Nigerian Presidential Elections

I have not blogged for a while but I cannot resist the temptation of making some comments on the forthcoming elections after i saw the last debate organised by NN24 news channel.

First of all, I wonder why any right thinking Nigerian is still supporting the incumbent President for refusing to show up at the debate - I think he still believe that this is all about luck

It is quite obvious that we still have a long way to go when one listens to the way issues were raised by the anchor & the responses of the aspirants - there is a general assumption on all sides that Nigeria has all it needs for development and that all that is needed is for someone to get there and disburse the funds - nothing was really mentioned about wealth creation.
All of them stylishly avoided the question on the rift between the Central Bank governor and the legislator; it is still all about patronage.

Buhari said there is nothing wrong with our educational sector, I dont blame him, he never received any, so he might not really know what education is all about. This general is retired and definitely not part of our future

Shekarau should follow in the footsteps of most of the outgoing Governors - Go to the Senate, he will be a good one there. He sounds a bit articulate but definitely is not a Presidential material especially in the 21st century.

Ribadu, though a new face and not much experience; i never really believe in his bid but he seems to be the only untested among the whole lot and he can sure be helped with a good team - Fola's choice as VP is a good one, he understands how to make systems work, he has GT bank as a good CV


Bakare is obviously ambitious and hoping Buhari will die & he can become president; he should cover his face in shame with how he killed the wonderful vision of SNG on the altar of personal ambition. I pray that the love that God has for him and the undeniable call of God upon his life will not make him win so that he can retrace his steps. I know he will want try to reactivate the SNG vision when he loses the election but it will be too late.

I am not one who believes that pastors cannot go into politics and seek political office (infact i might do it some day i don't know yet), but it must be done right with all sincerity. Bakare's bid is lacking in all of these. Imagine the wonderful role of political education and orientation which SNG would have been carrying out today.

Bakare and Buhari cannot in any way work together because both has dictatorial tendencies. The OBJ/Atiku sort of feud will definitely resurface and will come with more unfavourable tendencies as it will finally polarise the nation along religious lines. This is very critical for me because i reside in Jos and i don't have plans of relocating from my adopted city.

As for Oyegun, he is also a face of the old and definitely has nothing to offer.

The VP debate especially just showed that these guys are all saying the same thing & they would have done the nation a whole lot of good if they can just drop their selfish ambitions & come behind Ribadu to push PDP out of Aso Rock, any other thing apart from the PDP would do for starters

On a lighter note, I am glad NN24 did not bother invite the other comedians like Dele Momodu (I have really missed his wonderful articles), my English teacher Rev Chris Okotie and such like...

I still believe we have a long way to go but we will definitely get there

Blessings on NIgeria

What's the Value of Human Life

How much is a human life worth in the 21st century especially with the widespread campaign of animal rights? I used to think it was a problem of the global North, but i am sure having a rethink...
I was a part of discussion some years ago about how the issue of animal right is sweeping the Western nations. A story was told (I can't confirm how authentic) about a research carried to determine which life is valued more - animal or human. A 3 year old child and a little dog were left wandering the street and it was discovered that the emergency 911 line received far more calls about the dog than the child. When I heard that this i thought these guys have really gone beserk. While I was thinking about all the attention given to Octopus Paul during the world cup and wondering about the state of human perversion, I was totally knocked out when I saw Zain Verje, my favourite anchor on CNN almost shedding tears when she was announcing the death and burial Octopus Paul. I concluded & safely too that this might be as a result of the fact that the basic needs of these fortunate Westerners are met and they really dont have much to worry about. But I had a gory experiece yesterday when i found myself at an accident scene on Ogbomosho-Ibadan road involving a long truck carrying rams. Human beings and rams were scattered all over the coal tar - I was shocked to my bones when I saw these Fulanis totally abandoned their injuted colleagues, left them to bleed to death while they were busy making sure that the rams do not wander off or may be get stolen.

I never knew that the Westerners learnt about the idea animal life being of more value than that of humans from us.



