Theories of Boko Haram

Alot of theories have been made over the issue and activities of Boko Haram over the last few months, some say its the continuation of the Yusufiyya movement of the late Muhammad Yusuf, others say its a western conspiracy design to destroy Islam and d region, some believe it is a combination of the two. What ever we believe, whatever might be true, the fact is things have changed, d rules have been altered and we have no control over the game any more. A new wave of socio-religious crisis has been introduced and the attention of the world is now on us. All this is purely the manifestation of bad leadership, injustice and an extremely selfish elite (ruling class) who have no regards to any opinion but theirs. These over the years has created a problem that is eluding the whole nation.

For the region to survive and grow, good governance must be demanded and entrenched. Responsible leadership must be the hallmark for our choice of leaders and performance the yardstick. This is the region's only hope and by extention the country's only hope. Military solutions creates further violence because violence begets violence in a continuous vicious circle of hate and intolerance that only good leadership and governance can break. We have to be interested in the affairs of our region to be able to demand for what is best. To this I repeat, wake up arewa, wake up!

7 Reasons Buhari/bakare Will Lose The Elections Despite Growing Popularity!

This was posted on Nairaland by Papa Browne. Pls read below, I found it very interesting.


Let me start by acknowledging the fact that the Bakare pick by Buhari, has improved Buhari's fortunes desperately. In many online polls I've come across of recent, Buhari/ Bakare's popularity has skyrocted sometimes surpassing that of Jonathan. What I observed however, is that the biggest loser is Ribadu. All his fans seemed to drift enmass to the Buhari/Bakare ticket. Jonathan's popularity remains good, just a little less than the early days.
Given the fact that Buhari controls the North West with 19 Million Voters and has a pretty Good Showing in the South West, you would think Victory should be certain for CPC.
However, I'm 1000% sure that after a free and fair election come May 29th Buhari would not be anywhere near Aso rock for the simple reasons stated below

1)They are not campaigning
We have just 5 weeks to the elections and I can't see any sign of Buhari campaigning anywhere in Nigeria . He hasn't visited any states in the south or middle belt. No rallies whatsoever. Does he think everybody reads newspapers or have internet connection?? Ruralites which constitute the real voters in Nigeria have never heard about CPC. How are they going to give him votes. How is the farmer in Isale Egan, Arochukwu or Gbaramatu going to vote a Buhari he has has never heard about? Jonathan on the other hand is travelling everywhere despite the fact that he has the required visibility already.

2)The CPC has very limited structures
CPC has no structures in many states across the country. In fact, they didn't even field Governorship candidates in many states. Elections are won by politicians and not on the pages of newspapers. People actually think PDP wins because they rig. Thats far from the truth. PDP winS elections because they built structures across the country. Every Okada Association, Taxi drivers Asscoc, Market women group, and every other group that controls large swaths of REAL voters are all on the payroll of the PDP. The CPC structures start and finish in the North West and some states in the North East. Structures in the South West are shared between PDP and ACN. Without these structures, there is no way CPC is winning even 10% of the votes in the South West.

3)Jonathan's Popularity
It is not very often you see a popular incumbent. Jonathan is very popular, not because of his performance but because of the nature of his ascension. Nigeria is a very religious country and many people have come to believe that Jonathan has been propped up by God to bring change to the country. There is the impression amongst so many I've spoken with, that God will use Jonathan to change Nigeria.
Buhari knows this so well, so he calculatedly brings in a Pastor as running mate to tilt the balance. Was it a good strategy,I think very much so! Will it improve his fortunes, sadly I don't think so as Bakare is known to have discredited all the crowd pulling ministers including Adeboye whose he seems to be courting desperately these days.

4)Cash, Money and Finance
Seriously, in any election, Cash is King. Whether that Election is in America or Zimbabwe, Nigeria or New Zealand!! Obama raised $600million dollars to execute his election. Without that war-chest, he would have lost to McCain. Fact is, He bought that election legitimately!!
Nigeria is not an exception! Money rules! Donald Duke estimated that it would cost close to 20 Billion naira to execute a honest presidential election. And that's just for campaigning minus settlements. My opinion, 50 Billion wouldn' t even do. If Buhari can raise that money in 5 weeks, then trust me he stole it!!

The PDP can buy up all the almajiris in the North West with N1000 each and they would line up enmasse for Jonathan. 19 Million almajiris will cost the PDP only 19 Billion Naira= Now that's chicken change for a party that has controlled a the economy of a country with some of the world's finest oil wells.
On a serious note, where is Buhari going to get the money required to campaign across the nation in just 5 weeks.The man needs to advertise, billboards, posters, etc they all cost money !!

5)Jonathan is relaxed
Jonathan is so relaxed. When a man is so relaxed, you can tell that he has very little to worry about. The Buhari ticket would have worried the Jonathan camp if they had teamed up with ACN. But as it is always with the opposition their selfish interests carried the day.
 Before the PDP presidential Primaries, Jonathan was very uneasy until Babangida was out of the race. When Atiku was left in the race, Jonathan became relaxed because victory was now certain. Atiku was an easy case. Exactly the same is playing out with Buhari. Jonathan's relaxed mien suggests that Buhari's CPC is nothing but a paper tiger!!

