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Kettle Call Pot Black This paper will review; analyze the implications of ...Read the full article.

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Abeg, this grammer too much jare! Instead of simply saying that things have fallen apart, and the center is no longer holding between Baba Iyabo and ATK, Oga Carl is bamboozling us with english!
The simple truth is that we all know what is going on, but are either too tired to talk, or have adopted the 'siddon-look' attitude. I've always believed that Baba God is a Nigerian, so at the right time, he always interfers in our affairs (recall Abacha's life-presidency attempt!) OBJ's case will not be different. He is trying to eliminate all opposition, so that his stooge can become the next president, but am sure there will be a twist in that tale! Let's just sit back, relax and watch this drama play itself out, then wait for the part three of the story (OBJ vs IBB was part one, and is still on-going!)

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Dear Chekereke -

thanks for your commentaries and thanks to all that have been contributing at Village; making it center of information and platform for exchange of idea and friendship were possible. However, the situation has gone beyond Obasanjo and Atiku. We are a nation at War especially in the Niger Basin bloc; and it is this war we have to fight and win.

Read other commentaries by other contributors at other sites:

"Greetings Ozodi,

The US Govt has since got what it wants from the Niger Delta which is, Bakassi. The British long ago informed the US that it has always been very difficult to prosecute a war in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. A deal therefore was made and Bakassi was carved out in a calculated move to isolate the area of the Niger Delta that is found defensible.

By the way, the US War College conducted several strategic war campaign studies in 2002 and 2003 on the Niger Delta of the Ijaw areas and found the prosecution of war too tenuous to sustain; and finally gave up on the idea. Nigeria may just find that it is at war that will never end.

My people are dying already so may be we will be able to die much faster and be relieved of the pain. Sometimes it is better to die faster and be relieved of the suffering.

Finally, let me tell you this much, the newspaper article that the %#%#%#%#%# who calls himself an Ijebu-Remo royal is posting is nothing but propaganda.

Obasanjo is simply killing off the gang of youths whom he had used as assassins in an attempt to cover his tracks as he prepares to be thrown out of office. These boys, as I read the CNN and Reuter news outputs of the militants, are refused participation in their midst, being considered traitors and so having no place to hide are simply being killed off. Obasanjo is simply a man so desperate of what may become of him that he is killing to cover his tracks.

Only %#%#%#%#%#ic fools like that Ijebu-Remo self-styled royals will believe that Obasanjo is achieving anything, now that the panicked state of coming to the end of free-loading days is now consuming those dammed Ijebu-Remo royal. Here is a God dammed mindless swine who will not even die for anything he believes in. What a worthless swine. One would think that a fool who claims to be a royal will have been trained in the art of war yet this disgrace to the concept of nobles, such as I am, would not even accept a simple gentleman gun-battle to be executed in Jamaica. Yet he talks as if he is worth listening to. This piece of %#%#%#%#

But I am digressing; so, my friend, do read the British documents of the Niger Delta, and find that it it is declared non-conducive to any kind of war. The fact remains that certain things are inevitable and what must be must be; and "death is a necessary end and it will come when it will come".

Regards,
Opubo G Benebo


ozodiobi osuji wrote:

My dear Opubo:

So you want a civil war, eh? Remember what they say: when elephants fight grass suffers. Ojukwu and Gowon fought and ordinary Igbos died (either from starvation or at the war front etc). In the end, global power politics determined the resultant power structure of Nigeria. The Big boys of the West probably have calculated what political structure in Nigeria would enable them best expropriate Nigeria's resources, oil included, and will channel military hardware towards that end. These big boys do not do what they do out of morality or some sentimental sympathy for the suffering of Africans. We, the wretched of the earth, are dispensable, you know. My feedback is for you to make sure that the calculations of the amoral sociopaths of the West fit what you hope to accomplish or else your people will be grass for their "boots on the ground".

Could you read, Frank J. Gaffney et al War Footing. (Annapolis, MD: US Naval Academy Institute, 2006.) In it, the Big boys outlined their plans for key strategic geopolitical areas of the world, including the Niger Delta, should any one disrupt it's oil supply to the West. The US marines are already parked off shore, like eagles, awaiting orders to swoop down and pounce on unsuspecting chicks. Beware of hasty emotional action. The big boys believe that they are at war with Islamfascists( no longer with communism or Nazism) and have developed battle plans. Do you have such war plans or are you speaking from your feelings, only?

I am working on an essay on "ISLAMOFASCISM AS A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY"... will be posted this weekend. Islamophobia is in the air, in God's own country. "Alhaji Dukobo", going by his name, one supposes, is an Islamophile and that is a handicap for you folks, right there. Think, my friend, before you bring unnecessary suffering to your people.