Just thinking...

2011, more than the Presidency

It suddenly dawned on me that all that is being said, written and discussed about next year's election has been limited to the Presidential elections and who gets to seat in Aso Rock. This myopic view of the forthcoming election which to my mind speak volume of the level of our political immaturity also reveals a massive blind spot which the political opportunists out there are seizing to continue to plunder the nation. There is a big game plan going on by ex governors to turn the senate chambers to their have in order to continue where they left off with the plundering of resources in their various state houses. Virtually all the ex governors have launched their senatorial campaigns and the unsuspecting citizens are totally unaware of this development. As we intensify the campaign against the stepping back of IBB, we should also not lose sight of these petty thieves called ex governors; the EFCC should conclude without any delay the prosecution of these guys and remove them from civilization into where they really belong. I am just sounding this alarm that these guys will leave no stone unturned to see that the status quo is maintained.

2011 elections is more than just the Presidency regardless of how important and critical the office is - the national assembly has become a great channel of wastage in recent times and it must be closely monitored too. Just sounding an alarm

Jos Main Market: Can someone please update us

I was privileged to visit the United States of America early this year and my trip took me to a city called Seattle, the capital of the North Western state of Washington. Seattle is a city of many firsts and the home of many world changing blue chip companies like Microsoft, the IT giants, Boeing, the aircraft manufacturers, Amazon, the online shopping mall and of course Starbucks the coffee giants. But none of these multi-billion investments really caught my attention like the Pike Place Market situated in downtown Seattle because of the glaring similarities of this market with our own Jos Main Market which has been lying in ruins for the past nine years. Pike Place Market is more than a place to buy and sell goods but has grown over the years to become a major tourist centre attracting millions of dollars to this wealthy city due to the government's deliberate and intentional efforts to make it so, this of course could not have happened without the cooperation of the organized private sector. The market oozes with the diverse culture of culture of Seattle city, there is absolutely no good from any part of the world that you cannot get to buy in this market. This place is a market and more, it is the place where the city converges, people meet old friends there, schedule business meetings there. Of particular attraction is the fish throwing practice of the Asian fish sellers which has attracted many tourists from all over the world to just come and see. It was once aired on CNN as a special program. Jos and Plateau state prides itself as the centre of peace and tourism; this market with all its potential to be a world class tourist attraction has been abandoned for this long, the income generating capacity of this market cannot be overemphasized. The market is regarded as the largest and most modern of such markets in the whole of the West African sub-region (I don’t have the statistics or facts to confirm this please). I am using this medium to call on the government agency responsible for this Market to revisit it and see to it that this market comes back to life. The non-functioning of this market might not be unconnected with the restiveness in the city as many youths were rendered jobless since the market was gutted by fire and they become easy recruits for violent activities. The government might give the usual excuse of no money but I believe that there are many private developers who will be willing to partner with government to rebuild this market and manage for a specific period of time to recoup their investment and the beneficiary will be the whole citizenry. We must learn not to play politics with issues of this nature because it is not far from the thinking of the powers to put political and ethnic considerations before the interest of the populace.
Jos Main market can be a money spinning venture for the City and the state and many employment opportunities will be created and be own Pike Place Market. I have always believed that if people have a place to go to daily to earn a living or business place to protect, it will be difficult for them to engage in violent acts.

Can someone please explain to us what is happening with the Jos Main Market!