6)25% in 24 states
Buhari cannot win up to 25% in any of the South South or South East states. That takes 11 states out of the running, leaving him with 25 states to score at least 25% of the votes. Is that a possiblity? I doubt especially given the fact that in the south west, the votes will be split in three between Jonathan, Ribadu and Buhari. Also states like Plateau and Benue would hardly give Buhari 25%. It will be so hard for Buhari to score that 25% in 24 states. That automatically nullifies any numerical victory he wishes he might obtain.

7)Time and Chance
One of the most fundamental principles in life is the Time and Chance principle. Somehow it just appears like this is Goodluck Jonathan's time. Despites many miscalculations on his part, his popularity just doesn't seem to want to go downhill. Whether we like him or not, it looks like he is here to stay at least till 2015.
Same way Obama came and upset the dreams of so many like McCain and Hilary Clinton, so also Jonathan has truncated the life long ambitions of the likes of Babangida, Atiku, Gusau and come April it looks like Buhari will be added to the list of those who have fallen under Jonathan's dream killing sword!!
 

A testimony by a Nigerian on why he did not vote for Buhari in the past.

Pls Vote Wisely
 
A respected friend of mine sent me this email of which I find the contents of the email very insightful and appealing. I suggest you read it to understand what I mean. ;-)
 
This is who we vote for. Seriously this is where we must place our votes laying aside nepotism and all manner of sectional thrills and thirst.

In 2011, GMB is not alone. He's supported by a team of volunteers online and offline who never voted for him before. We didn't vote for him, because we didn't know. We didn't know that he supervised and birthed our only existing refineries. We didn't know that what he did in road construction while in the PTF hasn't been matched by 12yrs of the PDP, even though some  claimed they were lopsided. We didn't know that in his time as head of state he reduced inflation from 23% to 4%, by fiscal discipline and a homegrown economic team (not achieved under any other era, even military). We didn't know that there was no religious crisis while he led.'
We didn't know that J.J Rawlings of Ghana took over 2yrs before him, and killed all the corrupt leaders, while GMB merely gave his own, long-term jail sentences. We didn't know that the hospitals and universities around the country never witnessed as much benefits they got from the PTF from any government after or before his time. We did not know, that this man despite serving in senior capacity in the oil sector, has no petrol station, much less a rig, refinery or an oil block like so many of our leaders. We never voted him, because we did not know.
But now we know... We know that he has follower-ship in the north that money can't buy. We know that those who follow him are poor, and follow him out of hope and belief in his values. I have met old men who know him, who have said... "All I need from Buhari is his word, I can take it to the bank". Now we know that here is someone that has been in everything to make him an IBB or Danjuma, but didn't take that road.
We feared he was an Islamic fundamentalist, but he challenged us to provide any human being who can point at anything he did to show that. Now we know, that it's about the values... The only former head of state that does not own a house in Abuja. Educate someone today! I just did 
 

How far so far?

Dear friends,

So much has been said about the need for us to come together as one to forge a new paradigm of politics and social order in our dear country. But unfortunately few actions have been taken; the struggle has mostly been a struggle in the pages of newspapers, in gossip corners and beer parlours. Few have dared to take a stand. But i ask you, how far have we gone in trying to bring positive changes to our dear country besides talking about it? How far are we willing to go to stand up for Nigeria? These are questions we may not have a definate answer to until we take the first step, until we bring our heads together under a single umbrella, not that of the PDP ofcourse but an umbrella that does not accomodate ethnicity, religion, political differences and or regional affiliations, an umbrella that accomodates only united aspirations and goals.

The task before us is one that requires us to look at Nigeria as a whole and be patriotic enough to put the interest of the nation above all other selfish interests. If we truly believe that we the younger generation can bring about the needed change the country so desperately yarns for, then we have to be ready to put words into action. We have to be ready to rise and rise till we bring down the cancer that is eating up our entire social and democratic entities. We have to awaken from our slumber and organise for change. We have talked and talked, now is the time to act!

I do not have the blueprint on how this struggle will be won, but i know for certain that if we unite ourselves despite the odds against us and forge a cause greater than any single individual or group; one that is aimed at uniting the country and putting in place structures that will eliminate or atleast reduce significantly corruption, sycophancy and nepotism in governance, then we will move mountains, we will break barriers and we will change the direction of the tides. Oh yes WE CAN! Oh yes we WILL!

IBB - what we may not know

That corruption is the source of all our problems, from insecurity, to poverty, to our underdevelopment and everything else is not news anymore either in Nigeria or to foreigners. However I wish more journalists would put extreme pressure on the looting and stealing pol...itical "elites" to save our dear country. There are certainly many patriotic and honest Nigerians who mean well for our dear country. There are some very good journalists who could use words to convey strong messages that could educate the public of the true enemies of Nigeria. My sincere belief is that it is easy to govern Nigeria, if three essential ingredients of nation-building were honestly and determinedly addressed - Patriotism, Corruption and Enforcement of the Written Laws of the Land. Lack of any of these reinforces the other and addressing any of them addresses the others automatically. The bane of Nigeria's problems is the almost complete lack of patriotism, especially among the thieving "elites", which in turn, provides the fertile grounds for corruption.

