams I brought there on my bills frowned at the crispy notes but who are they? My good friend Senator Gaya was there and also Senator Maina with an Emir giving his blessings.

Why am I disturbing you when I am supposed to be consummating my bride.
“My Sweetest Angel!”

“Yes your Excellency,”

“Come and dress let me touch you like this and like that.”
“I am your slave your Excellency, my parents have sold me for a big price and I am just your slave.”

“Oh good girl, UnCloth for me to handle you now my property,”
“Your Excellency, I am just 13, I am not yet mature, my breasts are still growing and my pubic hair is sprouting out. My Lord, please show mercy and let me grow and blossom to a woman please.”

“Are you crazy, come on remove that pant and let me do something, my Koboko is saluting here.”

“Your Excellency, are you not a senator that knows that you need to wait for five years for me to become legal?”

“Come on UnCloth before I deal with you now, senator my foot, we only make rules for the elites and kill our people. I must have my way, I have bought you and all the women groups making noise should keep quiet because so many of them would even give their daughters to me, UnCloth!”
Sounds of scruples as clothes are removed.
Sniff…sniff

“Why are you crying my bride? I am your legitimate husband and will do my duties as one, open your legs!”

“Your Excellency please I am not mature!”
“Open your legs wider girl!”

“Your Excellency, I have 5 years to be able to do this…”
“Oh.you are too tight, a virgin, Better! Yawaaaa!”
“Your Excellency, it I paining me…”

“It is sweet to me as I am tearing your young innocent virgin body ohhhh”
Your Excellency, I am dying…
“I am coming alive….”

Yes. I have just disvrigined my bride. She is still bleeding and my other wives are taking care of her. I will be bombarding her till her small belly swells with a baby. I don’t care what the womenfolk say.”
“Yes, what is your problem?”

“VVF….that my wife might have Vesico Vagina Fistula. Those stupid wives that can’t give birth, that leak and smell? Of Course I know them; I sent them out of the town in Zamfara so their smell will not contaminate us.”
“What? That what I am doing to my bride may make her get VVF, if she gets VVF…I will send her packing to her parents and get another bride from Ethiopia, I have the money of the people and will get another one. My friend Andoaakkaaaaaa told me that Ethiopian girls are another treat. Let her get VVF and she is on her way out.”

Link:

http://www.saharareporters.com/articles/external-contrib/5867-senator-ahmad-sanni-yerimas-13-year-old-wife-cries-your-excellency-it-is-paining-me-.html

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is facing the first serious challenge to his authority as commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed forces as the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, has rejected Jonathan’s order to arrest former Governor James Ibori. “I can confirm that Dr. Jonathan gave Onovo the order some 24 hours ago, but the IG has refused to comply,” said a source who is a member of the Presidential Advisory Council and who has been briefed on the matter. Another source within the Presidency told Saharareporters that Jonathan handed Ogbonna the order yesterday after Mrs. Waziri Farida, chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), briefed the acting president about her agents’ problems in executing a warrant for Ibori’s arrest. The EFCC had last week obtained an arrest warrant from an Abuja court and subsequently declared Ibori wanted.

As soon as Ibori knew that Waziri was determined to carry out his arrest, he fled from Lagos to the creeks in Delta State where he recruited a retinue of heavily armed militants. With them, he headed for his hometown in Oghara where he is currently being protected by the militants as well as 29 armed policemen largely drafted from the notorious mobile unit known as "MOPOL" in police circles.

Our sources revealed that Mrs. Waziri met with Jonathan and briefed him about the difficulties encountered by EFCC agents detailed to arrest Ibori since the middle of last week. “Madam basically told the acting president that Ibori’s residence in Oghara is highly fortified and is being guarded by heavily armed mobile police officers,” said our source.

A furious Jonathan, according to presidency sources, then called the IGP. “The acting president basically told the IG that, police officers were guarding Ibori, he considered Ibori to be in the IG’s custody. He therefore asked the IG to turn Ibori in accordingly.”

Though Ogbonna sounded unhappy with the request, he reportedly promised Jonathan that he would contact the Delta Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Adamu Alkali, to effect Ibori’s arrest. “Apparently, the CP stoutly refused to carry out the order,” said one of our sources, and Onovo seems to have accepted that “as his final answer to Jonathan’s order,” said our source.

