Knowledge Is Power!

' Hookers got their title during the Civil War, when Gen. Joseph Hooker, of the Union Army, tried to boost morale by allowing prostitutes access to his troops. Quickly dubbed "Hooker’s girls," the prostitutes shortened the name to "hookers." The term stuck.

Now you know.

Insult Upon Injury!

This Georgia matter has bee on my mind since the last post and I have somehow been following the events in the news and on CNN/BBC/FOX/NTA. Okay, strike out NTA. Bust seriously ask me which one concern me for the matter sef.

The thing is assuming a new dimension now. It seems everybody is just hurling insults left, right and centre as if they are giving awards for the most painful insult.

First, Russian President fired his own salvo:

"The world has seen that even today, there are political morons who are ready to kill innocent and defenseless people in order to satisfy their self-serving interests, while compensating for their own inability to resolve complicated issues by using the most terrible solution -- by exterminating an entire people. I think that there should be no mercy for that. We will do our best not to let this crime go unpunished."

He was speaking at a visit to the military headquarters at Vladikavkaz, near the Russian-Georgian border. Each side accuses the other of "ethnic cleansing" during the conflict over South Ossetia, which erupted August 7.

The Wall Street Journal also reported the Russian newspaper Pravda writing the following
critical words about US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

The constant arrogance and hypocrisy of this failed female makes it that much more apparent that here is a person way out of her depth. Instead of regarding sensitive issues from a balanced viewpoint as she is supposed to do, this incompetent loud-mouthed, bad-mannered, [barnyard vulgarity]-mongering bimbo takes one side, ignores the other and then speaks down from a holier-than-thou platform as if she were on a lecture dias [sic].

This is not a classroom, Condoleeza Rice, and you are not a diplomat. You are a liar, a cheap, shallow, failed, wannabe actress on the diplomatic stage

At least American journalists (Keith Olbermann notwithstanding) don't engage in this sort of name-calling. Or do they? An Associated Press dispatch on John McCain's vice presidential prospects refers to Joe Lieberman as "the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent." C'mon, guys, we didn't like him then either, but that's no reason for name-calling.

The WSJ also reported about a guy who was asking GOD for rain on Obama's parade:

"An outdoor event, too, is ... vulnerable to unpredictable events. NBA and NHL games are hardly ever rained out. True, neither are NFL games, but they frequently are rained on. Some people are hoping that happens to Obama, as London's Telegraph reported last week:

Stuart Shepard of Focus on the Family, one of America's leading evangelical groups, was shown in a video filmed at Denver's Invesco Field, where 75,000 are expected to cheer Mr Obama on Aug 28, asking Christians to pray for "torrential" rain.

"I'm talking 'umbrella-ain't-going-to-help-you rain,' " the former pastor and television meteorologist said. . . .

Mr Shepard, director of digital media at Focus Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family, insisted the video was supposed to be "mildly humorous." But it was hastily removed by Focus on the Family after complaints from at least a dozen of its members. "If people took it seriously, we regret it," said Tom Minnery, a spokesman.

This prompted MSNBC oddball Keith Olbermann to name Shepard "worst person in the world." ... The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader quoted Olbermann, who seems to believe that praying for rain is effective in achieving the result:

"It's not boyish humor, pal," Olbermann said last week. "There are droughts in North and South Carolina, parts of California, most of New Zealand, and this idiot who firmly believes he can induce rain by prayer is wasting it by asking his lord and savior to play a political prank. It's not boyish humor, and you're a selfish hypocrite."

Finally, the Washington Post ran a piece on Georgia's Recklessness that I liked.

*****************************************************************************

What? You don't think this was an update?

Well, it is.

Georgia On My Mind

WTF was the President of Georgia drinking when he ordered his troops to attack Russia?

This one is a clear case of ' trouble sleep, yanga go wake am'. You know say you no go fit fight you go tap sleeping giant wey get boil for armpit. No be wahala you dey find?