When I was in Lagos in 2007, one look at the traffic situation informed me that 98% of the traffic jams in Lagos is caused by human factor. Essentially, the lack of enforcement of the laws guiding road use, again due to corruption! This is just one example. The aim of this write-up is to notify Babangida and his cronies that there are patriotic Nigerians all over the world, who have knowledge of his secret activities against the interests of Nigeria, for his own personal selfish benefits. His cousin had described him to me, as a ruthless, vindictive, unforgiving megalomaniac and extremely corrupt. Since he literally determines what happens in Nigeria, it might be very dangerous to pose a frontal attack against him. He's a very ruthless man and powerful. If he could order his childhood friend, Gen. Mamman Vatsa, to be killed without batting an eyelid, we'd be just small mosquitoes! We all need to start shouting our lungs out through writings, so that these thieves would feel the pressure and get out of the way for a better Nigeria It's just a shame. When I was growing up in Cameroun, every remote village had pipe borne water and all the major towns and cities had 24hours /daily, of electricity! Nigeria is probably the only country in Africa where citizens defecate openly, all times of the day, in major cities, without consequences! I feel sad thinking about all these. I'm currently based in the U.S and a full blooded and patriotic Nigerian, though born and raised outside Nigeria. The first impression any first time visitor would have of Nigeria would be of a country where nobody takes the law seriously because the laws are there but never enforced due to corruption; of a chaotic, free for all country with a complete lack of patriotism from top to bottom. How did we get to this sorry and seemingly irreversible state? Our biggest problem is the continued recycling of the architects of corruption and their cronies, the so called military and political "elites", under various guises of minister this, minister that. Ghana was able to move forward because Rawlings realized that the only way to move Ghana on was to completely eliminate all the old thieves. This option may not be feasible in Nigeria's case, but if we all join hands together, especially our journalists, and say “enough is enough” to these thieves, instead of celebrating them, we can achieve something significant. But first, we have to identify the architects of corruption and relentlessly go after them through our write-ups or other civil actions. The sole architect of the extreme corruption as seen today in Nigeria and the sorry state of affairs is no other than the former dictator, IBRAHIM BADAMOSI BABANGIDA. One of his relatives was my roommate in the US during my under graduate education. I was able to glimpse the true nature of the beast from him. Here is the Babangida most Nigerians know nothing about.

Babangida is the most destabilizing force in Nigeria today and the more Nigerians know about it the better. Babangida was sent here (U.S) in 1983, for a military course, during the Reagan administration. He admired Ronald Reagan's Machiavellian dribbles with the American public and became a disciple of Reagan's trickle-down economics, popularly derided as "voodoo" economics, where the resources and wealth of a nation are distributed to a few cronies, with the hope that their business activities would create wealth that would trickle down to the common man! This is how Babangida single-handedly wiped out the Nigerian middle class, creating a few stealing billionaires and a mass of poverty, with nothing in-between. Anyway, while in the U.S. it became obvious that Babangida was recruited by the CIA. Mobutu's power and relevance to the U.S interests in Africa was waning and they needed another Mobutu in a strategic country. Babangida fitted Mobutu's personality traits; very ambitious, unpatriotic, bold, greedy and cunning. So Babangida fitted the profile of a strong-man, like Mobutu, the U.S was looking for. It was also this time, in 1983, that Buhari and Idiagbon overthrew Shehu Shagari, who was drifting and didn't seem to get a handle on how to move Nigeria forward. Buhari/Idiagbon had always been true patriots, and came in to try to save Nigeria. Buhari's government was very serious about putting Nigeria on a straight path. There was a serious effort to combat indiscipline, drugs and corruption that bedevilled Shagari's government. Buhari refused to borrow any more money from the IMF and World Bank; refused to devalue the Naira, as demanded by the West. When the West tried to blackmail and sabotage the Nigerian economy at that time, he countered it with the counter-trade polices, which was actually a corruption fighting tool (it was used by Cuba to neutralize years of America's economic blockade of that island nation).The West knew that Buhari/Idiagbon were hell bent on serving only Nigeria's interests against any other interests and they weren't going to have it. It should be remember that it was also during this period that Reagan was fighting several covert or proxy wars around the world. During the Reagan's administration, the CIA actually became the main instrument, albeit covertly, of America's foreign policy. When Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua became the leader of that country, it did not go down well with America because of his Marxist leanings. The CIA created and funded a rebel army, the Contras, to overthrow him, in what became known as the Contra War. The U.S Congress was kept in the dark about this covert war for a while, but when it came to their knowledge, they cut off all funding for the illegal war. The CIA was determined to bring down Ortega's government so they had to come up with other ways of funding the war and bypass the Congress. They turned to selling drugs, but they could not do this directly from the U.S soil, so they looked for a Third World country to use to import the hard drugs and later smuggle to the U.S. Nigeria became very attractive to them because of its corruption, large population and chaotic nature. They felt it was the only country they could pull off such with relative ease. But Buhari was the head of state and was sending drug dealers to the firing squad. They knew he would never let them use Nigeria as their base for drug operations to fund their covert war. Nigeria was still the most attractive to them for the venture. It became clear to them that Buhari/Idiagbon had to go. So entered Babangida and the coup that overthrew Buhari, covertly planned, supported and carried out with the aid of the CIA. As soon as Babangida overthrew Buhari, he proceeded to undo everything Buhari tried to achieve for a better Nigeria. He devalued the naira, accepted all the conditionalities of the IMF and World Bank. Nigeria became a free for all with zero accountability. If you remembered his speech after the coup, there were ramblings about democracy, free market, human rights, etc. In fact the wording of that speech could have been scripted by the American State Department. In 1986, the Time Magazine (either February or September edition) reported that at the height of America's covert wars during the Reagan administration, the U.S had the very elite commando unit of their armed forces, the SEAL, dispatched to several different countries for covert activities. Guess what; this unit was in Nigeria in August 1985, during the week that Babangida overthrew Buhari. These Special Forces are highly trained in all kinds of warfare. No Nigerian ever asked why they were in Nigeria at that particular time. The thinking of the CIA was that a coup against a Northern Muslim Fulani by a middle belt military personnel would be resisted and therefore bloody. So the SEAL was dispatched to make sure Babangida succeeded. If the coup had been resisted, Buhari and Idiagbon would have been killed, no question about it After the coup, the CIA cut a deal with Babangida, where Nigeria was used as a major drug transit and money laundering center for the proceeds of the CIA drug trade. This is how the CIA was funding their Contra war.