Ozodi

Opubo G Benebo wrote:
My Dearest Ibiada,

As always let me begin by imploring you not to sweat it. There are quite many youths in the Niger Delta. So it will take Obasanjo a bit of time to kill them all. I will even venture to assert that it will require much longer time than he has to still stay in office and even live out the rest of his life. So he will be gone from office, and dead, rotten and eaten up by the worms of the earth before he can accomplish that.

Interestingly though, even as Wole Soyinka has predicted a Civil war, this kill on sight order just may be what galvanizes the militants, transforming them into fully-fledged military campaigners that actually will start the Civil war. I am hopefully that the %#%#%#%#%# such as he is Obasanjo will continue with this order and if in fact the Law of Unintended Consequences holds as it often does, I am hopeful that the retired Ijaw military men will someday get fed-up and then train these youths into an active standing army for the Niger Delta bringing about the Niger Delta Liberation Force that I have hoped will come about someday.

Then, then the killing will really begin, and I am hopeful that the liberation forces will send off special forces to exterminate the family of Obasanjo and all the others who think that these killings will support their continued free-loading on the Niger Delta.

I am hopeful that ....

I am hopeful that ....

Yours Truly,
Opubo G Benebo

nwaakwukwo wrote:
I suppose that shooting all of the youthful black men in the Niger Delta area would eventually solve the problem of "militancy, violence and criminality" in the Delta in the simple man's mind. It wouldn't do a damned thing for the abject poverty and subhuman standards of living for the women, children and seniors that would
be left. Shooting is a sorry option.

The people of the Niger Delta SHOULD FEEL in secure in their own
country. THEY ARE! What's sad is that all the poor working people
who are exploited by oil companies and other transnationals around
Nigeria are insecure, as well. Do they understand that they are?

Would it not stand to reason that if this "shoot to kill" order is sanctioned in the Niger Delta, that it could be sanctioned in any community in Nigeria, as a remedy for "militancy, violence and criminality? "

If the oil industry was owned, managed an operated by Africans more
than foreigners would that not employ more people of the region,
would there be no foreigners to kidnap, would not the livelihood of
the people be fortified and improved?

Presently, the only ones who benefit from this "Shoot to Kill" order
are the multinational oil companies and the Federal government.
More grief for the Niger Deltans.
Adaoma

--- In NaijaPolitics@ yahoogroups. com, Steveogbonmwan@ ... wrote

THE NIGER DELTA SHOOT ON SIGHT ORDER
A TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
Granted that the Niger Delta region has over the years suffered undue deprivations in terms of basic infrastructure, the recourse to militancy, criminality and violence in a bid for equity and compensation can hardly be justified for many reasons.

However, the Federal Government must show enough resolve to find lasting solutions to the problems in the Niger Delta which, to us, are making the people in that region to feel insecure in their own country. They must be given assurance, in terms of good conditions of living and a conducive and development- friendly environment, that would make them feel secure. Emphasis by me.

Ordinarily, the events of the past few weeks in the Niger Delta region would have made the shoot on sight order on the hostage-taking, militant youths of the region inevitable. In less than one year, the act of hostage-taking in the region has become yet another lucrative trade, probably more than gun running and illegal oil bunkering.


Prior to the shoot on sight order, the militant youths had exhausted the Federal Government’s patience. They had kidnapped 15 foreign oil workers. Three Filipinos were abducted on Bonny Island. A Belgian and a Moroccan had earlier been kidnapped in Borokin. A German was also kidnapped by a group called Movement of the Niger Delta People (MONDP).

There are too many groups in the Niger Delta region which, in the name of fighting for the emancipation of the people of the region, are committing crimes and making huge money from their criminality. As a result of the increasing crime rate in the region, the government may have been left with no option but to descend heavily on the militants. In other words, the intention to bring an end to the growing criminality in the region could have prompted President Olusegun Obasanjo to give the order that the Joint Task Force (JTF) should shoot the militants on sight.


Granted that the Niger Delta region has over the years suffered undue deprivations in terms of basic infrastructure, the recourse to militancy, criminality and violence in a bid for equity and compensation can hardly be justified for many reasons.

Many developmental efforts on the part of the Federal Government and the oil companies had been spurned by these same elements. Many times, these militant youths had scared away contractors and stolen items that would have benefited their communities. They would rather prefer to be given cash that would be shared among their members than allow projects that would benefit their communities.

