Etcetera

Entertainment

Buhari Might Be The Last President Of Nigeria – Etcetera writes

Perhaps after reading this, you will come to the conclusion that I am being irrationally paranoid. If so, you are probably spending way too much time plugged in to the “propaganda matrix” that I will describe in this article.
The government wants you to believe that everything is going to be just fine and that the best days for this country are ahead. The government understands that most Nigerians don’t understand the ramifications of the present state of the nation because they have been washed and rinsed with propaganda. We live in a society that is absolutely addicted to entertainment.

An average Nigerian youth spends most of the day plugged in to one form of social media or the other. When we are not watching television, we are listening to the radio, messing with our smartphones or spending endless hours on the Internet. More than 90 per cent of the things that we are fed through these devices are produced by the media. And who controls the media? The corrupt politicians do. And have you noticed how “the mainstream media” loves to divide us? Today, Nigerians are more divided than ever. Our news broadcasts endlessly fixate on one crisis after another, ethnic or religious. Nigerians are extremely angry and frustrated today, but most of our anger and frustration are directed wrongly.
How can we ever hope to come up with any solutions for our nation if we spend so much time hating our fellow citizens? But this is just how the politicians like it. They love to play divide and conquer. They love as chaos is brewing all over the land. If we were united, we would be far more difficult to manipulate. And even if we did find a way to come together, what values and principles would we use to rebuild this nation? The truth is that most Nigerians have totally neglected the values and principles that the founders of this country once held so dear.
Personally, I am very optimistic about my future. And I believe that the greatest chapters of my life are still ahead of me. But am I optimistic about the future of Nigeria? No, I am not. I strongly believe in the United States’ prediction that we are on the path of disintegration. And current happenings suggest that it might not be a peaceful disintegration. So, if you have got family and friends that you would like to visit before things start getting really crazy, you should do so within the next couple of months, because these might be the last days of “normal life” in Nigeria. The unity that so many of us take for granted might be coming to a screeching halt, and we are about to enter the hardest times that any of us has ever known. And I am not just talking about the economy here.
Our refusal to have a national conference and decide the terms of our coexistence as a nation with freedom, equal rights and justice for all, plus the plague of hunger sweeping across the nation, we are about to enter a “perfect storm” that is going to shake this country in just about every possible way that it can be shaken. So I hope that you will truly savour these moments – days like this may not come around again anytime soon. Can you tell me of anyone that lived a seemingly charmed life even though that individual made foolish decision after foolish decision? In the end, reality almost always catches up with people like that.
And in so many ways, we have been living a charmed life as a nation even though we have been making incredibly foolish decisions for decades. We have cursed ourselves over and over again, and just about every form of evil that you can possibly imagine is exploding all around us. As a nation, we now stand for just about everything that is bad, and the rest of the world is absolutely horrified by what has happened to us. Once upon a time, we were one of the most welcomed people on the entire planet. Now we are one of the most dreaded. The things that we have been doing to ourselves is about to catch up with us in a major way. We thought that we were getting away with everything that we have been doing, but that is never the case. When you do evil to yourself or someone else, there is always a price to pay. Over the past few years, strange things have been happening. The power situation is one of those strange things. That corrupt politicians don’t go to jail is another. How can you explain being one of the world’s largest oil producing countries and still suffer from lack of fuel? If the government fails to take the rightful decisions in the months ahead, we are bound to see some more unusual events unfold.
To be honest, whatever the country is witnessing now might just be a tip of the iceberg. From now, you are just going to have to trust your instinct. If my tone sounds ominous, that is good, because that is precisely the mood that I am trying to convey. Right now, everything happening suggests that all our comfortable little lives are about to get shaken up big time. Good politicians have gone extinct. We are now left with those who love to create chaos out of order. In other words, they will often purposely create a crisis in order to push through things that they would not be able to accomplish during “normal” times.
The problems that we are experiencing are being used to justify radical “solutions” that will further their overall agenda. In the middle of an “emergency”, nobody pays attention to their looting. Unfortunately, most of us are going to be completely blindsided by what is coming. You might choose to continue to follow the utterly clueless leaders down a path toward oblivion. But the good news is that once the “shaking” starts, many of “you” will wake up, but it might be too late. When that happens, who will “you” turn to for answers? 
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Entertainment

Mr. President, the hangman must be involved in your fight against corruption – Etcetera

