RE – THE REMNANTS: Response To Mr. Eiyeyen On Aregbesola By Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN
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I was greatly saddened to read the material written by Mr. Eyieyien urging “The Remnants” to vote out the current Governor of Osun State Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and vote in Chief Iyiola Omisore. I am also still somewhat puzzled as to how what appeared to be an opposition to a bond issue and other sundry allegations degenerated to the running down of the APC as an Islamic party, a propaganda tool notoriously deployed by the PDP through its various organs.

Are we as Christians now being urged to support the PDP or what exactly is the message? Reason, is one of the most important contributions of the Gospel to development. From it emerge the practical concepts of fairness and justice for all, especially our enemies. Which is why lynching, even of an intellectual kind is unacceptable

I am not an unbiased intervenor, I had the good fortune of serving in an AD/ACN government in Lagos State. The ACN is a major partner in the APC. I will come back to the PDP APC issue presently.

Also, I have known Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of the State of Osun, since 1999. We served on the policy committees of the then newly elected AD governor of Lagos State. He served in the infrastructure sub-committee and I, in the Justice sub-committee. I also served with him for 8 years in the government of Lagos State. He as Commissioner for Works and I as Attorney General. I developed a close personal relationship with him. His early ideological belief was shaped by Marxist-Socialist thinking, which probably influences his left- of- centre world view in governance. His first son Kabir went to university in Cuba on a scholarship. In 2005 when he graduated, only Rauf and I attended his graduation . He is a devout Muslim but liberal in his approach to other faiths. This is not unusual amongst the Yorubas largely because most families have both Muslim and Christian members and have always interacted without rancour. Of his six siblings only one other is a Muslim. All the others are Christians. His sister who is of the RCCG, is widowed ( her husband died a Christian) her two sons have lived with Rauf for years, he insists that they must practice their father’s faith faithfully. They both attend the RCCG.

He and I shared and still share a burden to provide honest, transparent, people-centered governance. He is a scrupulously honest person, as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State he left office without a home and no financial comforts. I know, because aside from my personal and official interaction with him, I coordinated his legal team for the reclamation of his mandate for over three years. I know first hand, his difficulties with sustaining his family, and a small staff for that period. Not surprisingly no one can accuse him in Osun State of corruption. He is just not wired that way.

Indeed, in keeping with that commitment to serve the people with complete fidelity, his major projects have been solely directed at alleviating the suffering and deprivation of his people. The hiring of, now 40,000 unemployed graduates , the provision of free balanced meals for all primary school children, provision of free uniforms, the provision of tablet computers for senior secondary school students containing all their textbooks, past jamb questions etc., monthly stipends to the elderly – all of these in a State that is the third poorest in Federal allocations and currently gets N2.6 billion monthly, a 40 percent reduction from 2013, courtesy of the Federal government. Mr. Eyieyien perhaps was not aware that even the 10 billion sukuk bond was purely for the building of 24 model state-of the art schools, most of which are now completed. The Wole Soyinka led Osun education summit recommended the replacement of the completely broken school infrastructure in Osun State with schools capable of accommodating 1000 students with modern labs, classrooms, power and sports facilities. The idea was to use economies of scale to benefit the largest number of students.

When Mr. Eyieyien describes him as “Sheikh” it is clearly to give the impression that he is an Islamic fundamentalist. The facts on the man completely belie this. First, as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, he built the chapel at the State House Marina. Pastor Adeboye at the opening commended him and remarked that he would be a pastor soon! Within a year of coming into government, he commissioned in Ilesa the Open Heavens Christian Evangelical Arena , a purpose-built facility for evangelism which according to him was to celebrate the icons of the Christian faith who are from Osun namely- the Late Apostle Babalola , the Late Apostle Obadare, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Pastor W.F Kumuyi and Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo . Today, his government supports the establishment of five Christian universities in Osun, including The Redeemers University at Ede, the Joseph Babalola University, Dominion University , and Bowen University.

How about the composition of government in Osun State? You will notice that his critics are never able to say that Christians are marginalised in government, why ? Because only Muslims can make that allegation! In the Cabinet of Osun State there are 10 more Christians than Muslims. In addition, the largest Ministries are headed by Christians- Ministries of Finance, Justice, Education, Health, Environment , Agriculture, Physical Planning and Youth and Sports . The Legislature (House of Assembly), which came into office after he won back his mandate in court in November 2010, has a majority of Christian members – 18 Christians and 8 Muslims. Everyone knows that at that level if the Governor does not support your nomination by the party your ambitions are dead in the water.