Secondly, efforts of past government (before the current government’s massive intervention through the Niger Delta Development Commission) to develop the region through agencies like OMPADEC had succeeded only in making tin gods of some individuals in the region who headed those agencies. Those individuals rather than using such agencies to transform the lives of their people saw them as avenues to amass wealth, transforming themselves into rich, powerful elite without much development in the region.

Also, the developmental efforts of these Federal Government interventions have not really succeeded in changing the lifestyles of the so-called “restive youths” who have been evidently more persuaded by the wealth coming from gun-running, gangsterism and illegal bunkering and hostage-taking. It would seem that these militants felt that the ransom they receive often from their criminality would be better than the government’s intervention which would only start yielding fruits in the future.

On account of the increasing acts of criminality in the region, many companies there are winding up their operations. This is affecting the projected revenue of the government and it is also drawing back the communities’ wheels of progress. There is no way this would be allowed by any government. Any government would see the anti-developmental activities of these youths, especially by taking oil workers as hostages and capturing construction workers, as more than just restiveness. It would see such activities as acts of war and would deploy all means to ensure that the region was brought under the influence of law and order.

So the exasperation of the Federal Government and its shoot on sight order was quite understandable. Despite our earlier position in our past editorials calling for caution on the part of the government and admonishing it on the need to involve the people in its - government’s - developmental strategies, we strongly condemn the growing criminality in the Niger Delta.


However, we think that all of this is, in the main, a temporary solution to the problem at hand. The shoot on sight order given to the nation’s law enforcement agencies which are replete with miscreants and armed robbers, as the president himself had acknowledged, is a dangerous one that can be turned into anything.

The Federal Government must show enough resolve to find lasting solutions to the problems in the Niger Delta which, to us, are making the people in that region to feel insecure in their own country. They must be given assurance, in terms of good conditions of living and a conducive and development- friendly environment, that would make them feel secure. It is giving them a new lease of life that will make them feel they belong to the “Project Nigeria”, a nation in which their self realization as a people is actually a reality.

SEO OGBONMWAN

IF WE ARE ONLY FOR OURSELVES, WHAT ARE OUR LIVES FOR?
MAKE A DIFFERENCE, MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE."

Stay well, stay strong and God bless you.

CUO UMUNNAH
IN NEWYORK

---

How about this report. You will love it. .................

"Obasanjo and I ran bank account linked to Fasawe –
Atiku
LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Atiku
Photo: Sun News Publishing
National Index


As political tension occasioned by the current crisis
in the Presidency heightens, Vice President Atiku
Abubakar once again on Monday dismissed the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission’s report which
indicted him as nothing but an assemblage of unrelated
matters calculated to smear his name.

This is coming at a time he has supended his proposed
trip to the United States.

He said that the EFCC, frustrated by its inability to
link him with any wrongdoing or abuse of office after
several ‘stone-squeezing’ , conveniently chose to
ignore the truth in the matters it investigated and
instead came up with "total lies and fabrications" in
a bid to achieve a pre-determined conclusion.
The vice president, who spoke through his chief media
consultant, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: "It is out of
frustration with not finding anything incriminating on
Vice President Abubakar after several stone-squeezing
exercises, that EFCC and its sponsors decided to
assemble unrelated matters to smear the name of the
Vice President."

Atiku explained that the Marine Float Account said to
belong to Otunba Oyewole Fasawe in the EFCC’s report,
for which the Bayo Ojo judicial panel indicted him,
was a presidential campaign account jointly managed by
President Olusegun Obasanjo and himself.

Said he: "The account was maintained to finance
campaign activities and was held in trust for
Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organization by a mutual
friend of Vice President Abubakar and President
Obasanjo, Otunba Fasawe. Two similar accounts were
kept by Chief Emeka Offor and the late Waziri K.
Mohammed. The EFCC was duly informed of this during
its investigation into the accounts and the commission
confirmed this in its interrogation of Otunba Fasawe
and Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju, personal assistant to
President Obasanjo.

"However, in its determination to achieve a
pre-determined conclusion, EFCC conveniently ignored
this fact and tried to link the account to Otunba
Fasawe’s loan from the TIB."

The vice president said he was not contesting the EFCC
report on the grounds that President Obasanjo was
himself equally guilty of the false allegations, but
on the fact that payments from an account jointly
managed by him and the president could not be a valid
basis for the EFCC conclusions.

Atiku said that instructions for withdrawals from the
account for campaign activities were issued jointly by
both Obasanjo and himself, adding that while
withdrawals for the vice president’s activities were
collected by Mr. Umar Pariya, those for the
president’s campaign activities were made by Mr.
Bodunde Adeyanju, his personal assistant.