The phony or rogue bank, BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International) was used to launder the proceeds of the drug business and take them out of the country. Babangida's loots left the country through this bank. Remember that branches of this bank were everywhere in Lagos and the North. Two investigative journalists in the US later broke the news that the CIA was involved in drug smuggling to fund the Contra War. They didn't mention the country that was used, but from all indications, it was Nigeria! However, Dele Giwa somehow stumbled on this information and was seriously investigating it and was about to break the news when he was killed. This is the main reason that Babangida had Dele Giwa killed. Remember also that the former leader of Burkina Faso, Capt. Thomas Sankara, of blessed memory, was a close friend, albeit, revolutionary friend of Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, who was hated so much by the .U.S. After Sankara was killed, obviously with help from the West, the rest of Africa condemned the cowardly act except Babangida. As a matter of fact, he gave the leader of the coup that killed Sankara, Major Compaore Blaise, a red carpet welcome to Lagos, barely a week after the murder. Again when in 1986, Reagan unjustifiably bombed Libya and killed Gadaffi`s daughter, everybody in Africa condemned the unprovoked attack, except Babangida, who was blaming Gaddafi for the attack. Toward the end of 1986, or 1987, (can't remember the exact year), Babangida was given a "Strategic" award, by the Heritage Foundation, a US right wing front whose philosophy is total world domination, economically, politically and militarily. The few other people, who had received this award, include Henry Kissinger and the former NATO Commander, Alexander Haig, people who had gone out of their way and the risk of their lives to advance America's interests. No Nigerian journalist or news organization asked or questioned the reason IBB was given that award. Nobody asked why there was an explosion of drug activities during IBB's regime. The only investigative journalist we had, Dele Giwa, was killed, so we were and still are in the dark of what is actually going on in Nigeria. And to make things worse, most of our papers are owned by the looters or friends of the looters. Anyway, it was during IBB's regime that most of our wealth was looted out of the country (about 80%). It was the dream of America to make IBB, President for Life, just like Mobutu.