The State Judiciary is headed by a Christian who he appointed although he had preferred and proposed a judge from Lagos Justice Olubunmi Oyewole also a non-Muslim. Of over 30 new Permanent Secretaries appointed by him 22 are Christians. If the majority of your cabinet, ( including your Attorney-General), your Legislature, Judiciary and top echelon of your civil service are Christians how can we in truth say that such a person has an Islamisation agenda? Surely the least a “Sheikh” with an Islamisation agenda should do to achieve his objective is to populate the structure that can achieve that objective with Muslims! It is also entirely false that he patronizes or uses “TAAWUN” guards for his security. It is common knowledge that he hardly even uses any security at all, except for a couple of SSS men, his monthly LIFE WALKS , where he walks alongside his people for kilometres without any significant security cordon was commended recently by a former Governor in the South East. It is incredible what prejudice can do to us. Everyone in Osun knows that the State was nicknamed “State of the Living Spring” in reference to the Osun River after which the State is named. Renaming the State “the Omoluabi State ” – meaning “the State of children born of God” or “the State of men and women of virtue” certainly gives greater glory to God.

To suggest that benefiting from a Sukuk bond to better the lives of his people of all faiths, is enough to justify the grave allegation of an Islamisation agenda, is with all due respect , calling a dog a bad name simply to hang it. I agree that it may have served the politics of religion better not to take the bond, but it is a fairer judgment of his motives, knowing him, that this was borne out of his desire to serve his people well. The 24 mega schools with state-of -the art facilities is a quantum leap in education for the majority of children of the poor who before now schooled in what the Soyinka committee saw as scandalous. The alternative was not to build the schools.

When a man who is doing right by the poor and deprived people he governs, is being condemned by those of us who are called to serve the poor, the sick, , the naked, and the hungry then it is fair to ask what the values in governance we really intend to promote are? In any event the alternative is Chief Iyiola Omisore whose antecedents we ought, to put it delicately, be cautious to associate with.

A problem with uncritically accepting as useful advice this viciously anti-APC propaganda, is that it throws the baby out with the bath water. So we are now expected to reject the landmark achievements in Lagos, in Ogun ( the huge infrastructural developments), Oyo ( which for the first time most admit is making real progress) , Edo, and Ekiti ( where almost everyone agrees the governor did a good job but Fayose understood stomach infrastructure better!) Or now Kano or Rivers ( where a REAL rail service is about to begin; Lagos is also about to complete a rail service amongst other exemplary achievements )!

It is also false that the APC’s new executive reserved its top positions for Muslims! The Chairman of the party Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is a Christian, the Deputy National Chairman (South) Engr. Segun Oni is a Christian, so are the National Organizing Secretary Senator Osita Izunaso, Deputy National Secretary Hon. Orji Ugofa and Chief Pius Akinyelure , the Vice Chairman of the South West. For what it is worth, there are 22 Muslims and 21 Christians in the APC National Executive Committee.

Regarding the rather thinly veiled ‘support the PDP/ JONATHAN’ message, it is incredible that we are invited to ignore the cynical manner that our President Goodluck Jonathan uses Christianity and the church to further his political ambitions. Why are we being urged to support a PDP/Jonathan bid again? The platform has largely on account of its tragic failure to perform, decided to exploit Nigeria’s religious fault lines in the most cynical manner to win support, in the process he continues to divide Nigeria in by the far most extreme manner in our history.

I have worked with many brethren since 2002 on issues around Islamization in Nigeria, in particular with Revd. Ladi Thompson of the Macedonian Initiative and the Omoluabi network. It is clear that Al Qaeda, ISIS , and more recently Boko Haram and their splinters are committed to an Islamization agenda. Their symphathisers certainly cut across all boundaries. The Late General Azazi, then NSA, pointedly accused the PDP of being behind the escalation of Boko Haram, I have that statement on DVD. The President, also openly lamented the infiltration of his cabinet by the Boko Haram.

Recently a Nigerian pastor in a widely circulated CD, speaking on the Jihadist agenda accused General Babangida of funding the Islamization agenda from his days as President. Today President Jonathan’s most influential Northern supporter is General Babangida. His narrative unfortunately gives no credit to Gen Buhari, and his deputy Gen Idiagbon (also a muslim) who refused to join the OIC despite pressures. Or that Gen Buhari remains the one head of State who was able to defeat an extremist insurgency, the Maitatsine.

How can we fail to see that the incredible corruption, incompetence, poverty of 2/3 of our people after almost seven years of the present government is unsupportable? How is it that Diezani’s use of 10billion Naira to run her private jet ( the same amount of money for the building of 24 mega schools in Osun!) and the complete silence of the President on this travesty does not lead to calling for him to be voted out in 2015?