Even if Russia was occupying land that they believe was theirs, why didn't he take the Cameroun Option and go to the World Court to state his case rather than attack. And the attack was on a Russia that had been looking for an opportunity to exert itself and use its rotting ammunition and restless soldiers.

Well, I understand that Russia has ordered a halt to all hostilities as they have ' punished' the aggressors. Exact wordsof Russian President Medvedev: "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized." Now the Russians are asking the Georgian army to disarm and quit another disputed region outside of South Ossetia. Can you imagine? Talk of insult upon injury.

While one may join Dubya in asking Russia to 'reverse' its aggression and return to pre August 7th positions, I think someone should also smack the Georgian President Mikheil Nik'olozis dze Saakashvili for his youthful adventurism (he's just 40) and unnecessary risk of the lives of his countrymen. The attack was a waste of lives and resources.

Hopefully sha, next time when dem see dem Mama boyfriend, dem go call am daddy.

Rule Of The Law

' ... But where say some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend
He reigns above and does not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute of Britain
Yet, that we may not appear defective even in earthly honors
Let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter,
Let it be brought forth and placed on the divine law, the word of GOD
Let a crown be placed thereon by which the world may know that
So far as we approve of monarchy, that in America
The Law is King!
- Thomas Paine in Common Sense; January 1776

One word. Aondoakaa.

Mr. Michael Aondokaa is Nigeria's Attorney General and Minister of Justice. A very powerful position if you ask me. Right from the beginning of this government he had tried to make it very clear to all and sundry that he means business as far as the adherence to the dictates of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is - imperfect as it is. Some say it is incomplete.

More importantly, the President Umar Musa Yar'Adua (a.k.a UMYAwn) has also made it clear that he intends to follow ' the law' to the letter in every matter and situation. In fact, the way the man chants ' rule of the law' at every opportunity, I suspect that a marabout somewhere had probably appointed that for him as the talismanic mantra for him to succeed in government and hold all perils at bay.

No. I do not think it is bad for UMYAwn to want to distance himself, style-wise, from his immediate predecessor in office, who obeyed the law only whenever it suited him.

The problem is as far as I can see, to UMYAwn, Aondoakaa is 'the Law'.

Those who know the AGF describe him as a brilliant legal mind, a consummate court room combatant but like all humans , he has his flaws. Many contend that Aondoakaa is a bully. And the law is his weapon.

Remember the case of CBN Governor, Chuks Soludo and the 'redenomination' saga? When UMYAwn gave his approval and then reversed himself after Aondoakaa stepped into it? Of course, there is the Ribadu case too.

Some people have actually predicted that Aondoakaa will not rest until Ribadu is humiliated finished politically, career wise and otherwise.

Why?

As Chairman of the EFCC, Ribadu had consistently rubbed Aondoakaa's nose in the mud in their several encounters particularly in the case of ex Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau state who was (is?) Aondoakaa's client. The EFCC had consistently hounded Dariye over some stolen public funds and Aondoakaa was on the legal team that represented him in those cases. The EFCC had used some under-hand tactics in getting Dariye removed from office and prosecuted. Even though till today, we do not yet have a verdict.

And so with Ibori. And so with Orji Uzo Kalu. And so with several others.

Obviously, Aondoakaa never forgets.

*****************************************************************************

The recent demotion of 140 officers of the Nigeria Police has generated a lot of newspaper articles, blog postings and comments in the past week including this one at Solomonsydelle's. Personally, I had felt there was more to this saga than meets the eye.

Femi Falana's article here on the legal implications of the Ribadu &ors demotion is a brilliant submission in my opinion.

I have taken a ring side seat.

Let the fights begin.

Oliver : We Cannot Ask For More

Growing up in Lagos, we have known several Igbo families as neighbours and friends and with some, we now consider each other as family. You know the ones you call the Dads, 'Uncle', the Mums 'Auntie' and you introduce the children as your 'cousins'. On the streets of Lagos, I have severally been addressed as 'Omo Nna' (or Omo Yibo!) probably on account of facial resemblance or for the company I kept and still do keep.