Said he: "The banking transaction records are in the
bank and ascertainable. We challenge the EFCC to
publish the account’s bank statement for Nigerians to
see the names of those who have drawn from the
account. The records will reveal names of politicians
who have indeed, been used over the years to undermine
the vice president.

"The vice president definitely could not have been the
one funding his adversaries. The list also included
names whose familia and communal ties with the
Presidency are definitely not with the Vice
President."
Atiku further averred that the donation of N100
million to the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organization by
Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and many other
donations were lodged in this account.

"When the donation became controversial, President
Obasanjo refunded N50 million and literally forced the
vice president to give the other half to the Plateau
State Government. If the president knew nothing about
the account, why did he refund N50 million for the
lodgment in the account?", he queried.

Saying the truth will emerge as the report is
subjected to scrutiny in the National Assembly and the
courts, the vice president again challenged the EFCC
to publish the transactions in that account for
Nigerians to see.
Meanwhile, the vice president has put off his trip to
the United States of America.

A statement by his media aide said this was as a mark
of respect for the National Assembly. "The vice
president said he decided to suspend the leave out of
respect for the National Assembly in case they
required his attention on any issue concerning the
false and malicious accusations sent to them by the
President," Shehu said, adding: "The vice president
would have done his annual medical check-up in
readiness for the rigours of the impending
presidential campaigns."


Interesting right!
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Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN (Punch on the Web, 10/09/06)

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“If, for instance, you catch a thief, and he tells you he cannot be dealt with because there is another thief, wouldn‘t that sound ridiculous and unreasonable?

So, whether it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black is irrelevant.

What is important is that the EFCC that is investigating Atiku, under the EFCC act, has got one thief; and we should try that thief.

So, if we catch another thief, we will deal with that thief too.

But today, it is no excuse for Atiku‘s loyalists to tell us that other people are like Atiku.

Let us deal with Atiku now because he has flouted the laws of the country”.

---

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I agree with you Atiku is a thief and must be brought to justice. However, i thought Obasanjo has admittedly submitted that he order or a withdrawal of billions of dollars from escroll account without the approval of National Assembly to personal uses and much more, is that not a constitutional breach to you and Gani F.? If it is not a breach I don't what is. In my view i think that tribalism and cronyism is killing EFCC and whatever good intentions it intended. I think Atiku and Obasanjo are thieves and that with out evidence are thieves and must be tried together not piece-meal by piece-meal. Thank you.

I rest my case.

CUOU

---

Dear Uncle Tisha -

This is to acknowledge your wonderful remarks on the national issues. Indeed Atiku is a thief from all indication. However, are you aware that Obasanjo, admittedly, withdrew over 18 billion dollars from CBN's excess crude funds, without National Assembly's approval, such a misappropriation is egrigious; isnt' that much impeachable offense; Offense that is in violation to the Constitution?

Either way you look at it, Obasanjo and atiku and their cronies are one and the same things:thieves; common criminals and NA should do us a favor and impeach the two men, period. Obasanjo/EFCC, as corrupt as they are cannot purge the nation of its malady of corruption; in fact, it has this administration has increased this pandemic called Corruption. Kettle cannot Pot Black in this case.

With this i rest my case.

CUOU
Shacking his head and scratching it....

---

You will like this too. Enjoy it!

Contributed by Daily Independent, Nigeria

"Who will arrest President Olusegun Obasanjo for corruption? He has reportedly returned N50 million to the EFCC, part of the kickback disbursed from the Plateau State ecological fund by Governor Joshua Dariye, who screamed out about the deal to ward off alleged victimization by the Obasanjo administration.

Fresh facts have emerged on the genesis of the battle for supremacy between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy Atiku Abubakar.

The latest exposure is the unearthing of how the duo refunded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) N100 million, part of the N1.6 billion Plateau State ecological funds .

A member of the House of Representatives, Bashir Idris Nadabo, (ANPP, Katsina) told Sunday Independent, that the Vice President, confirmed to him and two other members of the House ,Albert Sylvanus Atiwurcha and Gabriel Yakubu Bwan (Plateau) two months ago in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that indeed the money, which was part of the Plateau State ecological fund was donated to the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, and that he refunded N50 million of the fund when the deal was exposed on the prompting of Obasanjo.

Obasanjo, the Vice President allegedly disclosed, also refunded the balance of N50 million, but only when his attempt to pin the entire scam on him (Atiku) failed.

Atiku, Nadabo stated ,said he refunded the money through his banks with the instruction that it must not be traced to him.

He said Atiku told the mat the meeting that why he spilled the bean was because it was no longer a big deal for him to become the president of Nigeria saying what was important was to get their support to ease Obasanjo out of government in 2007.