Enter Orji Kalu, now former Governor of Abia State. I am not very sure whether it was IBB who introduced Kalu to the CIA or the other way round, but it was the dream of the US to make Babangida the President and Kalu his Vice. Kalu is still a sleeper operative of the CIA. Three weeks before the last presidential election in 2007, Kalu was at the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. The only way anybody could get into that building is if you have a top secret security clearance or an active asset of the CIA with high level security clearance. Remember that Kalu had always boasted about how close he was with the Bush family. The only link between the two is the CIA and the fact that Kalu was a valuable asset for them, having proved it by betraying Nigeria, one way or the other, for his own personal gain. How did IBB move his loots to France and Switzerland? IBB is as devilishly clever as he is ruthless. Kalu became the go-between, between him and the CIA, to avoid being linked to the CIA. With the help of the CIA, Kalu created numerous phony front companies to launder IBB's loots and payouts from the CIA deal, and move them out of the country through the rogue bank, BCCI. This is why when Ribadu arrested Kalu for corruption, the Bush regime was up in arms against it, and the current Attorney General, Michael Aondoaaka took over the EFCC, in a mild drama. I'll come to this later. Kalu has the same character traits as Babangida or even worse. The CIA found him very valuable to them because this guy could do literally anything for personal gains and aggrandizement.
Remember, Kalu had always stated that he is who he is today because of IBB. In fact this is the only honest statement that ever came out of Kalu's mouth. IBB created the very problems we are all suffering today. He never ever wanted to give up power for what he was getting out of it. He is an extremely crafty guy and dangerously cunning. America's dream, or rather the CIA's dream, was to make Babangida a long time dictator like Mubarak of Egypt, and Orji Kalu his vice president, and for Kalu to continue after Babangida. The election that Babangida held in 1993 and which Abiola won was never meant to be. Babangida never wanted to give up power. America didn't want him to give up power either. So he wasted all our resources, just to pretend that he wanted to give up power. He annulled the election on the advice of the State Department of the US, who did not trust Abiola to cut deals with them whenever they needed one. When Abacha realized that Babangida had no intention of giving up power, he tricked Babangida and forced him to hand over to the Shonekan's so-called Interim National Government. The US never forgave Abacha for that. Abacha's demonization went full blast. The US had hopes that they could still find a way to bring Babangida to power. The easiest way would be to eliminate the two major contenders, Abacha and Abiola.This would leave us no other option but Babangida. Abacha and Abiola could have been killed with the assistance of the CIA. I studied chemistry, as an undergraduate, and I know that a very minute drop of concentrated potassium chloride could easily create a massive natural heart attack and death immediately. Potassium chloride (KCl) has a very narrow lethal dose, i.e. very narrow range of lethality. This is the weapon of choice for most intelligence covert operations, because it could never be traced by any toxicology tests. My strong suspicion leans toward the use of KCl to kill Abiola and Abacha, to make way for Babangida to return. Babangida has never told the truth about why he annulled that election. He could never tell the true reason. Nigeria was smart to let Abdulsalam to rule after Abacha's death, instead of Babangida. Abacha was never a saint, but most of the demonization against him was orchestrated by America, in a way, to divert attention away from Babangida. Even the so called Abacha loot in Swiss banks could have been Babangida's, just to use the insignificant amount to blackmail Abacha, and have Nigerians believe that all the looting was done by Abacha.You see, our biggest problem is believing everything the West tells us without questions, not minding that they have always employed the Machiavellian doctrines in their dealings with the rest of the world. The US actually succeeded in having every Nigerian talking about Abacha's loot, while Babangida conveniently faded to the background, attending weddings, birthday parties, funerals, etc, everywhere! In 2007, all grounds were cleared for Babangida to sneak back, and with the advice of the Bush Administration, for him to appoint Kalu as his running mate, a position which Kalu declined. Most Nigerians, and most of the rest of the world except Western Europe and Israel, are extremely naive about America. As much as being utilitarian, Americans are natural existentialists, driven in all their actions, bad or good, only by self interests. The only thing consistent about Americans as individuals is their unpredictability. For example, an American can ceremoniously and sanctimoniously give you a million dollars today, and tomorrow that same American kills you unceremoniously over five dollars! It saddens me whenever I read about our government officials trooping here to "learn" about the American system. The American government structure is very organized and extremely well structured and managed by very patriotic citizens. But honestly, America does not want the same fine structure for any part of the world outside Western Europe and Israel. America's prosperity and power are based partly on their ability to manipulate all the developing countries to remain dependent, so that they could easily be used. America did not accomplish their goal to return IBB to power in 1993, but they encouraged him to contest in 2007. In fact, everything was on the ground for him to run again, but Kalu refused the Vice President-ship. I, personally, was very alarmed that Nigerians folded their arms and some misguided corrupt cronies were actually rooting for this evil man who killed the finest of young Nigerian army officers, and essentially the architect of the present rot we are in. I sent part of the information I'm giving you to Nuhu Ribadu, when he was Chairman of EFCC, and also to the Sun Newspaper (at the time, I did not know the paper was owned by Orji Kalu, Babangida's partner in crime). I'm very sure Ribadu read it, and probably briefed Obasanjo about it. Those at the Sun Newspaper could have informed Kalu about it, and Babangida could have gotten wind of it. About a month after I sent the article, I learnt that Babangida withdrew his ambition with the phony excuse that he would not run against his "younger brother, Yar'Adua". My honest belief then was that he realized that there were people with damaging information about him. And also, Obasanjo could also have discouraged him, having been briefed about this information by Ribadu.These are my speculations as to why Babangida suddenly withdrew from contesting. So Ribadu played a major part in Babangida not running in the 2007 election.