I have known of only three Nigerians called 'Oliver', one is the late Chief Dr. Sunday Akanite (a.k.a Oliver de Coque), the other two are young men named after him. Obviously, their fathers were ardent fans of the musician. One is a lawyer; the other is a trader.

It was my Oliver the lawyer who introduced me to the music of Oliver de Coque sometime in the 80s when we hijacked his father's copy of the hit album 'Identity'. The lyrics of the song were rather funny to us as kids and we played it just for fun but along the line, I got interested in some other tracks and even earlier albums particularly 'People's Club'. Luckily for me, my Oliver had the patience of Job.

We would play each track and he would translate every thing the musician said in Igbo to me in English (or Yoruba) and even explain the idioms and proverbs. I got so good at it that we would sing along with the track at the top of our voices to the annoyance of his mother who would chase us out to the balcony where we would sing to the amusement of passers by.

That was how I learnt Igbo.

Oliver the trader was my neighbor sometime in the 90s. One day he was cleaning his brother's car and playing 'People's Club'. You should have seen the shock on his face when I joined him and sang it from the beginning to the end. We became instant friends.

The passing away of Oliver de Coque on June 20, marked the end of an era in Igbo Highlife music and indeed highlife music in Nigeria because Oliver in particular tried to take his music outside the mainstream Igbo audience to other parts of the country. Along with the late Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and the late Sir Ezebuiro Obinna (Sir Warrior) they represented the veritable triumvirate of Igbo Highlife particularly in the decade after the Civil War.

Considering their peculiar music styles and lyrics, it could be said that Osadebe catered for the Igbo elites while Dr. Sir Warrior catered for the lower cadres, Oliver catered for the 'middle class'. In fact, Oliver has been accused of 're-creating' the Igbo middle class - a class of young Igbos who had made their marks in various businesses in the 80s and 90s. They were the so-called 'Traders Class'. He courted them and catered to their ego needs. Unfortunately, in his crowd were also some notorious drug barons and 419 kingpins.

Like all forms of African music, praise singing had always been a part of Igbo highlife but Oliver took it to another level. In the 70s, Yorubas used to say that 'Igbo people come to the dance floor with coins in their pockets' unlike the Yorubas who stuff their pockets with mint-new currency notes to paste on their musicians foreheads to show appreciation for his music.

By the time the monster hit 'Bili ka Mbili' (Live and Let Live) came out in '92, the Igbos turned the tables. Igbo people now came to the dance floor with cartons and bags of mint new currency notes and not just Naira but also US Dollars and British Pounds. The Yorubas could be said to have 'created' the art of 'spraying' but the Igbos perfected it. To a nauseous extent.

For more than a week now, I have been unsuccessfully trying to upload a copy of the video of his song 'Identity' from You Tube and not even an audio file could I upload. Please find the audio here courtesy of John B:

'Identity'

And you can sing along,

My Papa advice me,
Make I play my music with honesty
My Mama advised me
Make I respect all my seniors

Always cut my coat
According to my size
I no dey promise
Anything wey my power no reach

My Yes is my Yes
My No is my No
I no dey make yanga
I'm a simple man by nature

O o o, funny money identity
Ewo o o Mama, funny money identity

The Merry Month Of May

O the month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green!
O, and then did I unto my true love say,
Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer's Queen.

'The Merry Month of May' by Thomas Dekker originally published in The Shoemaker's Holiday (1600).

The Merry Month of May is aslo the title of a book written by American author James Jones centered on the student protests of May 1968 in Paris. Politics and social upheaval are awkwardly mixed with sexual alliances described in the most vulgar terms. The book is at times funny in a cynical way that seems before its time.

I first read the book in May 1989 during the famous 'SAP Riots' when thousands of Nigerians - led by students- poured into the streets to protest the effects of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) of the then military government of Ibrahim Babangida. The military junta responded by closing down five universities for five months! (note the recurrence of the number five and May is the fifth month of the year). This was unprecedented in Nigeria and since then, from personal observation every year there is one form of student unrest or the other in the month of May which leads to campuses being closed down.