Having helplessly watched corruption over the years eat deep into the fabric of our society, with its devastating effects on our economic, political and social lives as a country, to the extent that public officers who are supposed to fight corruption are themselves corrupt, it now appears that the only man who can help win this war against corruption in Nigeria is the hangman at Kirikiri Prison.
I lived in the prison barracks for many years and after speaking to friends who are still residing there, I got to understand that the hangman at the prison is not happy. He is not happy with the fact that he has been idle for so many years since the military era. A man so good with his hands and can do a lot with ropes and human necks shouldn’t be idling away, especially at a time when the country is in need of someone with such expertise. Mr. President, you just have to find a way of throwing the corrupt public officers at him and let him perform wonders with their necks. It is the only way we can deter these public officers from dipping their hands into the treasury again.
It doesn’t make any sense that we have a hangman who goes to work every day just to idle away. This is a man who loves his job and is willing to work for the country. He doesn’t like the fact that he is being paid salary monthly for doing nothing. He is a patriotic citizen of this country who doesn’t want to be seen as part of the corruption in the system. He wants to put in the work for the salary he is getting paid.
Mr. President, the issue whether Nigeria should adopt capital punishment for treasury looters is non-negotiable. Countries such as China suffered immensely from corruption, but today are thriving because they got their hangmen involved in the fight against it. China has proven to the rest of the whole how capital punishment is the best mechanism for curbing the cankerworm of corruption.
Those who argue that capital punishment should be for only killers are forgetting that treasury looters are themselves killers. So, it is simply common sense to give capital punishment to those who sentence innocent people to their early graves. Only God can quantify in numbers how many Nigerians have met their untimely death through the corrupt practices of many public office holders. We have to understand that it is not only direct shedding of someone’s blood that amounts to murder.
We should consider how many people have died as a result of widespread poverty in the country.
 Nigerians die daily in the course of struggling to get daily bread for themselves and their families, which ordinarily should not be so in a country that is flowing with milk and honey. We should also consider how many soldiers and civilians have died as a result of the $2.1bn that was supposed to be used for the purchase of arms for the military which was diverted to the private bank accounts of a few individuals. Let us also put in mind the millions of people who have died as a result of bad roads in the country.
Treasury looters are murderers and their negative attitudes have done so much damage to Nigeria. How many Nigerian youths have committed suicide because they couldn’t find job after years of graduating? Or have we forgotten so soon how many youths met their untimely death during the immigration recruitment exercise which took place under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan? Are we supposed to pretend that it isn’t corruption that is responsible for these and other problems our country has been facing all these years? It was recently disclosed to us by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that all the money that could have been used to develop the country ended in the pockets of just 55 individuals.
Those who have denied freedom to others do not deserve it also. And under a just system, they should not be walking free. So, for the looters of our common wealth, nothing but a visit to the hangman at the Maximum Security Prisons in Kirikiri will suffice as the appropriate punishment.
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Entertainment