"So I think, the reason why I decided to expose this was because Atiku told us that it is not a big deal for him to become the president of this country and that the most important thing is to get our support in order to ease this man out. And for this information to be divulged, I think Atiku wants it to be exposed because like he had said, it is not a big deal to become president of this country; the most important thing is to expose Obasanjo and ease him out and this is very, very important.

"If Atiku wanted to keep the information close to his chest, he would have done so, but telling this kind of story to about three people, I think what he meant according to my own understanding is for this story to be told to the public, simple and clear."

However, Nadabo who called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to revisit the case in order to establish the facts wants Obasanjo and Atiku to resign immediately since both of them were involved in the deal.

Nadabo known as a whistle blower in the House because of his penchant for squealing on sundry scams agreed to speak on tape and insisted that nothing must be shielded from the public.

In his narration he said; "About two months ago, I was invited to see the Vice President by Hon. Albert Sylvanus Atiwurcha; he came here to pick me up; from here we went to Hon. Gabriel Yakubu Bwan (Plateau) who we also picked up, then we went to the Vice President's residence and after some minutes in the waiting room we were ushered in, and we saw him. We had a very lively discussion. He started by telling us the genesis of his problems with President Olusegun Obasanjo .That was after 2003 elections. That he called him and told him about this third term agenda, that he wants him to support him. But according to what Atiku told us, that he told Obasanjo categorically that he should count him out. So according to him, that was where the problem started.

"He also went onto tell us certain stories especially about this N100 million in respect of Governor Joshua Dariye, which he gave to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).Actually Atiku said that it is true that Dariye gave N100 million. But before then let me tell you something, he said apart from the N100 million Dariye is being charged of certain irregularities, but Atiku told us that he advised the president that this is not how to go about it, that to hand over Dariye to EFCC or ICPC to investigate him is not the best thing since he is a governor on the platform of the PDP and he (Obasanjo) is a president on the same platform, that the best thing was to invite him to tell him what we have against him, and that the best thing was for him to go and refund the money.

"This was the advice Atiku told us he gave to the president. Then coming back to this N100million to Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, he told us that the money was given, he confirmed it. He said even as at the time the money was given PDP was in deficit of N400 million in the account, that is the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, and when Dariye gave that N100 million the deficit was down to N300million."

"He went further to say that when this problem came up, he said Obasanjo called him and asked 'What do we do?' Then he said ";I think what we should do is that you go and refund the N100 million. Atiku said he asked

him why he (Atiku) should go and refund N100 million when he didn't even have a budget. He asked me (Nadabo) if I'd ever seen the budget of his and I said no. "He said 'why should I refund N100 million when even the fueling of my cars, I do that from my pocket.? I said okay, I will pay N50 million and you go and refund the balance of N50 million"; Atiku told us that about two or three days later, he went back to confirm whether the money was paid, Obasanjo said yes, that he had refunded the money and Atiku said yes I also refunded, because I went and told my bank that they should go and refund the money and that how it is refunded must not be traced back to him.
"He went further to tell us that Obasanjo went out of his way to ask people to take pictures of his house in Adamawa, and even the one in Washington DC, but he told us that Obasanjo knows that the house was not new, that he even took him to the house during the 1999 campaigns, he slept there and that he was even the first person who made N100 million contribution to PDP. He said even Obasanjo was surprised how he got the money , and said that was not a problem. He said he told him that it was just a matter of being a party person. He said about the house in Washington, that he bought it before he became the vice president of this country and that the house was too small for him, so he instructed his company in America to make additional funds available so that he could buy another one; that was what happened.

But you know he challenged Obasanjo for making that statement. He said what of his house in his village that was a dilapidated house, but is a palace now and what of his farm that was even in debts and everything in shambles,. What is it now?

"It is a clear case of corruption because the giver has given and the receiver has received. Since he said he is fighting corruption and since he is involved in this he should resign immediately as president of this country, because this is sheer hypocrisy. 'I became furious when I read the story that Lamorde of EFCC said two companies refunded the money, but would not mention the name of the directors. That was not the true story and that was why I called you to give you the actual story. Let me tell you, since Atiku was also involved both of them should go.

But an aide of the vice president, in his explanation, told Sunday Independent that it was Atiku who actually walked up to Obasanjo and asked him to refund the money, since the president authorised the funds used for the 2003 campaigns.

The aide said that it was when the president said he could not pay up the N100 million alone that Atiku agreed to pay half of the money in the hope that the matter would have been effectively resolved.

"The President paid his N50 million before the VP paid the balance", he added. When contacted, however, the president's spokesperson ,Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, said she had no comment."

Nice right.
CUOU