What has this got to do with me?

Ever since I have come to an understanding of the Law of Cycles, I have discovered that May is the end of a cycle for me. Most people say January is the driest month of the year when they feel a low after the festivities of December. When they are most broke. For me, that month is May. May is my Month of Melancholy.

I have tried to break the cycle severally. I have tried everything from esusu to fixed deposits but whosai. In the year 2000, my father passed away at the end of April and I practically spent the whole of May that year grieveing sort of. You can imagine having to bury your father and you were broke as hell. It wasn't funny at all.

As the month of May approaches every year, I always seemed to have a major expense to take care of which leaves me broke or as near as possible to broke. And since 2001, there would be the anniversary of my Dad passing on. All of which leaves me melancholic.

However, with the knowledge I now have, I have stopped trying to break the cycle or even fighting it. Now I try to work with the cycle. I have since learnt to take things easy as the month of May approaches. I leave off all major expenses, decisions, projects and whatever till much later in the year and just live each day as it comes. Afterall, there are only thirty-one days in May. I generally take a holi-month in May.

This year, I had taken it easy as usual, spending more time with my new baby and family. When I go to the office in causals people have stopped asking me if its a public holiday as I always tell them its my holi-month. Luckily, I work in an IT firm so there are no strict dress-codes.
I have also learnt to work with the Law of Reversed Efforts. I have learnt to combine rest with activity and achieve maximum results.

I have begun to see the wisdom in the Yoruba saying that:

'Kira kita o d'ola; Ka s'ise bi eru o da nkan; Oluwa ni n'gbe ni ga'

Translated: Success in anything is appointed by GOD; not by the amount of 'gra-gra' or efforts we put in. (And if you don't know the meaning of 'gra-gra', please check your Webster's Dictionary, it should be there somewhere between 'Grace' and 'Gratitude'. If you get my drift.)

In the last few weeks before the hiatus, my posts on this blog were more of rantings than writings, I realised I was getting rather negative about several things and the melancholy was setting in. Things that would ordinarily not worry me were getting to me. After my last post, I took Solomonsydelle's advice as golden-tongued wisdom and decided to take things easy. I took a break from most things, even blogging and incidentally she has particularly been most active about 'Finding N.I.M.M.O'. Sincerely, I never knew I would be missed.

I had been sneaking onto Blogville once in a while to read. I read about adventures in Macy's as a 2P miniskirt, about Fathers-in-Law who should have being a soldier, about soundtracks and all, about Mr. Perfect, about the Academy thats probably on hold, about spelling Africa or Afrika and meeting a Moor, about Double Deuces, about Rules and Regulations for a would-be husband, about giving someone a present off someone else's car, about Music of the Heart and the tag I have not responded to, about Jibiti, with the way she had mobilized Niaja bloggers on Brutish Airways and her grasp of issues, my vote is for Solomonsydelle anytime she's ready to run for President. I just never had the energy to write anything, I couldn't even think enough to comment on other people's posts until recently.

Interestingly, May is the month of sensuality and sexuality, the reawakening of the earth in vivid colours, vibrant scents, fresh greenery and the sheer joy after a long dormant winter. You see, May is also My Month of Magnificient Makeovers!

I must thank every body who had expressed concern on my absence. Much love to you all.

' .. I want to give a sharrout to my Mummy, I want to give a sharrout to my Mama Mulika who is living in our house and to Baba Mulika too. I want to give a sharrout to em ... em ... em... Anyway, you know yourselves.

As the cyborg said to the woman in Terminator 7;

'I am back!'

Another One Bites The Dust....

Its beginning to read like a story being serialized in newspapers. Every week there must be a PDP Governor's election being revoked or another so called election victory being reversed. Like a house of cards, its all falling apart.

Last week it was Aliyu Wammakko of Sokoto State, this week Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa. And there are still a few more states to go, one year after the elections were held.