President Buhari, Nigerians can’t be fooled anymore

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I felt totally embarrassed watching the disgrace called the presidential media chat. It is totally shameful that we are still staging this kind of farce as presidential media chat in Nigeria. The organisers of these so-called presidential media chats should note that it is nobody’s fault that the president cannot adequately express himself and defend his own policies. The president should have known what he was getting himself into when he decided to contest for election.
Patronising the president with nursery school questions won’t do him and the nation any good. Where did they find those so-called journalists who couldn’t ask critical questions and make the president sweat and make him openly defend all the crazy policies of his that are already causing unnecessary hardship for everyone in the country for Christ’s sake? Till date, nobody has a clue of how the president intends solving the epileptic power situation in the country and he hasn’t uttered a word on how he will revive the economy. We don’t even know if he has a plan for anything. For God’s sake, why didn’t they ask him about the two cars given to him by the office of the NSA? How come he didn’t declare them among his assets? If the presidency can’t organise a simple thing as a media chat, how can they govern the country properly?Nawa oooo!!!
They should have asked the president what type of government he operates. This surely is not democracy. He has to define this new system of government he has introduced, because his total disregard for court orders is what I was taught in school as dictatorship. Hearing him defend the disregard for the rule of law in the cases of Sambo Dasuki, Nnamdi Kanu and Patrick Akpobolokemi in his media chat was very disturbing. The president is obviously not living by his oath to protect the constitution. Where are all the pro-democracy activists that fought the government of Sanni Abacha to a halt? It is time to rise up and challenge President Buhari before things get out of hand. We must not sit back and allow this brand new dictatorship to mature and throw us in the same path with Zimbabwe. Orders from the courts must be obeyed by everyone, including the president. Whether Dasuki or Nnamdi Kanu are guilty or not is secondary. The rule of law and the constitution is paramount. That the State Security Service and DSS operatives refused to allow Dasuki go home on bail, even after the court granted him bail, is totally undemocratic and casts a shadow on this regime. Nigerians must stand firm against this impunity now before it destroys the judicial system and throw the entire nation into a state of anarchy and lawlessness.
The proposed 2016 budget is the most corrupt in the history of Nigeria  
  1. N3.7bn for the purchase of unspecified number of BMW salon cars for the Presidency’s principal officers: Every year, we keep buying new cars for these government officials. What happened to the cars purchased for the officials of Jonathan’s government a couple of weeks back? Did they take them home? I thought with President Buhari’s change mantra, the era of reckless spending and frivolities are over. But a whopping N3.7bn on cars is the worst I have heard so far.
  2. N189m to buy tyres for various vehicles being used in the Presidency: So after they have spent N3.7bn buying cars, another N189m will be spent on buying tyres for the cars? The cars wey dem wan buy no go come with tyres? Abi na tokumbo cars dem wan buy with N3.7bn, wey dem wan change the tyres? Even if dem wan change tyres sef, how much be tyres for market? Naija I hail oooo!!!
  3. N1.415bn for local and international travels, 46.7 per cent more than what Jonathan allocated for the same item in 2015: Oga president, where you dey travel to wey you wan spend N1.415bn? Even if you wan go clubbing for moon every weekend, oga dat money too much. Ahan make una so softly softly dey chop wack dis our money naa!
  4. N326m allocated for Aso Rock Wildlife Conservation, including the purchase of exotic animals as against the N24. 6m budgeted last year by Jonathan: These guys must be kidding me. Exotic animals? What kind of exotic animals? Are they planning purchasing whales and anacondas for the president as pets? I have been to the presidency and all I saw were dogs. And Jonathan spent N24.6m. Now Buhari is planning spending N326m. Even Mobutu Seseseko wey get crocodiles no spend reach dis amount of money.
  5. N89m for the acquisition of presidential canteen materials and kitchen equipment for the Presidency: What kind of kitchen equipment are they talking of here? Except they are telling us that in this canteen, you will be fed by robots. That all you have to do is open and close your mouth and swallow. Even at that, N89m is damn too much. And what happened to the kitchen equipment used in Jonathan’s time? Abegiii, this is total madness.
  6. N102.9m foodstuff and catering materials: Hahahaha, so catering materials are different from kitchen equipment? Mehn, I love naija. We have our own definition for everything. Whoever came up with this budget must be rewarded with the “Member-of-the-Order-of-Scammers” (MOS) award for his ingenuity.
  7. N104.7m on refreshments and meals for State House: Hmmmmm! No comment. Na only God know wetin dem dey chop for this state house. I sure say even Idi Amin Dada wey get human meat for him menu, no spend reach N104.7m on meals. May God help us.
  8. N16.6m for supply of foodstuff and catering services for the Vice President’s office in 2016: Hmmmm!! So Osinbanjo too sef go chop N16.6m from the budget? Haaa… I think say na only Buhari waka come ooo! This is definitely the government of the choppers, by the choppers and for the choppers.

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Entertainment

Etcetera Says The Minister Of Petroleum Should Resign Immediately.