Babangida has a huge animosity against Ribadu, who was really responsible for derailing Babangida`s presidential ambition in 2007. He never forgave him. In one of his several wedding or funeral services talks, Babangida made it clear that even if he never ran for the Presidency again, he would be involved in determining whoever rules Nigeria. He was responsible for the selection of Yar'Adua as President, after twisting Obasanjo's hand, who owed him for getting him out of jail and making him President in 1999. Most of PDP's "BIG" men are all carry-overs from the Babangida's regime. Remember when he said he was satisfied with the selection of Yar'Adua as President, calling him his younger brother? He actually forced his old cronies and "boys" in the PDP to select Yar'Adua. He knew that Yar'Adua has a lot of humility, defers to him and lacks self confidence. He knew he could easily manipulate Yar'Adua. Essentially, Babangida is actually the one still calling the shots, behind the scenes, in Yar 'Adua's government. All Ribadu's problems were orchestrated by Babangida. Most Nigerians thought it was Ibori, but though Ibori is one of his "boys", Babangida is the only one in Nigeria powerful enough to go against Obasanjo's friends. Babangida influenced the appointments of Okiro (IGP) and Aondoakaa (AGF) and Waziri (EFCC), all in an effort to kill the war on corruption, and stop all the noise about corruption. Have you noticed that in all his public utterances, Babangida had never said anything against corruption? He does not see corruption as corruption, because he believes in Reagan's trickle down or voodoo economics, i.e. give the wealth of the nation to a few of his cronies in government or business, and they would create wealth for others. It is this same Reagan's idea that is wreaking havoc in the American economy today! Everyday, Yar 'Adua's government looks more and more like Babangida's regime, because he influenced Yar'Adua to recycle his old cronies into important positions. These are men who through the years, have perfected the art and science of stealing and looting. Babangida remains the most destabilizing and powerful force in Nigeria today. It's almost as if he owns Nigeria. He remains untouchable because all the recycled kleptomaniacs called politicians, who are in leadership positions today, owe their wealth and power to Babangida Watch my words, all talk about Nigeria's progress, remains just talk, until Babangida's powers and influence are erased. Until we have bold, very patriotic, incorruptible, and independent individuals elected by the people, Nigeria would go nowhere!!!!. The only leader that Nigerian people ever elected was Abiola. The others were either influenced by foreign powers in collusion with corrupt politicians and the military. Nigeria needs the likes of Nuhu Ribadus, Gani Fawhinmis, Tai Solarins, and yes, Mohammed Buharis and Babatunde Idiagbons. I was born in Cameroun, and I am a true pan-Africanist. I am an extremely patriotic Nigerian with a lot of passion for Nigeria. Any foreigner who ever comes in contact with me ends up loving Nigeria and wanting to go there. It's my little way of rebranding Nigeria, whatever that really means. I sincerely believe that Nigeria could potentially be the greatest wholly black nation on earth if we could put our acts together and stop corruption at all cost and by all means necessary. The West is very much aware of Nigeria's potentials and they are doing everything to stop it, especially the US. This is why the American Press uses every opportunity to humiliate Nigeria, to make us lose our Natural self confidence and not compete with them toe-to-toe. There are more criminals in one American city, than all of Nigeria combined! The truth is that a powerful wholly black nation would shatter the methodical stereotype of the black race, as stupid, by their media over the years. A powerful black nation would also awaken their black population to aim higher, and regain their confidence after years of emasculation. This is something they'll do everything to avoid. I honestly believe that most of our problems, especially the Niger Delta, could be traced back to LONDON AND WASHINGTON, through their multinational corporations, who corrupt and impose corrupt and inept leaders on us .............Anyway, let see what we do to help our country. The article should be reconstructed as poser questions for Babangida to answer to Nigerians. This brings out all the points of interests, but avoids accusing him directly This would force him to react and be on the defensive, thereby, exposing himself for a second look by Nigerians.

Written by Cozie Chimason Monday, 12 April 2010

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The Active Manager's Tool Kit - 45 Reproducible Tools for Leading and Improving Your Employee's Performance