All these would have been bearable but for Professor Iwu's INEC's posturing. Now they have gone ahead to take up ample airtime on TV justifying their conduct of the April 2007 (s)elections by saying that "It is politicians who rig elections not us".

WTF! How can politicians rig elections without the active connivance of the Umpire INEC? Sebi I said it that if all the INEC officials have been arrested, tried and locked up since the past one year for 'electoral malpractice' (just like any other professional misconduct/malpractice), this story would have been different. After all, even students get 21 years jail for exam malpractice.

As it is, the more elections are reversed, the more money for Iwu and his cohorts as they simply present a fresh invoice.

The case in Bayelsa is even more interesting as some House members came up that they had impeached the Speaker who was to be sworn in as Acting Governor until the rerun elections are held. They nominated and presented their own Speaker for swearing in as Acting Governor!

Many people have always held that elections do not take place in the Niger Delta states particularly Rivers and Bayelsa. The sheer logistics of navigating the creeks alone is daunting. INEC just collects its allocation for those areas and simply allocates figures for them according to the powers that be.

In the 2003 elections, the then Rivers state Governor, Dr. Peter Odili scored a whopping 98.8% of total votes cast in the state gubernatorial elections leaving the remaining 1.2% for the other 13 (yes, THIRTEEN) political parties to share in a field that included veteran politicians like Chief Sargent Awuse of the ANPP.

That election was also remarkable in the fact that voter turnout was 100%. Everybody who was registered for the election came out and voted! No one was ill, no one had died, no one traveled or relocated between the period of registration and elections proper which were more than eighteen months apart! It was a feat only the PDP and INEC could have produced.

And Iwu says it is politicians who rig elections.

I was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state last year for a burial and it fell in the period when a rerun of the Assembly elections were being held. The burial was on Friday and I wanted to leave town by Friday night in order not to be caught up in the movement restrictions that usually go with elections on Saturday.

My friend Okon told me not to worry myself. He told me that the elections would actually hold on Friday night. Saturday was just a day of rest.

'You think this is Lagos where you people kill yourself because of elections?', he had asked.

On Friday, the anointed candidate would go round the wards distributing food items ranging from a mudu of rice, a bottle of oil and a cup of salt to a bag of rice per household depending on the position.

The people are then told to stay at home and cook their rice on Saturday. The politicians allocate figures to themselves and INEC declares a winner based on figures submitted to it.

I actually stayed to witness elections, AK-style. I was around the Ewett Housing Estate and there was a polling booth right across the road from the house. I sat in front of the house reading a book from morning till evening. Apart from a few people who obviously came around to confirm that there was nobody at the polling station, nobody came around. Not even INEC officials! And yet they announced results.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record ... E no make sense.

Holy Moses!

He was murdered. By 'unknown assailants' the report said.
But GOD knows them.
And maybe he did too. Or maybe not.
Obviously they knew him not.
Or they wouldn't have killed him.

Memories are all we have now. I still remember him.

1988.
We met back then at our initiation as the newest members of the Supremost Komradium The Keggites Klub (a.k.a Palmwine Drinkerds Club) at the Moda Shrine (Ilya Ovia) very close to the School of Dentistry, UNIBEN. It was a 'wet tapping'. He was a dark quiet guy. He talked with a slight stutter. Maybe that was why he usually kept quiet.

With some other new Comrads, we got talking and introduced ourselves.

'Hi, I'm Nimmo. Yada yada yada yada yada ...'.

We gave and received the one-finger-salute.

'Hi, I'm Moses.'

A 'wet tapping' is a meeting of the Komradium where the palmwine flows freely but Moses did not drink. A Keggite who does not drink was called 'Holy'. He was a 'Holy'. Holy Moses.

('H-o-l-y M-o-s-e-s' was also an exclamation made popular by the character Mr. B in Ken Saro Wiwa's sitcom of the 80s, Basi & Company).

1990-ish.
I remember the Parliament of the UNIBEN Student Union Government. This was during the period of Joseph Okonmah as President UNIBEN-SUG, his impeachment and removal from office.