It is beginning to unfold how risky and dangerous it is for Nigeria that Buhari doubles as president and the petroleum minister. As the president, he already has too much on his plate with too many issues pulling the country towards collapse.
From the north, Boko Haram is threatening to drag the whole country down a cliff, and if nothing is done pretty soon, we are going to have a situation in our hands with the Biafra movement. It is already a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode in our faces. The business of armed robbery has never been as lucrative as it is today. The economy is another area that calls for the president’s urgent attention. But what do we have?
A president who has more-or-less assumed the role of a jack of all trade while doing nothing in particular. The president should resign as the minister of petroleum immediately if we are ever going to have sanity in the petroleum industry. What we need is a petroleum minister who is saddled with no other responsibility outside his ministry. Take for instance the negotiations with the petroleum marketers; it could have been better handled with more urgency knowing that the people are seriously suffering as a result of the slow pace of negotiations.
I don’t understand how the president wants to be personally involved in negotiations with oil marketers and at the same time travel all over the world from one summit to another. He should understand that the masses don’t care that much about the bottlenecks in these negotiations; all we want is to be able to drive into a filling station and buy fuel at any time of the day or year.
Secondly, is APC still the opposition party? Because responding to every jibe from PDP doesn’t speak of a party who has come to terms with being a ruling party. What I see here is that the APC never thought in its wildest dreams that Goodluck Jonathan would lose in the last election and as a result, they weren’t prepared for the responsibility of ruling.
The PDP left us in a total mess and would love nothing more than seeing APC fail. APC should put aside their lyrical battle with PDP and fix the issues facing this country or be seen as another party that failed us. APC should understand that elections shouldn’t be a win at all cost affairs. The choice of late Abubakar Audu as the party’s governorship candidate for Kogi State beats me. A man who had already been twice governor of the state from January 1992 until November 1993 and from 29th May 1999 to May 2003? 
Was it that Audu performed so well in his previous spells as governor of the state that APC chose to bring him back? I keep wondering what the party’s “change” philosophy is all about. As we speak, Bayelsa State is having another former governor as APC candidate for the coming governorship election in the state. May God save us all from desperate political parties.
INEC should explain to us why politicians are allowed to contest for elective positions in two different states. We have seen politicians lose primaries in one state and move to another state and get elected. Isn’t it confusing that Solomon Olamilekan alias YAYI contested for Lagos West senatorial seat after previously registering to contest for Ogun West senatorial district? And now, Faleke, who was a chairman of Ojodu local government and was also a member of Lagos State House of Representatives may emerge as the governor of Kogi State. INEC, please explain to us how this is possible ooo!!!.
Finally, the Federal government must insist that an autopsy is conducted on Audu’s corpse. We have to quell this rumour of foul play making the rounds or prove that he died of natural cause. Those who will argue that he was a Muslim and was buried in accordance with Muslim laws should understand that this is not a matter for religious sentiments. Audu was contesting an election and the speculation surrounding his death can be exploited to throw the state into chaos. INEC and the Federal Government must insist that an autopsy be carried out on his corpse to clear the air.

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Entertainment

Asset declaration is a damn scam! | By: Etcetera writes

Today, let’s talk in plain street language. It is either we are all mumus in this country or we have the smartest crop of politicians in the world. The whacking has never been sweeter and easier for our politicians. Declaration of assets before office is the best way to blindfold Nigerians and eat them like sharwarma; it is like Joseph’s coat of many colors. It gives the politicians a carefully cultivated image of honesty and probity to deceive us while bidding for time to chop with both hands.
How is it that in Nigeria, a politician only declares his assets before entering office? I have heard of great miracles, the bible recorded a number of them, but I guess even Apostle Paul whose sight was restored by God himself would be shocked seeing a man from his neighbourhood who was struggling to get by becoming a billionaire in every currency in the world over-night because he was S-elected into a political office.
There’s this tout in my neighbourhood who was always seen eating noodles and tea every night at the mallam’s shop across the road, and after his gallant performance in helping a political party rig and win election in the neighborhood, he was taken to the number one political godfather in the country who was very impressed by the tout’s performance in the election and compensated him with a seat in the House of Assembly. Now this elevated tout is lounging with babes all over the state and dining with both hands like king Solomon.
 This tout like most Nigerian politicians are from poor and average background but become stupendously rich immediately the get office. You can imagine the assets of a tout who was always seen eating noodles at the mashai’s shop every night before becoming a “Member of the House” and what he will take out of the system when his tenure is over. It looks more like the mandate of the code of conduct bureau is restricted to only verifying assets of politicians before they take office.
When former president Goodluck Jonathan and his vice Namadi Sambo were sworn into office, they put the same asset declaration cloth over our eyes and we saw them as people with good intentions for the country. It makes no sense whatsoever that President Jonathan and everyone that served in his government are yet to be asked to declare their assets after leaving office. But trust Nigerians, we are always scared to ask questions.
In President Buhari’s case, his asset declaration was dressed in boju-boju to hoodwink the forever gullible Nigerians. It was laced in so much inconsistency that starkly contrasts with what he said prior to his election and still no one is asking any question. All we keep hearing is “sai baba”, even with the contradictions in his previous declarations and what we later got from the code of conduct bureau.
We all had a picture of Buhari as so poor that he had to borrow money from his bank to buy the presidential nomination form. Few months later, we learnt he has close to N30 million in his account.
The president had also said he owned only two houses, one in his hometown in Daura and another in Kaduna. His landlord had reportedly kicked him out of an apartment in Abuja because he could not afford to pay the rent. But in the space of time the Code of Conduct Bureau took to disclose his assets, it jumped from two houses to five. Can someone define miracle for me please.
When these are added to the acres of land in Port Harcourt that was also previously not disclosed, the shares in three banks that weren’t also disclosed and the number of cows that have jumped from 150 before the campaign to 270 and his inability to tell us how many vehicles he actually owns because they are too many, you should get the full picture of how asset declaration is being used to scam us.
My question here is what did the president do to push his cash stock from one million as declared previously to a huge thirty million in the space of weeks? Hmmmmm — or are we not supposed to ask about that too? With what is obtainable in Naija politricks, even if the president’s houses jumps from five houses to two hundred houses scattered all over the world after leaving office, no one will say jack. Well, we are here to do more counting when he checks out of Aso villa.
Please permit me to ask one last question; shouldn’t the asset declaration of politicians include those in the name of their wives and children?‎
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Entertainment