So the allegation of the missing or unaccounted for 20.8 billion USD with 110 million desperately poor, should be dismissed as pure propaganda? So it doesn’t make a difference to us that under the PDP Nigeria has fallen behind in every human development indicator? 55,000 women dying yearly of maternal related ailments, only recently Stanford’s Professor Larry Diamond compared the yearly deaths of over 300,000 children yearly in Nigeria to the killing of 800, 000 mainly Tutsis in Rwanda. The latter was described as genocide, what is the description to give to mass deaths of infants caused by grand corruption?

We discredit our treasured platforms such as this when we mask our political preferences with a religious veil. The vast majority of our people need to be delivered from terrible want and deprivation, what is required now are capable, honest men and women of all faiths, who know that this country may not long survive the daily punishment of its own people.

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN

culled from osun.gov.ng


NOTE:
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Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Senior Partner in the Law firm of SimmonsCooper Partners. Yemi Osibanjo is a professor of law and was the head of department of Public Law at the University of Lagos (1997-1999).

His tertiary education was at the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics and Political Science obtaining the LLB and LLM degrees respectively.

Previously served as the Special Adviser to the Attorney General of Nigeria (1988-1992), he later became the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State in 1999 reappointed for a second term in 2003. During the period of his public service, he commenced the Lagos State justice reform project. A prominent feature of that project was the establishment of the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights (DCR) which provides free legal services and legal representation to indigent citizens of the state. This initiative gave a voice to many who would otherwise not have a way to access their rights.

He is also the Ethics Adviser to the Advisory Board of the African Development Bank and is a non-executive Director of Citibank. He has served in various roles within the United Nations, United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, the United Nations African Institute for Crime Prevention, the International Criminal court for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, the department of Peacekeeping operations and the United Nations Peace Operations in Somalia.

Prof. Osinbajo is Co-founder & Board Member Convention on Business Integrity and the Justice Research Institute Ltd. In 2007, Prof. and his wife Oludolapo founded “The Orderly Society Trust”, a non- governmental organization that is dedicated to the promotion of Christian ethics and orderliness. Professor Osinbajo has authored, co-authored and edited several books and publications including “The Unification and Reform of the Nigerian Criminal Law and Procedure Codes” ; “Law Development and Administration”; “The Annotated Civil Procedure rules of The Superior Courts in Nigeria”; and “Cross Examination: A Trial Lawyer’s Most Potent Weapon”.

He also pastors at Olive Tree House of Prayer for All Nations, Banana Island, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and lives in Lagos with his wife and three children.
[b]

NOTE:
=====

Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Senior Partner in the Law firm of SimmonsCooper Partners. Yemi Osibanjo is a professor of law and was the head of department of Public Law at the University of Lagos (1997-1999).

His tertiary education was at the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics and Political Science obtaining the LLB and LLM degrees respectively.

Previously served as the Special Adviser to the Attorney General of Nigeria (1988-1992), he later became the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State in 1999 reappointed for a second term in 2003. During the period of his public service, he commenced the Lagos State justice reform project. A prominent feature of that project was the establishment of the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights (DCR) which provides free legal services and legal representation to indigent citizens of the state. This initiative gave a voice to many who would otherwise not have a way to access their rights.

He is also the Ethics Adviser to the Advisory Board of the African Development Bank and is a non-executive Director of Citibank. He has served in various roles within the United Nations, United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, the United Nations African Institute for Crime Prevention, the International Criminal court for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, the department of Peacekeeping operations and the United Nations Peace Operations in Somalia.

Prof. Osinbajo is Co-founder & Board Member Convention on Business Integrity and the Justice Research Institute Ltd. In 2007, Prof. and his wife Oludolapo founded “The Orderly Society Trust”, a non- governmental organization that is dedicated to the promotion of Christian ethics and orderliness. Professor Osinbajo has authored, co-authored and edited several books and publications including “The Unification and Reform of the Nigerian Criminal Law and Procedure Codes” ; “Law Development and Administration”; “The Annotated Civil Procedure rules of The Superior Courts in Nigeria”; and “Cross Examination: A Trial Lawyer’s Most Potent Weapon”.

He also pastors at Olive Tree House of Prayer for All Nations, Banana Island, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and lives in Lagos with his wife and three children.
[/b]

NOTE:
=====

Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Senior Partner in the Law firm of SimmonsCooper Partners. Yemi Osibanjo is a professor of law and was the head of department of Public Law at the University of Lagos (1997-1999).

His tertiary education was at the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics and Political Science obtaining the LLB and LLM degrees respectively.

Previously served as the Special Adviser to the Attorney General of Nigeria (1988-1992), he later became the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State in 1999 reappointed for a second term in 2003. During the period of his public service, he commenced the Lagos State justice reform project. A prominent feature of that project was the establishment of the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights (DCR) which provides free legal services and legal representation to indigent citizens of the state. This initiative gave a voice to many who would otherwise not have a way to access their rights.