Members of the Parliament are addressed formally as 'Honorable' followed by the member's surname. Except Moses. Everybody called him 'Honorable Holy Moses'. At some point, even the Speaker got tired of correcting Parliamentarians on the formal mode of address. Honorable Holy Moses had the floor a lot that night.

After we left school, we met severally in Lagos particularly around Ojuelegba where he lived with his family. He was a banker. And from what I gathered, he was one of the whiz kids of the industry with a fast rising profile.

Last time I saw him was in January. I was crossing the road to my car parked on Tejuosho Road, by the FCMB branch there, when a car swerved and parked close to me on the kerb.

'Who be dis person who wan oppress me with new motor so? Person no fit waka for leg again?'.

It was a new Toyota Corolla painted in the colors of a particular bank.

'Baba Nimmo What-I-saw'.

Very few people called me that. I looked closely and recognized him.

'Holy Moses! Wetin dey happen? Omo, dis na new one o. Don't tell me you have changed bank again.'

'Omo na so o but my branch still dey Apapa sha.'

He gave me his card. We talked some more. About our families. About the other friends with whom we had lost contact. About the need to keep in touch.

On Wednesday, I got to the office and saw it in the papers. A full page notice by a Committee of Friends. I called a few people if it was true. They confirmed it. It is true.

Adieu Moses Leseremejuma Ejueyitchie. 1967-2008.

Holy Moses.

E No Make Sense 2

After going through the comments on my last post, I went straight Solomonsydelle's and as usual she had laid out all the topics I wanted to rant about in an orderly fashion. Almost in alphabetical order. LOL.

Now everybody knows that I am a serious person. Well, at least you know, abi? I am not one to trivialize a serious issue particularly one that involves lives and reputations of people, right?

But sometimes, some things dont just make sense to me so I ask questions maybe I can deduce something therefrom. I arrange things into some kind of sequence and try to extract logic from that.

I have always said that I am not as bright as I look, so please bear with me.

Take for instance:

1. THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING AIRCRAFT (Quote. Unquote. Solomonsydelle)

Now, walk with me through this:

James Onanefe Ibori, former Governor of Delta state is on trial for corruption and embezzlement while in office. He is reputed to have purchased practically everything purchasable between Asaba and Jo'burg and also in the USA. Including a Beechcraft plane among other crafts.

Over two weeks ago, the said Beechcraft plane (we were told) went off radar on a routine flight to Cross Rivers state to pick up the Governor Liyel Imoke who was going to Abuja to appear before the House Committee probing the expenditure of over $16 billion in five years by the last government of which he was a part, severally as Technical Adviser, Special Adviser, Head Technical Action Committee and Minister of Power and Steel. In short sha, the plane disappeared.

About twenty-four hours later, the Minister for Aviation as the competent Minister, announced that the wreckage of the crashed plane had been found by some villagers near Obudu, Cross River state and they were deploying emergency rescue teams to the site of the crash.

About twenty four hours later, the Ministry of Aviation retracted this story, saying that the Minister was misled into believing that the said crash site was of the plane in question. So, the plane did not crash, then what happened?

Several speculations, most plausible of which include:
- The plane strayed off-course and crashed in the deep rain forest jungles of Obudu far from civilization.
- The plane strayed off-course and crashed somewhere along the Nigeria-Cameroun border or in the Cameroun Mountains. Also, far from civilization.
- The plane strayed off-course and into Cameroun's security zone and was shot down by the Cameroun military forces.

Please note that all these speculations are going on in Nigeria in the 21st century! All the above would have made sense but for the following:

- If the said site reported by the villagers was not of the plane, then what happened there? Villagers are not stupid people. They were probably looking forward to a bounty or reward of some kind. Something must have happened at that site for them to call attention to it. There was probably a wreckage of something. What was it? A truck? Another plane? If so, which plane? What happened to it? When did it crash? How and why didn't the Ministry know about it?
- If the plane crashed in the forests, someone would have seen or heard it drop. A plane cannot crash without a noise. Even villagers know the difference between a plane in flight and one in distress. At least they know the sound of a crash and I dont think could have crashed without a sound. No matter how small it is, it is still bigger than most SUV.
- The most ludicrous is the one that the Cameroun military shot down the plane. In the first plane, it was a civilian plane and the Camerounians could see that. At worst, they would force it to land using military planes to guide it. Even if they shot it down in error, they are bound by conventions to report it. And even if they refused to do so, the Nigerian Intelligence Service has enough operatives on ground inside Cameroun to ferret out such information.