This direct act of disobedience is compounded by the fact that the CP and a top Naval officer in Delta State paid a courtesy visit to the fugitive Ibori at his Oghara residence on Sunday. A source close to Ibori said the two men said they came to pledge loyalty to the ex-governor. The source added that Ibori lavishly entertained his law enforcement and military guest. The source also added that the visit had a festive air, with "a lot of eating, drinking and bantering between Chief Ibori andhis visitors".

The member of the advisory council who spoke to us confidentially revealed that Jonathan was weighing several responses to the act of defiance by the police authorities, but he would not enumerate what those options are.

Link:
http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/5858-ig-of-police-onovo-defies-jonathans-order-to-arrest-ibori.html

Is this the general

It is a common saying in Nigeria that if a fish spouts from the river, we know how much its worth is and that if someone did not thread the path of lies, he is not likely to be accused. These sayings are very apt for General Babangida’s challenge to us, ordinary mortals to prove that he is a thief; rather he should prove that he is not a thief. The General who is warming up for a presidential contest in 2011 should also, for the sake of the office he is aspiring to, tell us why he should not be regarded as anti democracy and in addition, he should clear the air on all other unresolved mysteries that are woven around him and the government he once headed.

General Muhammadu Buhari is an ex- head of State, and he served as Chairman of PTF long after he had retired, today he is standing tall, his integrity is intact and he is highly respected in all parts of Nigeria and outside the shores of Nigeria. He had contested the presidential elections twice and still making efforts for a third attempt, but nobody has accused him of being a thief.

We would be happy as potential voters if General Babangida can prove to Nigerians how he came about his lavishly furnished mansion in Minna, though I have not been there but the interior of the house is not hidden from many people who have images of its different segments in their mail boxes, and believe me, the aesthetics qualify for a Saudi Royalty mansion. We can concede it to the General that a lot of people must have benefitted from the government he headed through numerous contracts awarded especially through the conduit pipes of wastes like DIFRI and NDE directorates, among many others but we need facts surrounding these issues.

Another money spinning business of the time was the ECOMOG mission in war torn Liberia that looks in retrospect, to have been deliberately prolonged to keep the war contractors in business at the expense of the blood of our young patriotic soldiers. The war also claimed the lives of two Nigerian journalists in the hands of the rebels; Tayo Awotunsin and Krees Imodibe of Champion and Guardian Newspapers. It would have been naïve of the ex-military president not to expect that his actions would be subjected to proper scrutiny at one stage or another and there is no doubt that the callings of his profession demand that they should be men of honour and integrity even though this was grossly compromised during the General’s era.

General Babangida should now come out in the open by publishing detailed responses to each and every allegation of wrong doing and issues that are shrouded in secrecy by shedding light on them. The General should even “rubbish” us all by going ahead to swear on Oath that all he would say are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and ask God to help him.

SaharaReporters.com once splashed images of his flamboyant family vacation in France on its website; granted that it is not out of place for a retired public officer of his status to be able to afford such a family vacation; but the General was also rumoured to be fond of travelling in private jets. Does he own a jet? If the answer is yes, we need to know the businesses he had engaged in since retirement. Did he win a lottery with heavy rewards? Granted that his numerous friends in the business community may have given him a blanket authorization to use their jets any time the need arises; we need to know who these benefactors are. And it should not be difficult for friends of the General to grant him the permission to expose their identities to help his presidential aspirations since they will continue to be major beneficiaries if he is elected the president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Another issue that has refused to die is the death of Dele Giwa. Once again, let us absolve the General and his security agents of any culpability. In return for that, let the General tell us after he must have consulted with the individuals regarded as suspects in Giwa’s murder, why was the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi had to be hounded and persecuted so much simply for his innocent pursuit of what he believed was a murder committed by people in authority? Why did the General not use his executive powers to direct the suspects to appear in courts as he did in directing a review of Fela Anikulapo’s conviction when the ‘Abami Eda’ revealed that the judge that convicted him had begged him? Did the government fear that the suspects could cave in during cross examinations?

Now that the General has stirred the hornet’s nest, he should also tell us whether the Gloria Okon saga was a myth, a mirage, a reality or blackmail. General Babangida should swear on Oath that he and any member of his family never had anything to do with Gloria Okon. He should tell us whether it was MKO Abiola himself that told him to annul the elections he won because he had been reported in the past to have said that when he opens up on June 12, Nigerians would be shocked. When is the opportune time more than now that it would put him in a vantage position for his comeback attempts? How about his latest indictment among other indicted highly placed individuals by the US authorities concerning Halliburton bribery scandal? All those indicted are very fortunate to be ‘eminent’ Nigerians; had they not come from this freakish country like ours, they would have been guests of EFCC, but alas! It is a country where high profile kleptomaniacs get court’s protection from arrests whereas a goat thief easily gets 18 years prison term.