He is also the Ethics Adviser to the Advisory Board of the African Development Bank and is a non-executive Director of Citibank. He has served in various roles within the United Nations, United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, the United Nations African Institute for Crime Prevention, the International Criminal court for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, the department of Peacekeeping operations and the United Nations Peace Operations in Somalia.

Prof. Osinbajo is Co-founder & Board Member Convention on Business Integrity and the Justice Research Institute Ltd. In 2007, Prof. and his wife Oludolapo founded “The Orderly Society Trust”, a non- governmental organization that is dedicated to the promotion of Christian ethics and orderliness. Professor Osinbajo has authored, co-authored and edited several books and publications including “The Unification and Reform of the Nigerian Criminal Law and Procedure Codes” ; “Law Development and Administration”; “The Annotated Civil Procedure rules of The Superior Courts in Nigeria”; and “Cross Examination: A Trial Lawyer’s Most Potent Weapon”.

He also pastors at Olive Tree House of Prayer for All Nations, Banana Island, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and lives in Lagos with his wife and three children.

Succinctly put.

Shait happens!

All is fair in war and..... elections ( elections and war are actually synonyms in Nigeria, anyway).

Like I said elsewhere, this particular supporter of APC will most likely escape Fayemi's fate but there is no point in making it easy.

neena: Succinctly put.

really what's succint in this verbose, unending epistle?

Na who get time to read this Gbawe's like epistle?

no time to read all this.
make it brief.

I fear for we present youths, we barely now reason objectively and identify the truth, talkless of speaking the truth.

The cankerworms wouldn't read it cause its not praising mr Ebola Goatluck

fixa: no time to read all this.
make it brief.

No time to read? Then why do you bother to appear on the thread? This is just the major problem with black man. You will not read but wait for someone's comment and then you follow. I pity this generation.

@Topic
This is a good write up by someone close to the Govt. I await a rebuttal (if any)from the opposing party before concluding.

wiseguy:
No time to read? Then why do you bother to appear on the thread? This is just the major problem with black man. You will not read but wait for someone's comment and then you follow. I pity this generation.
@Topic
This is a good write up by someone close to the Govt. I await a rebuttal (if any)from the opposing party before concluding.

Indeed. The black man is ridiculed sarcastically for this . I would be predisposed to disregard the saying below if not that many on this forum have indeed proven that the black man does not like to read. Anything that is more than one line is an "epistle' whereas others read and write as much as is needed to deliver the advancement humanity needs.

"If you want to hide something from a black man put it in a book"

Gbawe:

Indeed. The black man is ridiculed sarcastically for this . I would be predisposed to disregard the saying below if not that many on this forum have indeed proven that the black man does not like to read. Anything that is more than one line is an "epistle' whereas others read and write as much as is needed to deliver the advancement humanity needs.

even Chinese will not read that writeup.
Did you read past the first few paragraphs.
If you did please summarize it for us.
Do not go and read it now ooo.

This so called professor lacks wisdom.
If he had wisdom, he would not write this hadith.
I shall shun his advise.

I personally don't like to comment on any social media. The reason is not far fetched, I am usually surprised by the nature of comments on the social media by us the so-called future leaders. It makes me weep for the future of the country.

We can blame the leaders for all we care but they say the followers deserve the kind of leaders we get. I will try to address some of my concerns as follows:

1. Chasing the Shadows: The social media has been turned to a place where people from different ethnic extractions come to bash one another. Being a Yoruba, Ibo or Hausa is not what you select or choose, it pleases God in His infinite mercy to make you an Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba as the case may be. Poverty, sickness, joblessness, careless death etc does not recognize whether you are an Ibo or Hausa or Yoruba. I have seen many good ibo people, good Yoruba people and good hausa people, good Christians and good muslims. Vice versa, I have come across many bad Yoruba people, bad Ibo people, bad Hausa People, Bad Christians and bad muslims. No ethnic group is bad, God has created us to do good. I am a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction and I have many good Ibo and Hausa friends. I don't see them as different from me, I love them as fellow human beings and they do the same. My encounter with a few Yoruba people or Ibo people will not make me to generalize.

I have been praying that our generation will be light to the Country but with the plenty ethnic hatred on the social media platforms, I cry for my beloved country and that is part that makes me feel bad about being a Nigerian.

2. Accountability in Governance: I often ask whether we often think as a nation. When I hear people comment about whether someone should be voted for or not, they do not focus on the real issues. In advanced countries, political aspirants are taken to task on their policies and programmes. But here in Nigeria, we focus on chasing shadows. He is a Muslim, he is a Christian, He is a Yoruba, He is an Hausa etc - those are the comments you hear from people instead of focusing on the real issues that affect our lives. Whether someone is a muslim or christian, how does that concern us or add value to our lives.