Our Economy is Ill and Getting Worse- Etcetera


Is Nigeria getting worse? That is a very provocative question. I have found that most people that hate Nigeria are very eager to agree that Nigeria is getting worse, while a lot of those that love Nigeria are very hesitant to admit that Nigeria is in decline. Well, I am proud to be a Nigerian, but I cannot lie to myself or tell you that Nigeria is doing just fine. The evidence is undeniable. Our economy is ill and is rapidly getting worse. God handed us the resources to be one of the greatest economic machines in the world and we have wrecked it. But until we are willing to look in the mirror and admit how bad things have got, we won’t be ready for the solutions that are necessary. The truth is that there are things that we can do to reverse the decline. It does not have to be permanent. We have got away from the things that made Nigeria great, and we need to admit that we are on the wrong path and start fixing this country.

But if we choose to continue down the road that we are currently on, it will lead us into the darkest chapters in Nigerian history.

If someone had written a story about what is happening now in Nigeria 20 years ago, people would have laughed and said “Wow that is a good story, but it would never happen here, not in our Nigeria.” But now, the joke is on all of us. Nigeria has turned into one big comedy club where the audience is wearing a frown as they listen to the president cracking his “Change” joke. The president speaks of change from the same mouth that he nominates those purported to be ministerial nominees. He should tell us what change he expects from the list. How do you achieve this change doing the same old things with the same old people? Some governors on the list are still entangled in corruption allegations leveled against them by their successors. What happened to your zero tolerance to corruption mantra? This whole change thing is becoming a gargantuan joke that is not funny at all.


A devastating economic collapse has left the country in a stagnant decline, where Nigerians are still sleeping under bridges, ghettos like Ajegunle are overfilled, while almost all houses in Victoria Island and Ikoyi lie vacant with ‘for sale’ banners hanging on almost every gate, the Kleptocratic politicians openly steal billions of dollars, and remain free, while people charged with petty thefts go to jail and have no bonds, protests break out and are quickly stifled by an authoritarian police force, media houses are getting shut down and becoming government controlled and relay repeating news stories that have little to do with real events, and are more focused on propaganda and nonsense, a politician takes several multi-million dollar vacations at taxpayer expense, while ordinary Nigerian families cannot afford the skyrocketing food costs, the senate is hopelessly unable to pass any kind of legislation that can benefit average Nigerians, but easily pass legislation benefiting themselves and usurping the constitution, prisons are built and manned waiting for those who dare to speak the truth against to power, the roads in estates built by politicians and their rich cronies are tarred over and over while the areas occupied by the poor masses are left in ruins, terrorists are granted amnesty and pacified with fat monthly allowances while law abiding citizens are gnashing their teeth. Whew! Did I miss anything? What about a hero? Maybe a small glimmer of hope. Maybe Buhari? hopefully. 

I would like the next paragraph of this article to read, “At Nigeria’s darkest hour, the people defied the odds, and ignored the experts and elected a man of character and convictions to the office of the Presidency, and the said man restored the constitution, defeated boko haram, brought back the missing Chibok girls, brought justice to the people by arresting the evil men and women responsible for years of death and debt upon this nation.” Now I like that ending. Will it happen? I hope to God it can be so. If I told a story 30 years ago that Nigeria will be worse off at 55, would you have believed me?