As a military president, our dear General availed us the opportunity of understanding the two extremes; that a free and fair election is possible but that it is extremely dangerous to have it supervised by sophistry demagogues hence our insistence that from now on, only people of unblemished character whose patriotic blood course their veins should come forward to lead us. It may not also be out of place to assume that we may have ‘grossly misunderstood’ General Babangida because he has not spoken about all manners of allegations making rounds about his person.

Should the general therefore come out in black and white and reinforce his ‘innocence’ by swearing on Oath about every point of rebuttal , then we shall be glad to have him as one of the candidates and our next modest demand would only be for free and fair elections like the one he conducted and annulled in 1993.

The Nigeria electorate are very fair minded people; when the election results are announced, I am sure Nigerians will hand the General a verdict of ‘guilty as suspected’ by his assured resounding defeat at the polls.



SANI YERIMA is not new to controversy; he initiated Sharia as the governor of Zamfara state regardless of its divisive tendencies to the corporate interests of Nigeria a secular society. Ideally, every Nigerian has the inalienable rights to live and sojourn in any part of the country; practise the faith of his choice; enjoy freedom of speech; freedom of association and decent dressing. Unmindful of these rights and in absolute disregard for the precarious divisive situation the country was just emerging from in 1999 engendered by the greed of the elite to hold tenaciously to power, Sani Ahmed Yerima forged ahead with his Sharia program which expectedly elicited a lot of emotional feelings from different segments of the society. Thank God, seasoned politicians like the late Chief Bola Ige were in government at the time and somehow the otherwise irascible president Obasanjo handled the issue perceived as constitutional problem maturely and the country survived the heat.

A handful of people fell victim of the Yerima’s creation; Buba Bello Jangeb was to be the first victim to be judicially amputated in Zamfara albeit in Nigeria, Ibrahim Mamadi had 40 lashes in the full glare of others, fresh female graduates on Youth Corps assignment to the state were often harassed and assaulted for having on them long pants ignorantly perceived to be exclusively men’s dress. It is doubtful whether Sani Yerima’s Sharia added quantum leap to improve the quality of life in Zamfara state that lagged behind in infrastructure and other basic necessities of life.

Ahmed Yerima got elected into the senate and hardly has the Hansard of the upper legislative federal assembly recorded him with any meaningful contribution in his almost three years as a senator; television images however do occasionally show him chewing something when others are busy with their so called debates. The substance most likely should be ‘Goro’ (Kola nut) which the senator may be using to ward off sleep from the ‘big big turenchi’ of his colleagues.

If this senator cannot contribute to the debates in the chambers, he must stir a situation that will put him in prime news; he took for a wife a 13 year old minor of Egyptian descent perhaps from the lineage of Cleopatra. A thirteen year old should be a first year student in high school just coming out of elementary school. Surely the givers and the taker of the ‘bride’ must have played safe under the Islamic injunction that permits a girl’s hands to be given in marriage upon her first menstruation, but were science to have developed to what it is today where minors engagements in sexual intercourse can lead to a urinary related ailment, would that laws not have been changed?

Yerima and others in this kind of abuse should not demonize Islam and scare people away from the religion. Marriage to a minor may have been permitted in Islam, but is that morally right? It is as ridiculous as assuming that as a governor, Yerima had access to security vote he could dispense without recourse to the state legislature, but would it be right for him to be spending the money to acquire wives just because he cannot be queried about it?. Better put, will a person not have to go in an ambulance for medical emergency if he has to keep munching beyond what he can consume just because he has a blanket offer of ‘All –You-Can-Eat’ in a Chinese restaurant?

Islam should be a religion of peace, justice and kindness. It is a religion that enjoins believers not to receive interests on loans. It should not be turned into a religion of any form of terrorism be it bombing terrorism, amputation terrorism where constitutionalism and democracy have been embraced, it should not be a child abuse terrorism as in marrying a minor and it should not be a women abuse terrorism as in burying a woman alive to her neck and get her stoned to death especially where democracy thrives. Yerima as a governor did not put any welfare program in place for his people and a Sharia judgement that can alter a person’s life can be concluded in as early as thirty minutes, this is monstrous, barbaric and condemnable.