The political class knowing fully well that we are very gullible often focus on telling or sponsoring sentiments since they know that is what we care about. That is why someone can spend 4 years and we don't ask sensible questions on much money has been received by the government and what have they done with the money. I am a Christian but I don't care if my President or Governor is a muslim or not. All I want is a man I can be proud of in terms of performance.

3. Sainthood in Politics: I have often heard people talk about how PDP and APC are the same. Political parties are vehicles and you cannot stop people of shaddy characters from joining. From my little experience of politics in Nigeria, we have heard people of unquestionable character contest elections using the so-called "Saint" Party e.g. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memories once contested for presidency using APGA and NPC, how many people voted for them? What I have realized that we need two (2) strong parties but the parties will contain both the good and the bad. It is left for us to make a choice based on the personality of the candidate. For those dreaming that there will be party that will comprise only saints, they had better be dreaming.


4. Terrorism: With the advent of the boko Harram comes our usual buck passing game. Why can't we as a nation acknowledge our shortcomings and come together to address our security concern. I have heard many people blaming the northerners. While I will not argue that some elites might be benefitting from the insecurity, many downtrodden people are suffering in the north. Many lives of innocent people have been lost. If you have seen the pictures of parents of the Chibok girls, who do you think they are? They are very poor parents that are going through a lot of trauma. If we cannot help them, the best we can do is to keep our mouth shut instead of creating ethnic hatred on the social medium. PDP will want us to believe that it is APC that is sponsoring Boko Haram because they know we are gullible people. If that is true, then it is an indictment on the PDP Government that they know the sponsors of Boko Haram and they have not arrested them. If PDP knows the sponsors as they claim by accusing APC, why have they not arrested them? Do you think that if PDP has a little information that APC is involved, they would have arrested them because it is an advantage to them. It is glaring that PDP do not have any evidence to link APC to Boko Haram but because they know that Nigerians don't ask sensible questions, they will sponsor sentiments so as to cover their incompetence to protect Nigerians.

Conclusion:
Though I have so many thoughts, I will just stop here for now. If the quality of the future leaders are the people commenting on the social media, we had better be scared about the future of our nation. Where do we turn to, God forbid if the next generation of leaders are that ethnic bigots that we have on the social media. I pray God help us as a nation.

what the fvck is dis?

Kold: I personally don't like to comment on any social media. The reason is not far fetched, I am usually surprised by the nature of comments on the social media by us the so-called future leaders. It makes me weep for the future of the country.

We can blame the leaders for all we care but they say the followers deserve the kind of leaders we get. I will try to address some of my concerns as follows:

1. Chasing the Shadows: The social media has been turned to a place where people from different ethnic extractions come to bash one another. Being a Yoruba, Ibo or Hausa is not what you select or choose, it pleases God in His infinite mercy to make you an Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba as the case may be. Poverty, sickness, joblessness, careless death etc does not recognize whether you are an Ibo or Hausa or Yoruba. I have seen many good ibo people, good Yoruba people and good hausa people, good Christians and good muslims. Vice versa, I have come across many bad Yoruba people, bad Ibo people, bad Hausa People, Bad Christians and bad muslims. No ethnic group is bad, God has created us to do good. I am a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction and I have many good Ibo and Hausa friends. I don't see them as different from me, I love them as fellow human beings and they do the same. My encounter with a few Yoruba people or Ibo people will not make me to generalize.

I have been praying that our generation will be light to the Country but with the plenty ethnic hatred on the social media platforms, I cry for my beloved country and that is part that makes me feel bad about being a Nigerian.

2. Accountability in Governance: I often ask whether we often think as a nation. When I hear people comment about whether someone should be voted for or not, they do not focus on the real issues. In advanced countries, political aspirants are taken to task on their policies and programmes. But here in Nigeria, we focus on chasing shadows. He is a Muslim, he is a Christian, He is a Yoruba, He is an Hausa etc - those are the comments you hear from people instead of focusing on the real issues that affect our lives. Whether someone is a muslim or christian, how does that concern us or add value to our lives.

The political class knowing fully well that we are very gullible often focus on telling or sponsoring sentiments since they know that is what we care about. That is why someone can spend 4 years and we don't ask sensible questions on much money has been received by the government and what have they done with the money. I am a Christian but I don't care if my President or Governor is a muslim or not. All I want is a man I can be proud of in terms of performance.

3. Sainthood in Politics: I have often heard people talk about how PDP and APC are the same. Political parties are vehicles and you cannot stop people of shaddy characters from joining. From my little experience of politics in Nigeria, we have heard people of unquestionable character contest elections using the so-called "Saint" Party e.g. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memories once contested for presidency using APGA and NPC, how many people voted for them? What I have realized that we need two (2) strong parties but the parties will contain both the good and the bad. It is left for us to make a choice based on the personality of the candidate. For those dreaming that there will be party that will comprise only saints, they had better be dreaming.