NB: you can learn more about Pike Place Market, Seattle from their website: http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/

The Motorcyclist Riots

I am away from Jos at this time and this is the reason why I am responding to this incident this late but I have followed the story from the start. My inability to respond quickly has also given the opportunity to reflect on this issue more deeply. This is another case of the lack of sensitivity on the part of our so called leaders and the sustained willingness of the poor masses to allow these political opportunists who wear the cloak of religion to advance their selfish agendas. Firstly, Governor Jonah Jang did not approach this issue as someone serving a State that has become volatile and more so, he failed to realise that these motorcycles serve a greater purpose than the crime they are used to commit. I don’t personally like the sight of motorcycles on our roads and the nuisance which they constitute to car drivers, but what I don't like does not matter here, these motorcycles are the major means of transportation for majority of commuters in the city, so even if they are being used for criminal activities as the government has claimed, we cannot ignore what they contribute to the life of the city. I also believe that that most of those who patronise these motorcyclists do not like them but they have to continue patronage because there are no alternatives and this is where I have a message for the government. We would have prevented the loss of those innocent lives if the government have been a little bit more sensitive and more holistic in their approach. It would have been wonderful if the government acknowledged these motorcycle riders as part of the socio-economic reality of the city and offer an alternative – may be mass transit buses which I believe will offer a credible competition for them, I believe the masses would have by their action eased these motorcyclists off the streets or restrict them to some remote areas which can now be backed by law. As things stand right now, there is a vacuum created and if I know our system very well, it will only take a while before these cyclists resurface and it will be a a serious embarrassment for the government. It is not too late for the government to fill this vacuum by providing alternative means of transportation.

Just thinking

I see and hear a lot excitement about next years election coming on the heels of the appointment of the new INEC chairman. It's always good to be hopeful and I am not downplaying the good credentials of Jega but these are my thoughts. Is the appointment of the new INEC chairman enough change for us to be optimistic about a credible election next year? Can we say that we ve had enough or adequate systemic and structural change? Please consider this point as you pray, hope, talk and protest. I want Christians out there to read the prophetic contest between Jeremiah and Hananiah  as regards Babylonian captivity. I am sincerely sorry I can't give any Quranic reference right now. This is my reflection

A thought for Mothers Day

We need to take this serious!

Meg (not real name) has the body suitable for a marketing job”. This is the statement made by the General Manager of one of the many banks I worked for during my banking career in the late nineties and it summarises the war that society has declared on the female gender since the late eighties. This trend has been on the increase in the banking industry in Nigeria where young girls are recruited not really for their academic excellence or professional potential but to use their body to attract deposits to the bank.
The female gender is under a vicious attack and this seem to have caught society on its blind side to the extent that the society itself has become a very potent tool in seeing the female folk devalued and subjected to untold emotional torture. I consider myself very qualified to utter this loud voice because I was brought up virtually among females, lived my adult life with females and I have special love and concern for them–I have two females as children, I am a grandfather to one; I have seven as siblings & one as a wife; not forgetting my beloved mother who has gone to be with the Lord. I also have many of them as members of my Church.
While growing up as a young boy through secondary school, I recall that one of the signs of displaying maturity among us boys was to go talk to a girl and asked her to be your girl friend (what they call “asking out” now), it was such a tough assignment in my growing up years because girls are rated so high that you have to really be good to get their attention & nothing excites a young boy as to have a girl give you audience, but the reverse is the case today; young girls virtually beg boys, offer themselves cheaply, give all manner of suggestions for boys to “take them out, ladies will do anything to get a guy propose marriage to them to the extent of promising to write off the wedding bills, pay for accommodation and even top it with a monthly allowance.
This siege sometimes starts from the home where parents mount untold pressure on their daughters to “bring the guy home”, I don’t know when it became the responsibility of ladies to go search for a husband; this is where the seductive attires start from so that the men and the boys can take notice. Nude ladies are now the commonest sights on our streets. It does not really matter the product being advertised, there must be a naked lady to promote it. I don’t what a naked lady has to do with promoting the sale of  tyres for cars. This situation has so crushed their self esteem so much that marriage is seen as the escape route and they will stop at nothing to have the “MRS” title. The rate of depression among ladies is at an all time high.
As we celebrate mother’s day, I call on all mothers out there to take special interest in their young girls and lift their self image by making them see themselves through the eyes of their maker
My message to all young ladies – the harder you are to get, the higher that the value men place on you & the deeper the respect they have for you.
Never forget this: YOU ARE SOMEONE WITHOUT A MAN