I would not know what the constitution of the federal republic says regarding minors, but if Ahmed Yerima has not flouted the laws of the land, he has committed a moral offence unbecoming of a senator and senators with modicum of dignity in them should condemn his actions on the floor of the assembly. Besides, Senator Sani is not in Zamfara presently, he is in Abuja, a cosmopolitan Municipality and probably residing in cosy suites probably designed, built and equipped by the so called ‘infidel’ contractors of the Western world. All organizations that have anything to do with child abuse issues should please coalesce and mount a concerted pressure to see to it that this weird senator is made to reverse his Stone Age decision.

Enough is enough for the debacle in the presidency; enough is not enough until Sani Ahmed Yerima is made to realize that Abuja cannot be equated to his harem in Zamfara.

“All I can tell you is that there’s a serious quandary when an IG and CP band together to disobey a legitimate order to apprehend a criminal suspect whose arrest has been okayed by the courts.”

Link:

http://www.saharareporters.com/articles/external-contrib/5859-general-prove-that-you-are-not-a-thief.html

Check this out

Speaker of the House of Representative Dimeji Bankole, Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola are among Nigerians stranded in Europe as result of rising Iceland volcano ash. Others stranded included some aides of the Acting President Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Also, the governors of Imo and Akwa Ibom States, Ikedi Ohakim and Godswill Akpabio are said to be among those stranded in the UK.

The socio- political implication of this development that government business, which the affected officials were supposed to address have been left unattended.
For instance in Edo State, the launch of the ‘one man, one vote’ campaign earlier schedule for tomorrow has been postponed by one week because of the absence of Governor Oshiomhole.

Meanwhile, European officials carved up the sky yesterday, creating three zones to more quickly break the flight deadlock caused by volcanic ash flowing from Iceland over Europe. Many more flights will be able to take off today, the bloc said.
European countries can resume airline traffic in designated “caution zones” where the threat of ash is considered less dangerous, French officials said after a meeting of the bloc’s 27 transport ministers.

Under the accord, one area defined by the European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol will remain entirely off limits to flights. Another area will be open to all flights and a third area will be a caution zone in which some flights will be allowed.
Jean-Louis Borloo, the No. 2 French Cabinet official, said flights in the caution zone will be “very secure” with many tests to make sure jet engines are not damaged by ash.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said after a videoconference with EU transport ministers and industry officials that “the decision increases air space available to air traffic. This is the final outcome.”
The EU said as of Tuesday morning “we should see more planes starting to fly.”
Meanwhile, airline losses from the volcanic ash cloud spiraled over $1 billion yesterday, the industry demanded European Union compensation and criticized European governments for relying too much on scientific theory not fact in their decisions to shut down airspace across the continent.

Shares of some European airlines fell as flight disruptions from the volcanic cloud moved into a fifth day, and the International Air Transport Association complained of “no leadership” from government leaders, one of whom admitted to EU dissension about how to respond.
“It’s embarrassing, and a European mess,” IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani told The Associated Press. “It took five days to organize a conference call with the ministers of transport and we are losing $200 million per day (and) 750,000 passengers are stranded all over. Does it make sense?” IATA officials said the $200 million estimate was at the low-end of their projections, and that it could run as high as $250 million-$300 million a day.

Even as airline officials were clamoring for relief, both financial and operational, a senior Western diplomat told The Associated Press that several NATO F-16 fighter jets had suffered engine damage after flying through the cloud, suggesting government caution was warranted.
The official declined to provide more details on the military flights, except to say that glasslike deposits were found in the planes’ engines after they patrolled over unspecified European airspace. European civil aviation authorities held a conference call Monday about what steps could be taken toward opening airspace, and transport ministers of all 27 European Union members were conferring by phone and videoconference.
Dominique Bussereau, France’s transport minister, told reporters Monday that he had urged EU president Spain. ever since Saturday. to call the ministerial meeting immediately but Madrid declined. “Naturally, it would have been better if had taken place Sunday or Saturday,” Bussereau said.

British Airways said airlines have asked the EU for financial compensation for the closure of airspace, starting last Wednesday. With London among the first hubs shut down, the British carrier said it’s losing as much as 20 million pounds ($30 million) per day.
BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh pointed out that compensation had been paid to airlines after the closure of U.S. airspace following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. “This is an unprecedented situation that is having a huge impact on customers and airlines alike,” Walsh said. “We continue to offer as much support as we can to our customers, however, these are extraordinary circumstances that are beyond all airlines’ control.”

Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, the No. 2 in the French Cabinet said a meeting of French airlines, travel agencies and the government was planned for Tuesday to examine possible state aid to the industry. “This aid will evolve of course based on the severity of the crisis. For that, we need a European pre-accord that we have obtained, an accord in principle so this sector aid can be allocated,” Borloo told France’s i-Tele.
German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said government decisions were based on a “sea of data” and defended the continued closure of air space in his country. He brushed off airlines’ complaints about losses, saying they know about their susceptibility to weather conditions.

“It is completely obvious that you have to calculate with such risks,” he told Radio station Deutschlandfunk. “And I defend myself right away against any calls to the government,” to compensate for the corporate losses. The IATA, in a statement, called on governments to place “greater urgency and focus on how and when we can safely reopen Europe’s skies”, such as through more in-depth study of the ash cloud.
“We have to not just use as the Europeans were doing, a theoretical model, let’s try to use figures and facts,” Bisignani said.” It means sending test planes at certain kinds of altitudes to check what was the situation with the ashes.”

While the association says “safety is our top priority,” Bisignani said in the statement that its member airlines have run test flights with no problems and “they report missed opportunities to fly safely.” Bisignani said that Europe, unlike the United States, for example is “not well-equipped” when it comes to planes that can test the air quality in the skies. He estimated that once flights in Europe do resume, it would take three to six days for traffic to return to normal.

France’s Borloo said disparate analyses needed to be brought together based on “real tests on real planes with real pilots,” so some air “corridors” could be reopened. “The issue today is not to reopen all European commercial airspace, the issue today is to increase the ability to reopen corridors to allow the general de-congestion of European traffic,” he told reporters.

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the No. 2 executive at Air France-KLM, said his company is losing euro35 million a day and called for more test flights to see if routes are safe to fly. He said the French-Dutch carrier conducted five test flights on its own Sunday and planned another seven Monday.
Speaking to reporters Monday at Air France headquarters near Paris’ main airport, Gourgeon said aviation authorities had relied on “insufficient” information when they imposed a near-blanket flight ban in some countries.

The prospect of continued losses and flight cancelations pushed down shares of many airlines. In early afternoon trade Europe, German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG was down 3.9 percent to euro12.24 in Frankfurt; Air France-KLM SA dropped 4.5 percent to euro11.87, and British Airways was down 4.4 percent to 224.6 British pence.

Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/apr/20/national-20-04-2010-015.htm

chipmunkey:

C'mmon, ive been banned too. Sometimes they do it for no justifiable cause. Just chill and yiour previleges will be restored after a while.

It's just a way to populate the site, an average NLander has two or three I.d's so you've got another one so smile and be happy.

Yea i get you, but i just don't like what they are saying. They said i posted a SPAM mail which is not right.

Thanks my guy.

Dominoifet:

Hello wales. U got band. How I wish it was done 2 me. I will sublimate my time to b more productive than been glued to addictive postings all d time.

Sometimes NL just sucks

Yea i know, but will like to know which of my post is SPAM and why they feel is SPAM.

chipmunkey:

Eyaaa! kpele!

What do you mean by this?

mrperfect:

I belief when they see the complain they will as sometimes this happens by mistake.

Thanks my guy.

Hi Seun, Hi All,

This is Wales of Nairaland sending this mail.


I will like to know what is going on.

I got this on my Nairaland home page: Sorry Wales, you've lost your forum posting privileges.

Reason: Posting a message that seems like SPAM.
If this is a mistake, please click here to complain.

One: I have not posted any mail that looks like a SPAM, for most of the mail i send have links.

Two: I try as much as i can to send good things.

Three: I have complain and they have not been any reply to my complain.

I will like the person in charge of this to look into it as soon as he or she can look into it and give me back my posting privileges.

Hope this will be done very soon.

Thanks.

CC: Oluwaseun Osewa
Mukina2
Debosky

mrperfect:

You didn't sign your letter?

I did sign it, all i want is for this guys to give me back my posting privileges for i have not posted any SPAM mail.

Hi Seun, Hi All,

This is Wales of Nairaland sending this mail.


I will like to know what is going on.

I got this on my Nairaland home page: Sorry Wales, you've lost your forum posting privileges.

Reason: Posting a message that seems like SPAM.
If this is a mistake, please click here to complain.

One: I have not posted any mail that looks like a SPAM, for most of the mail i send have links.

Two: I try as much as i can to send good things.

Three: I have complain and they have not been any reply to my complain.

I will like the person in charge of this to look into it as soon as he or she can look into it and give me back my posting privileges.

Hope this will be done very soon.

Thanks.

CC: Oluwaseun Osewa