4. Terrorism: With the advent of the boko Harram comes our usual buck passing game. Why can't we as a nation acknowledge our shortcomings and come together to address our security concern. I have heard many people blaming the northerners. While I will not argue that some elites might be benefitting from the insecurity, many downtrodden people are suffering in the north. Many lives of innocent people have been lost. If you have seen the pictures of parents of the Chibok girls, who do you think they are? They are very poor parents that are going through a lot of trauma. If we cannot help them, the best we can do is to keep our mouth shut instead of creating ethnic hatred on the social medium. PDP will want us to believe that it is APC that is sponsoring Boko Haram because they know we are gullible people. If that is true, then it is an indictment on the PDP Government that they know the sponsors of Boko Haram and they have not arrested them. If PDP knows the sponsors as they claim by accusing APC, why have they not arrested them? Do you think that if PDP has a little information that APC is involved, they would have arrested them because it is an advantage to them. It is glaring that PDP do not have any evidence to link APC to Boko Haram but because they know that Nigerians don't ask sensible questions, they will sponsor sentiments so as to cover their incompetence to protect Nigerians.

Conclusion:
Though I have so many thoughts, I will just stop here for now. If the quality of the future leaders are the people commenting on the social media, we had better be scared about the future of our nation. Where do we turn to, God forbid if the next generation of leaders are that ethnic bigots that we have on the social media. I pray God help us as a nation.

word

Kold: I personally don't like to comment on any social media. The reason is not far fetched, I am usually surprised by the nature of comments on the social media by us the so-called future leaders. It makes me weep for the future of the country.

We can blame the leaders for all we care but they say the followers deserve the kind of leaders we get. I will try to address some of my concerns as follows:

1. Chasing the Shadows: The social media has been turned to a place where people from different ethnic extractions come to bash one another. Being a Yoruba, Ibo or Hausa is not what you select or choose, it pleases God in His infinite mercy to make you an Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba as the case may be. Poverty, sickness, joblessness, careless death etc does not recognize whether you are an Ibo or Hausa or Yoruba. I have seen many good ibo people, good Yoruba people and good hausa people, good Christians and good muslims. Vice versa, I have come across many bad Yoruba people, bad Ibo people, bad Hausa People, Bad Christians and bad muslims. No ethnic group is bad, God has created us to do good. I am a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction and I have many good Ibo and Hausa friends. I don't see them as different from me, I love them as fellow human beings and they do the same. My encounter with a few Yoruba people or Ibo people will not make me to generalize.

I have been praying that our generation will be light to the Country but with the plenty ethnic hatred on the social media platforms, I cry for my beloved country and that is part that makes me feel bad about being a Nigerian.

2. Accountability in Governance: I often ask whether we often think as a nation. When I hear people comment about whether someone should be voted for or not, they do not focus on the real issues. In advanced countries, political aspirants are taken to task on their policies and programmes. But here in Nigeria, we focus on chasing shadows. He is a Muslim, he is a Christian, He is a Yoruba, He is an Hausa etc - those are the comments you hear from people instead of focusing on the real issues that affect our lives. Whether someone is a muslim or christian, how does that concern us or add value to our lives.

The political class knowing fully well that we are very gullible often focus on telling or sponsoring sentiments since they know that is what we care about. That is why someone can spend 4 years and we don't ask sensible questions on much money has been received by the government and what have they done with the money. I am a Christian but I don't care if my President or Governor is a muslim or not. All I want is a man I can be proud of in terms of performance.

3. Sainthood in Politics: I have often heard people talk about how PDP and APC are the same. Political parties are vehicles and you cannot stop people of shaddy characters from joining. From my little experience of politics in Nigeria, we have heard people of unquestionable character contest elections using the so-called "Saint" Party e.g. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memories once contested for presidency using APGA and NPC, how many people voted for them? What I have realized that we need two (2) strong parties but the parties will contain both the good and the bad. It is left for us to make a choice based on the personality of the candidate. For those dreaming that there will be party that will comprise only saints, they had better be dreaming.


4. Terrorism: With the advent of the boko Harram comes our usual buck passing game. Why can't we as a nation acknowledge our shortcomings and come together to address our security concern. I have heard many people blaming the northerners. While I will not argue that some elites might be benefitting from the insecurity, many downtrodden people are suffering in the north. Many lives of innocent people have been lost. If you have seen the pictures of parents of the Chibok girls, who do you think they are? They are very poor parents that are going through a lot of trauma. If we cannot help them, the best we can do is to keep our mouth shut instead of creating ethnic hatred on the social medium. PDP will want us to believe that it is APC that is sponsoring Boko Haram because they know we are gullible people. If that is true, then it is an indictment on the PDP Government that they know the sponsors of Boko Haram and they have not arrested them. If PDP knows the sponsors as they claim by accusing APC, why have they not arrested them? Do you think that if PDP has a little information that APC is involved, they would have arrested them because it is an advantage to them. It is glaring that PDP do not have any evidence to link APC to Boko Haram but because they know that Nigerians don't ask sensible questions, they will sponsor sentiments so as to cover their incompetence to protect Nigerians.