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Entertainment

Etcetera writes on bad social media manners

You’re driving down town and find yourself stuck behind someone going 15 mph below the speed limit. What’s your first thought? That guy needs to get off his cell phone!
You walk through an airport concourse and notice a man pacing back and forth, laughing out loud in a voice that bounces off the walls 30 yards away while he chats on his cell phone. You think, That’s why they have cell phones restrictions on flight.
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Remember those days when you could go to a movie—or to church—and not worry about being distracted by ringing phones or by the white glow of someone texting a friend? Remember when meetings at work weren’t interrupted by phone calls or messages that people just had to accept or reply?
Nearly all divorces especially within the entertainment industry are as a result of bad social media manners. You can’t blame facebook for your divorce. All it does is exploit the cracks that are already in your relationship.
Here are some things that suggest you have bad social media manners:
1. Posting your wristwatch collections on facebook or instagram and lying about their worth.
2. When you feel it is really that important to facebook or instagram your amala or jollof rice for the world to take you more seriously.
3. When you don’t know that posting how your wife annoyed you on facebook is like putting it on the billboard at Allen avenue roundabout.
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4. When you are so obsessed over your looks on Instagram that you forget how you look in reality.
5. Spreading your dirty laundry all over social media and getting carried away with the meaningless approval of strangers online.
6. When you keep posting things that can be misinterpreted and get mad when you are called a bitch or prostitute.
7. When you talk more about your relationships on facebook than you do face-to-face with the person you are actually in a relationship with.
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8. Carrying your phone with you everywhere you go. The bathroom, the toilet, even in bed you keep moving if from on hand to the other like the staff of the Oba of Benin.
9. When you are ruining intimacy with your spouse because your phones keep beeping with alerts, notifications and reminders, and you replaced that deep-felt, long conversation you should be having with your spouse with the non-urgent, shallow tasks of retweeting fun tweets, updating your facebook status every minute.
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10. You keep liking pictures of your exes on instagram or tagging them to all your pictures on facebook.
11. When you replace the simple conversations you should have with your spouse with endless scrolling through social media in search of funny images and videos.
12. When you become that selfish, nonempathetic individual who is only worried about how many likes your instagram pictures received, or how many retweets you get.
13. When you allow the small, precious moments of your relationship slip away because you are too focused on reading all your messages and you always get irritated or unreasonably anxious when asked to put the phone away even for 5 minutes.
14. When all your post on instagram carries hashtags of #No-filters, #Naturally-me, #Haters-go-to-hell, #Kill-yourself, #Simply-me, #Na-God, #Fashionista-of-life.
15. When someone posted the
picture of the container that fell from the bride at Ojuelegba on facebook and you clicked “like”, do you like the fact that the container fell and killed people or you like the crushed cars in the picture?
 
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Entertainment

Nigerians have been fooled yet again – Etcetera writes

“I believe if nigeria does not kill corruption; corruption will kill nigeria. I pledge to publicly pl my assets and liabilities and encourage my political appointees to also publicly declare their assets and liabilities.” – President Buhari (during his campaign)
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Now, the presidency through the presidential spokesman has said the promise of asset declaration wasn’t made by Buhari but his political party. Jeez! These people just think say we be mumu sha… dem think say everybody for naija dey suffer from dyslexia. Shebi na dem preach say Buhari na modest man with just two houses and 150 cattle? 
They also said Buhari and Osinbajo have declared their assets, and it is deposited with the code of conduct bureau and the only thing needed is just verification by the bureau? How many months does the Code of Conduct Bureau need to verify an asset of two houses and 150 cattle? Nawa ooo!!! Naija una don see una sef? Is this the “change?”
President Buhari’s achievements as a former military Head of State may be many. But he has utterly failed to keep a simple promise core to the rationale for his election into office. And as the campaign promises recede into memory, it is equally clear that this administration may never provide the needed reforms that will address the most worrisome flaws in our democratic system. 
I have met a lot of Buhari supporters who are finally coming to the realisation that they may have made a very bad decision in the last Presidential election. So many of them no longer seem to know why they believed that a retired military general would perform any better than the career politicians they mistrust. 
President Buhari’s bygone promises to run “the most transparent administration in the history of this country” have become a subject of mockery, given how he has failed in a simple task of appointing ministers. 
When critics like me attacked his go-slow government, the administration defended itself by claiming the president was only taking his time.
But the problem with this administration is not only about being too slow but it has also left untouched the corrupt individuals, which means that we would continue to live under a government with significant transparency problems, a culture of lobbying that is often tantamount to sanctioned corruption, and an executive branch of government that preaches a change that no one gets to see. 
Is it unrealistic to expect ambitious systemic reforms in Nigeria? Yet it remains the case that many people voted for Buhari precisely because he promised to attempt them.
I believe president Buhari can solve a lot of things … but won’t. Whatever he once was or wasn’t, we should accept that Buhari is now a creature of the political establishment. He is captive to its loyalties and prejudices, and committed to safeguarding its interests. I am not arguing that he hasn’t or won’t accomplish anything, but there are whole categories of problems that he won’t try to fix. 
“Change” is a mirage sold to us by Buhari and his political party to get our votes. And that’s a shame. Nigerians are unlikely to support a politician making similar promises in the future because Buhari has made them impossible to believe. 
Those sending messages to me at [email protected] asking me to write on how Buhari’s administration has improved electricity supply in the country should ask themselves how long president Buhari has been in office to put in place the machinery for such a turnaround. Abi rain nor dey fall for una area? Let us wait till the dams are dried up before singing halleluyah.
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Entertainment