(OK, you probably did not know that the NIS exists right?)

Even if all the above can be explained away.

The plane had three crew members including the pilot on board. Nigerians all. Those guys are/were the breadwinners of their respective families and two weeks after they disappeared, no one from their families had gone to press with some story or the other. Omo eni ku, san ju omo eni so'nu lo.
We worry more over a lost child than a dead one. At least in death there is a certainty of the child's condition.

With the Nigerian's legendary penchant for theatrics, we have not had Professional Mourners Clubs paying daily pilgrimages to their respective homes to offer their condolences, real and imagined.

Are the crew of that Beechcraft plane dead or alive?

What exactly was that Beechcraft plane carrying? What was its cargo?

As if all that was not enough, just last weekend, James Onanefe Ibori, owner of the said Beechcraft plane - who had been known (actually thought) to be an Obasanjo acolyte and was actually very instrumental in the emergence of President UMYA as PDP candidate- was in a gathering that included Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and Obasanjo's nemesis among other politicians at an event largely organized to dishonor Obasanjo.

He laughed like no man's business. He did not look like someone who'd just lost a plane.

Maybe its just me but e no make sense.

E no make sense at all.

E No Make Sense

Someone please help me to make sense of this.

When a patient dies, the Doctor could be liable for the death if she was found to be negligent in performance of her duties. The Doctor could go to jail and lose her license/practice.

A Teacher can lose his job when his students fail in their exams and he is found to be negligent. Even for an offence like groping a student or even selling handouts.

A Lawyer can be disbarred and lose his practice for conducts adjudged to be unprofessional.

Managers get fired everyday for performing below par or failing to meet agreed objectives.

Even sports people lose their places in the team or their positions and rankings due to a drop in performance. Clubs get relegated. Champions have their belts withdrawn.

But what happens when INEC messes up the elections in a whole state?

Simple.

Give Iwu another 3 Billion Naira to organize 'fresh' elections!

Who is responsible for elections in Nigeria?

You mean you can decide to waste billions of Naira in organizing an election, run the elections like no man business and if anybody complains, tell them to go to court. If the courts nullify the elections and order a rerun, you simply present a fresh bill of quantities to the Treasury. Just like that.

I think there should be a law that if the results of an election is canceled even in an LG Ward, whoever was in charge should be summarily dismissed from whatever service without benefits. (Most INEC officials are career public servants on secondment.)And should be tried for sabotage.

Maybe the position of INEC Chairman should be rotated among the states, with each state guaranteeing its candidate to do a good job. In event of failure, the state will pay back to the nation the total amount expended on the election or the part considered flawed. Since the money is from deductions, each state has the option to sue the INEC Chairman.

From the Polling Station Officer to the INEC Chairman, each of them is liable for what happens in his area of jurisdiction/authority. Enough jail terms, without options of fines should be prescribed.

Maybe they will take elections more seriously. Maybe they will take the lives of Nigerians more seriously.

Maybe we should even privatize elections organization in Nigeria. Let companies bid for it and hold them according to agreed objectives and with specific milestones/performance indices. Failing which they dont get paid.

What happened in Kogi state this past weekend and will repeat itself in Adamawa and most likely Edo state too is a travesty of justice. The people just went to the polls again and elected Idris again. But who removed Audu's name from the ballot in the first place? Why? The buck must stop at someone's table. He must at least tell the nation why he did what he did.

Who is responsible? Why was nobody punished?

Well, somebody was punished, the people of Kogi state. Nigerians all.