Conclusion:
Though I have so many thoughts, I will just stop here for now. If the quality of the future leaders are the people commenting on the social media, we had better be scared about the future of our nation. Where do we turn to, God forbid if the next generation of leaders are that ethnic bigots that we have on the social media. I pray God help us as a nation.

+8.9

Kold: I personally don't like to comment on any social media. The reason is not far fetched, I am usually surprised by the nature of comments on the social media by us the so-called future leaders. It makes me weep for the future of the country.

We can blame the leaders for all we care but they say the followers deserve the kind of leaders we get. I will try to address some of my concerns as follows:

1. Chasing the Shadows: The social media has been turned to a place where people from different ethnic extractions come to bash one another. Being a Yoruba, Ibo or Hausa is not what you select or choose, it pleases God in His infinite mercy to make you an Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba as the case may be. Poverty, sickness, joblessness, careless death etc does not recognize whether you are an Ibo or Hausa or Yoruba. I have seen many good ibo people, good Yoruba people and good hausa people, good Christians and good muslims. Vice versa, I have come across many bad Yoruba people, bad Ibo people, bad Hausa People, Bad Christians and bad muslims. No ethnic group is bad, God has created us to do good. I am a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction and I have many good Ibo and Hausa friends. I don't see them as different from me, I love them as fellow human beings and they do the same. My encounter with a few Yoruba people or Ibo people will not make me to generalize.

I have been praying that our generation will be light to the Country but with the plenty ethnic hatred on the social media platforms, I cry for my beloved country and that is part that makes me feel bad about being a Nigerian.

2. Accountability in Governance: I often ask whether we often think as a nation. When I hear people comment about whether someone should be voted for or not, they do not focus on the real issues. In advanced countries, political aspirants are taken to task on their policies and programmes. But here in Nigeria, we focus on chasing shadows. He is a Muslim, he is a Christian, He is a Yoruba, He is an Hausa etc - those are the comments you hear from people instead of focusing on the real issues that affect our lives. Whether someone is a muslim or christian, how does that concern us or add value to our lives.

The political class knowing fully well that we are very gullible often focus on telling or sponsoring sentiments since they know that is what we care about. That is why someone can spend 4 years and we don't ask sensible questions on much money has been received by the government and what have they done with the money. I am a Christian but I don't care if my President or Governor is a muslim or not. All I want is a man I can be proud of in terms of performance.

3. Sainthood in Politics: I have often heard people talk about how PDP and APC are the same. Political parties are vehicles and you cannot stop people of shaddy characters from joining. From my little experience of politics in Nigeria, we have heard people of unquestionable character contest elections using the so-called "Saint" Party e.g. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memories once contested for presidency using APGA and NPC, how many people voted for them? What I have realized that we need two (2) strong parties but the parties will contain both the good and the bad. It is left for us to make a choice based on the personality of the candidate. For those dreaming that there will be party that will comprise only saints, they had better be dreaming.


4. Terrorism: With the advent of the boko Harram comes our usual buck passing game. Why can't we as a nation acknowledge our shortcomings and come together to address our security concern. I have heard many people blaming the northerners. While I will not argue that some elites might be benefitting from the insecurity, many downtrodden people are suffering in the north. Many lives of innocent people have been lost. If you have seen the pictures of parents of the Chibok girls, who do you think they are? They are very poor parents that are going through a lot of trauma. If we cannot help them, the best we can do is to keep our mouth shut instead of creating ethnic hatred on the social medium. PDP will want us to believe that it is APC that is sponsoring Boko Haram because they know we are gullible people. If that is true, then it is an indictment on the PDP Government that they know the sponsors of Boko Haram and they have not arrested them. If PDP knows the sponsors as they claim by accusing APC, why have they not arrested them? Do you think that if PDP has a little information that APC is involved, they would have arrested them because it is an advantage to them. It is glaring that PDP do not have any evidence to link APC to Boko Haram but because they know that Nigerians don't ask sensible questions, they will sponsor sentiments so as to cover their incompetence to protect Nigerians.

Conclusion:
Though I have so many thoughts, I will just stop here for now. If the quality of the future leaders are the people commenting on the social media, we had better be scared about the future of our nation. Where do we turn to, God forbid if the next generation of leaders are that ethnic bigots that we have on the social media. I pray God help us as a nation.

una no dey tire?, we dey complain for the long epistle you come add this one join

Well said the two main commentators.