Nigerian Girls Can Be Very Annoying at Concerts – Etcetera

I was watching entertainment news on TV with a couple of friends and it got to a part where Tuface was on stage performing and a girl who probably was as drunk as a skunk, dragged herself on the stage and started hugging him and even took off her shirt . What is actually wrong with Naija babes at concerts?
How do you expect your boyfriend to feel watching his girlfriend on national TV jumping around Tuface on stage like a chimpanzee wearing just a bra and with boobs wobbling from side to side? Well, Tu-baba surely didn’t mind. He probably would have grabbed at those bouncy boobs if it wasn’t a concert. Twale Baba!!!
Here are some of the annoying things Naija babes do at concerts.
Taking pictures the entire show: I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook and Twitter that you were at the concert. Fine. Take a photo. Take five if you want. But please, don’t take 1000! You always manage to hold your camera right in my line of sight. You don’t even look like you’re enjoying the show while you’re doing this. All your attention is on the pictures you are taking. And you know what? Those pictures are all going to look like nonsense, every single one of them. You’re too far away from the stage. You’ll probably never even look at them. Also, you see those guys right in front of the stage with the giant cameras? They’re taking great professional pictures. There’s really no need for yours.
Checking Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every couple of minute Unless you’re a surgeon who’s expecting an emergency call or message, everything can wait. Live in the moment. Enjoy the show. You paid gate fee to be here. You can tweet your friends when you get home. Also, your fake China phone emits a very harsh and distracting light. For the love of God, turn the damn thing off!
Incessantly talking to your friends: You might not like whatever song is playing. You may be bored with the show in general. You may have been dragged here by your boyfriend against your will. But you’ve been talking all through the entire show, and I can hear everything you are saying. It’s driving me crazy. Please shut the hell up! I can’t tell you how many shows I attend where the girls in front of me are yelling in each other’s ear the entire night. Not only is my sightline blocked when their cheap wigs or weave-on come together, but I can hear their gossip. Take your chit-chat to one of the food vendor’s shed and stay there till the show is over, or go spread a wrapper under that pawpaw tree and lie down and talk till morning. I don’t care. Just shut up so I can enjoy the show.
Yelling out requests: ‘Yaaay, I want Styl-plus to play “Imagine That”‘. Hey girls, imagine if you shut up and stop screaming in my ear; most of the time, the song list is pre-determined, and they can’t even hear you from up there. They’re going to play what they’re going to play. Just go along for the ride. Damn it!
Yelling out the names of the artiste on stage: This is another level of irritation. This has never been funny. Maybe it was cool in the 80s. Now, it’s just madness.
Pushing your way to the front: If a concert is general admission, the people in front earned their spots. They got there early and laid claim to their space. The people all the way in front might have even spent all day waiting by the doors, so when the show begins and you shove your way to the front, you’re being a huge distraction. Don’t do that. If you show up late and there’s only room in the back, you’ve just have to deal with it.
Getting so drunk you puke: Girls these days drink like sharks. You see them at Felaberation smoking igbo even more than TerryG. I feel sorry for those who have to clean up the venue after the concerts. I can imagine the types of vomit and stench they have to clean up.
Loudly complaining after the show because the artiste didn’t play your favourite song: This is actually one of the crazy things we see after each concert. Babes, try to enjoy the show you’re getting as opposed to the one you wish you were seeing. Besides, haven’t you heard “Kukere” and “Shoki” enough?
Filming the entire show on your mobile phone: This distracts people even worse than taking pictures, and usually results in an equally horrid product. The sad irony is that people tend to film their favourite songs, but the smiles on their faces are gone when all their concentration goes into capturing these moments on film. Next morning, Instagram will be cluttered with crappy cell phone videos of every song from the concert. Stop tagging me to these crappy videos. I was at the concert for Christ sake! You paid good money to see a show, and you’re joylessly watching it through a tiny screen on your mobile phone. It just doesn’t make any sense.
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Dear Biafrans | By: Etcetera

 I have been receiving a lot of mails and phone calls in recent weeks requesting that i lend my voice in support of the ongoing campaign for the sovereign state of Biafra and to also speak up against the recent shut down of Radio Biafra by National Broadcasting Commission. i have decided to make my opinion known to those who have been bombarding me with requests to support the Biafran movement.