Traditional Formal educators: A threat to innovation and creativity

Different independent school of thoughts have different views and perspectives towards education and learning, while experts and professional educators strive to achieve and formulate different methods and skill in the dissemination of knowledge, few have successfully accomplish the task entrusted upon them by society. Education and learning is the most diverse, dynamic and never ending quest that any human being can undertake, and it can prove to be the most daunting of all task.
As a student and passionate believer in the power of knowledge, I have occasionally found myself in what I like to call “academic dilemma”, a situation where I like to choose what I feel is more important for me to study and what is of less importance during the course of an academic semester. This is as a result of the aspirations I have just as any other student dreaming of becoming successful in future. For instance I would feel subjects solely based on calculations are not necessarily relevant to someone who wants to be a civil activist. While this might appeal to the senses and desires of the average student, it is however one of the greatest misfortune of formal traditional education. An unfortunate situation where the scope of learning and choice of knowledge is being narrowed down to very specified scopes and fields.
To clearly explain my point, perhaps I should give my definition of a formal traditional education, which I find to be simple, it is simply any form or means of education were a student’s ability to think and analyze through a problem is based solely on what has been said or discussed by the educator or what has been written in the reference texts. As a result of this, It has become unfortunate that many student end of failing major examinations as a result of the limitations placed on learning, while others fail because they have failed to provide what is “in the slides” that is being provided by the educator to students. I have even heard lecturers making it clear to their students that they are not likely to pass their examination if they fail to regurgitate what has been provided to them in the slides. Thus a lot of students have fallen victims of the traditional formal education “syndrome”, however, I do not place the blame on the educators alone. Different tertiary institutions have different cultures of learning and in most cases educators are forced to confine themselves within the learning cultures of the institution by authorities and students who by human nature are resistant to change and prefer being spoon fed.
The risk of conventional methods of knowledge transfer cannot be overemphasized or analyzed, that should be the subject of further research, however the biggest threat it poses is the imprisonment of the mind, where the mind is taught subconsnously not to think “outside the box” or better said, outside the class. This is why most classes conducted in the strict conventional learning environments, with lecturers playing the roles of masters and all knowing gurus breed this most conventional and rigid minds in our society, this is greatly unhealthy for the young mind. Thus, it can be said that the thin line that separates Ivy League colleges and the regular colleges are the learning atmosphere and knowledge transfer methods, not simply the presence or absence of smart gifted kids and genius lecturers. I am a strong believer that formal education should be a tool that facilitates the never ending quest for learning, in the most diverse and dynamic manner were every aspect of the society is not left untouched. However, when those entrusted with shaping the future through shaping the mind, are not willing or able to let the minds of their student free up and wonder about in the endless pursuit of knowledge, then the aim of education becomes defeated.
Coming back to the great role of educators in the society in general, we can summarize everything into one word Empowerment; this is one of the greatest words in the English language, with powers greater than the matching barbarian army of Attila the great leader of the Huns. The question is how can an educator empower his/her students? Educators empower their students by believing in their students potentials, even when hopes for utilizing those potentials seem bleak. A very learned friend of mine vividly recalled to me a conversation he ones had with his classmates during an in-between class breaks. On one of such occasions, his friends mocked him for being the dumbest kid in the class; it was a terrible experience he said as he recalled his ordeal with occasionally flashes of mixed reaction on his face like a bride on the day of her wedding. He told me that he was looked down upon by his classmates simply because his answers were always different from the rest of the class and he always asked “stupid questions”. In fact at some point, he actually felt like he was really the dumbest kid in the class. Looking back from those depressing days he said, what he eventually found out was that, his teacher never empowered him as a student and never encouraged him to set his mind open and think outside the box. My learned friend now simply laughs at his memories as today he is one of the best minds in his field. However, had he not been empowered by his new teacher later in life, he may never have shaken the belief that he is actually a dumb kid with no sense of direction. My learned friend’s new teacher who happened to be a “white man” saw something in my friend that nobody else did, he saw a mind that was open, a mind that had the ability to think of what has not been thought of, a mind with endless potentials ticking, waiting to explode to its full potentials like a timed bomb, such is mind of every human, he thus empowered my friend by believing in his dreams and convincing him that having a different point of view, did not mean one is less of a human or student but that one is actually thinking beyond the confide boarders of his class.
Additionally, educators have the responsibility of empowering their students by teaching them the necessary skills they need to succeed in the quest for lifelong learning. Like a kung-fu master who teaches his student the secrets of the art, but does not chooses the opponent which his students might likely face in future, teachers are suppose to “show the road to a student and not walk him through it” as one of my favorite educators once said. I don’t know exactly who coined the phrase; “learning through spoon feeding”, but it’s meaning suggest to me the perfect way to enslaving the mind. Going back to my learned friend and his experience with the “white man” that changed his life, my friend recalled that in an effort by his lecturer to empower his mind, he unlike most of the rest of his teachers encouraged him to watch more television, read more magazines, news papers and even if he founds sex to be a curious thing, then he should watch a few x-rated movies to quench his curiosity. However, he made him write a report every week on what he had learned new and to share it with his class mate whether it was related to the class subject or not, he recalled an embarrassing day when he had to share about male puberty experience in front of the class with all the beautiful girls present. My friend had no idea why he had to be doing this, until long after he had left school that he discovered that what his teacher was doing was to set no boundaries to his learning scope and to empower him with a mindset that does not consider any form of learning a taboo.
Another way through which educators can empower their students is by prodding them to take risks. Most cultures and societies discourage some out rightly, risk taking. This cannot be unconnected to the general fear we naturally have of the unknown, the fear of change from a current situation to an unexpected one. I think it was in the book, Who moved my cheese, by Spencer Johnson, M.D. That it asks, “What would you do if you were not afraid? “This is a very powerful question with deep meaning which we all should occasionally ask ourselves. A lot of us limit our potentials and abilities simply because of fear, the fear to take risks and explore new things and ways of doing them. An educator has to prod his students to take risk, to be creative, innovative and independent minded. This can only be achieved by removing boundaries to learning and class discussions, and by removing the status quo that gives the supreme powers of knowledge to teachers and teachers alone.
Empowerment of students by educators can also and should come in the form of the recognition of successes and achievements. It is said that the best way to motivate a person is to listen to that person; a lot is being achieved and gained by both educators and students when there is more of listening by the educators rather than less. Through listening, a teacher gives his student a sense of pride and a feeling of being important and respected, in addition to building a stronger bond of relationship, because of these, the student psychologically feels the need to live up to that standard of feeling important and respected in class, and thus strives to broaden his/her knowledge so that he/she can continue to contribute to the academic learning process. On the other hand, the recognition of success has an almost instant effect on the psychology of a student as I have personally experienced. It can be said to be as simple as this; when a student does something good or says something well no matter how little or insignificant it might be, an educator should recognize the action of the student and praise him/her in public same goes to when the action is negative. However in the case of a negative action that requires punishment and or criticism, educators I believe should never take a swift action immediately in public particular if it is an action that requires comments and criticism, this is to avoid embarrassing a student and putting him/her on the spotlight and on the defensive, against the educator. However in the case of punishments and penalties, it can be issued in public so as to deter its future occurrence by other students.
On a final note, looking back at the experiences my learned friend had his “white teacher” , one can only imagine what would have happened had the teacher not taken the initiative to empower my friend in his studies, who knows what my friend’s life would have looked like? Perhaps the best he could have been will be what I also like to call “a learned and rigid text book guru”, someone with no dynamics in knowledge and approach. Even a decent conversation with such a person would prove to be an uphill task. Thanks to his teacher’s empowerment, my learned friend has become one of the most enlightened people I have ever met, who knows about virtually everything and has a smart answer to every question, something that occasionally gets me jealous, I hear they call people like him genius, but don’t forget he was once regarded as of the “dumbest kids” in his class.
As an educator in whatever respect or scope that is, your decision to empower your students have a direct impact on the future trajectory of their lives and the society we live in. Educators are not to be stingy with the time they are suppose to invest in their students, by affirming your student’s potential, broadening his/her skills, pushing them to accept risk, and celebrating their success in public and failures in private, you are propelling them into stunning accomplishments and building a better society for humanity.