Our future leaders are only about stomach infrastructure, sudden wealth and fame, little work very fat pay.

They want to ride flashy cars and live in opulence neighbourhood, not caring about their fellow men, but for only their bread to be buttered.

That's why we always choose somebody who doles out money as against so body who decides to affects positively the lives of majority through infrastructure development.

I was offered #5,000 yesterday to support a candidate that has no credible record. I ask the lobbyist that how many hours would I used to spend that money out if the next four year compared to developing infrastructures that would benefit me abundantly.

He kept quiet but his next question surprised me which made me believe he is a fool and stupid. He asked "what have you benefited in the last four years". I answered that I should start with him. I enumerate his immediate and extended family who have benefitted one way or the order. He concludes that what did I expect him to do. He eats, lives and drink politics. That with his party not in power it was hell for him, he had taken his kids to public school.

I advised him to start back his work of carpentry instead of Okada that had destroyed his life and that of his family since they dash it to him about 5 years ago.

That's example of what our politicians are. May God Almighty help us. Chop and chop at the detriment of the masses.

That is the mentality of typical nigerian politicians. I have some friends that are into full time politics and all they do is to lie and sell sentiments to nigerians and most times we dont ask them intelligent questions. I love the question you asked him.

whyman: Well said the two main commentators.

Our future leaders are only about stomach infrastructure, sudden wealth and fame, little work very fat pay.

They want to ride flashy cars and live in opulence neighbourhood, not caring about their fellow men, but for only their bread to be buttered.

That's why we always choose somebody who doles out money as against so body who decides to affects positively the lives of majority through infrastructure development.

I was offered #5,000 yesterday to support a candidate that has no credible record. I ask the lobbyist that how many hours would I used to spend that money out if the next four year compared to developing infrastructures that would benefit me abundantly.

He kept quiet but his next question surprised me which made me believe he is a fool and stupid. He asked "what have you benefited in the last four years". I answered that I should start with him. I enumerate his immediate and extended family who have benefitted one way or the order. He concludes that what did I expect him to do. He eats, lives and drink politics. That with his party not in power it was hell for him, he had taken his kids to public school.

I advised him to start back his work of carpentry instead of Okada that had destroyed his life and that of his family since they dash it to him about 5 years ago.

That's example of what our politicians are. May God Almighty help us. Chop and chop at the detriment of the masses.

mr SAN abi STONE, y una dey lie like dis na?
u worked alongside mr rauf in the lasg n he retired as a commissioner of works after 8yrs without a house. abeg tell that to the monkeys n babboons . na so buhari bin talk he didnt hv a house but in 1975 he served as a minister for petroleum in obj led govt. 1983 he was d head of state till 85, in 85 till 1993 he was the ptdfchairman controllng billions n he retired without a house, abi una dey use money tek buy cocaine?

I want to tell you a story !

Knack me story o...

@OP

Nice thoughts. Clearly the thinking of a rational, mature and analytical mind. Virtually all you have said is correct. The problem, as I perceive it, is that for every single Nigerian who is like you there will be thousands who are the opposite i.e sentimental, bigoted, ethnocentric, prejudiced, intolerant and lacking focus and self-pride. These sort of citizens make it too easy for misrule to thrive and that is why this is indeed the case in Nigeria.

The fact is that our leaders might not be the hideous misrules they are if Nigerians, as a people, know how to focus on what matters and hold elected leaders accountable. When this ability is absent in a citizenry then political leadership becomes a get-rich-quick scheme that will attract the worst Nigerians living simply because of the understanding that there is no repercussion for misrule and the looting of the commonwealth of the people. We have a long way to go precisely because what should be a nation's strength, i.e her people, happens to be Nigeria's biggest weakness.

Gbawe: @OP

Nice thoughts. Clearly the thinking of a rational, mature and analytical mind. Virtually all you have said is correct. The problem, as I perceive it, is that for every single Nigerian who is like you there will be thousands who are the opposite i.e sentimental, bigoted, ethnocentric, prejudiced, intolerant and lacking focus and self-pride. These sort of citizens make it too easy for misrule to thrive and that is why this is indeed the case in Nigeria.

The fact is that our leaders might not be the hideous misrules they are if Nigerians, as a people, know how to focus on what matters and hold elected leaders accountable. When this ability is absent in a citizenry then political leadership becomes a get-rich-quick scheme that will attract the worst Nigerians living simply because of the understanding that there is no repercussion for misrule and the looting of the commonwealth of the people. We have a long way to go precisely because what should be a nation's strength, i.e her people, happens to be Nigeria's biggest weakness.

+8