 I believe that the Igbo have been marginalized in Nigeria right from 1970 till date. I also believe that as a people, the Igbo have every right to speak out and seek redress. I believe that no tribe or ethnic group in Nigeria deserves to be marginalized or shut out by certain quarters of government because of an incident of the past. Just like every Igbo man, I believe that Biafra was a good dream born out of a necessity at that time. It was a good dream which went horribly wrong and became a nightmare for us, the Igbo people and the whole of Nigeria from 1967 to 1970, from which I believe we have woken up. 
It will be foolhardy to dream the same dream in the same way and manner without thoroughly accounting for why and how it turned into a nightmare, and factoring in the changes that have taken place in Nigeria since the 1960s.

The thought that the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra is in itself the solution to all the problems of Ndigbo is to display an understandable naivety about human nature and today’s politics. What we need as a people is a new vision that will encompass the lessons of the past, the changes that have taken place since the end of the civil war, the reality of present day Nigeria and demand for a system founded on justice, liberty and equality under the rule of law for Ndigbo and non Igbo as well.

I believe this new vision is attainable. They say charity begins at home and in this regard, I believe it is time for every honest and sincere Igbo man or woman, to channel his or her energy towards actualising good leadership and government in Igboland by joining the political process. It is time for every one of us to unite against corruption in our land. It is time for Ndigbo to come together to reverse this ubiquitous trend of bad leadership ravishing Igboland and put in place a system that would enable the best of us to emerge as leaders. Great nations are ruled by their best minds and not by a band of common thieves without respect for individual liberty and democracy that do nothing but devise ingenious ways to looting the treasury and serve the vilest and most primitive of human instincts. 

 Without this political and cultural change embedded in the concept of our future, Igboland will remain underdeveloped, and that in itself, will constitute a gargantuan problem for us in the future. Making this necessary change in igboland will ensure that if and ever or when Nigeria collapses as a result of our collective idiocy, irresponsibility, ignorance and corruption, and the jumbo pay of politicians, Ndigbo will be better placed to build a new nation based on justice, equality, rule of law, tolerance, development and honesty. War has never been the solution to any problem. I didn’t witness the civil war but from what I saw in my recent visit to Maiduguri, Adamawa and Plateau state, I have become a disciple of dialogue as a means to resolve issues. If Biafra will become a reality, it shouldn’t be through the barrel of a gun.

 It is wrong to seek divorce by putting a gun to your spouse’s head. We should realize that a divorce from Nigeria is also possible if the Nigeria state comes to its natural end because of years of ethnic and religious prejudices, injustices, and vision-less irresponsible, corrupt leadership that failed to lay the foundation of a viable state and make the necessary social investment for its survival. This might be the natural course of events if Nigeria continues to sleep walk into disaster and neglect honest nation building. We shouldn’t continue to pursue the Biafra dream in the way and manner some people and groups are doing at the moment without regard to the present reality. It can only undermine the whole essence of the struggle. As an Igbo man, there is nothing I want for Igbo that I do not want for other ethnic groups. There is nothing I wish for my fellow Christians that I do not wish for Muslims. We are all humans after all. We are all brothers and sisters divided by language, skin colours and religion. 

 I believe that enlightenment is recognition of this basic facts, and that underneath our skins, flows blood of the same colour and minds that can think alike and able to overcome the prejudices which our difference try to impose on our judgment. There is nothing that can justify the killing of a fellow man. I can only lend my voice to a vision that doesn’t entail the destruction of lives and property.

I am sorry to say that the continuous clamor for the recognition of Biafra by America may not yield much because of the selfish nature of America’s foreign policy. If there is nothing in it for America, America won’t get involved. We are a great and industrious people. For a start, won’t it be better to seek economic independence and have Nigeria and the rest of the world depend on us for something? Today, Africa has gone from car assemblage to total manufacturing. I am proud that I am alive to witness this history, that a Nigerian made car can actually be better that the Toyotas and Hondas of this world, and it is all due to the ingenuity of an Igbo man. Ndigbo, this can be a place to start. Igbo kwenu!!

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