Ponder on this!

Pls ponder over this, i just read it from an email sent to me by a friend.

A man woke up early in order to pray the Fajr prayer in the masjid. He got dressed, made his ablution and was on his way to the masjid. On his way to the masjid, the man fell and his clothes got dirty. He got up, brushed himself off, and headed home. At home, he changed his clothes, made his ablution, and was, again, on his way to the masjid.

On his way to the masjid, he fell again and at the same spot! He, again, got up, brushed himself off and headed home. At home he, once again, changed his clothes, made his ablution and was on his way to the masjid.

On his way to the masjid, he met a man holding a lamp. He asked the man of his identity and the man replied 'I saw you fall twice on your way to the masjid, so I brought a lamp so I can light your way.'

The first man thanked him profusively and the two where on their way to the masjid. Once at the masjid, the first man asked the man with the lamp to come in and pray Fajr with him. The second man refused. The first man asked him a couple more times and, again, the answer was the same. The first man asked him why he did not wish to come in and pray.The man replied 'I am Satan.
'The man was shocked at this reply. Satan went on to explain, 'I saw you on your way to the masjid and it was I who made you fall. When you went home, cleaned yourself and went back on your way to the masjid, Allah forgave all of your sins. I made you fall a second time, and even that did not encourage you to stay home, but rather, you went back on your way to the masjid. Because of that, Allah forgave all the sins of the people of your household. I was afraid if i made you fall one more time, then Allah will forgive the sins of the people of your village, so i made sure that you reached the masjid safely.'

So do not let Satan benefit from his actions. Do not put off a good that you intended to do as you never know how much reward you might recieve from the hardships you encounter while trying to achieve that good.

If forwarding this message will bother you, or take too much time from you, then don't do it, but you will not get the reward of it, which is great. Imagine, that when you forward this, you recieve 240 good deeds, and so will I for sending it to you! Wouldn't it be easy just to press 'Forward' and recieve this reward?

Wa Assalamualikom wa Rahmatu Allahu wa Barakatahu.

...............now whose the BOSS?!

"Real power can't be given, it most be taken...." those are the words used for the Tagline of the movie; The Godfather. Most people will agree with me that, Pres. Obansajo like any other past leader didn't relinquish his "throne" out of his free will or the desire for a continued democratic system. On the contrary he did so because he had no other playing card on the table, he was cornered by Nigerians and even the international community, his only viable exit strategy was to appoint and install a successor, of course irrespective of what Nigeria say or think.

I can only imagine what was going through the mind and actions of the Egba man just after the defeat of the third term evil scheme. "this useless boys have dared me, Emi....Aremu Obasanjo!" OR "Nasiru! come here!....my friend will you run here......am calling you and you are dancing....., GO! and call Nuhu and the rest, tell them to deal with everybody that worked against MY third term, Turaki should be number 1", or maybe he just thought "hmmm...ok let me get somebody and share the cake with, a small boi like that quite Umoro". He could have thought of so many things, but i guess the idea of getting a stooge, a puppet to be the face of the government sounded more realistic to the Ex-General, and Yar'adua the perfect candidate. One thing led to the other and eventually Obasanjo got his way again damning whatever we thought or needed.

Pres. Yar'adua, has been many things since he "ascended the throne", from an illegitimate president to an anointed stooge, a sick and dying person and the list goes on and on. Am sure most Nigerians had mixed reactions/feelings about Yar'adua when he became the commander in chief, for some it might be a relief and to others an extension of the Obasanjo dynasty, few thought he could ever be a man of himself and outgrow the dominance of Obasanjo in the nation's politics, except for those who are close to the President and knows him well and of course the little that understood power. Like Atiku the former Vice President once said when he was asked whether he offers advice to Pres. Yar'adua when they meet or not, his words were "when a person has power particularly that of a Nigerian president, even if he is your son, you have to be careful when dealing with him...." This alone shades some light to the fact that it is very difficult to control a powerful person let alone having them as stooges except of course in more complicated nations like the UK and US.

The picture above speaks for itself, a testimony of who exactly is in control of the administration, even though control is not exactly what we need,provision of good roads, electricity, and security alone is what we are asking for.

Back to business...

Sorry guys, iv been out of the blogging world for sometime now.....far too long i guess? Anyway am back, and i think this time around am here to stay. Its been an interest time that i took off. I have been working on my book and reading alot of other books lately. I have also been watching and observing how things are going by lately, there seem to be alot of turbulance, not that i like it, but its interesting.

From Nigeria to Malaysia, Asia to Europe, Middle east to America, things seem to be heating up and people going haywire. Can't wait to start writing again....I'll keep you posted. :D