Guest Blogger: Titilayo Obisesan
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Occupation:Â Â Â Â Â Business Development Officer (NGO)
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Web site:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â www.titilayoobishineshine.blogspot.com
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Writing Style: Â Pointed and Revealing
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Just last week, a friend came from Kenya to Nigeria to make business contacts and seek opportunities for her organisation on use of ICTs in the country. A colleague was sent out with her to help check into a hotel.
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They left the office at 9pm. Seconds, minutes and hours passed without any sight of them. We tried to call around 11a.m to be sure that our foreign friend had not been seized by any militant group that could have expanded their operations to Abuja. But then, she is not a shell expatriate earning millions of naira per month and for crying out loud she was BLACK!!!! Â
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When we finally called my colleague that was supposed to help get the hotel at noon, we were told they had visited 12 hotels and all were fully booked. They finally got back to the office around 2pm and said they had been to 15 hotels looking for only One room not two, not five but One room for One in the whole of Abuja town and they found none for over four hours.
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I had to ask them, who had bought the whole of Abuja town, who was it sold to….., I actually asked this question expecting them to mention an ECOWAS regional conference or ome other international meeting thinking there was a regional conference holding until the Kenyan lady said they got to one of the popular five-star hotels and they were told a politician had booked all the rooms in the hotel except four rooms and as a compensation for his spendthrift they decided to give him the remaining four rooms.
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Presently, if you drive around Lagos and Abuja, you would never be able to miss the splash of posters with enlarged pictures of politicians, nicely cut-out phrases such as Jerry Gana Declares, Man of the moment, with the posters designed with icons and acronyms such as PDP, ACCORD, AC, ACD, ADC, NMDP, AD etcetera, etcetera signifying names of political parties. We are constantly being made aware that there are people bidding for the ‘soul’ of this country.
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With the election timetable set as seen below, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appeared before the both houses of the national assembly to answer questions relating to the commission’s plan on the elections, especially on its scary plan to use electronic registration and voting system.
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1. Issuance of Notice of Polls- Nov. 8, 2006
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2. Collection of Forms commences: Dec.1, 2006
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3. Last day for collection of forms
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec. 14, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec. 21, 2006
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4.  Last day for submission of personal particulars and list of candidates by Political Parties
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec.15, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec.22, 2006
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5. Last day for publication of personal particulars of candidates-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec. 22, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec. 29, 2006
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6. Collection of Nomination Forms by Parties commences – Jan.15, 2007
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7. Last date for Return of Nomination Forms by Political Parties – Jan. 29, 2007
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8. Last date for withdrawal by candidates-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb.3, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Feb.10, 2007
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9. Last date for change of candidates by Political Parties
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb. 13, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Election – Feb. 20, 2007
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10. Last date for substitution after withdrawal-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb. 13, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Feb. 20, 2007
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11. Publication of list of nominated candidates/ persons nominating them-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – March 8,2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – March15,2007
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12. Publication of Notice of Polls-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – March 24, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – March 31, 2007
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13. Last day for campaigns for
Governorship/StateHousesof  Assembly Elections – April 13, 2007
Last day for campaigning for
Presidential/National Assemble Elections – April 20, 2007
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14.  Governorship/State houses of Assembly Elections – April 14, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections- April 21, 2007
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However, I have not heard any questions posed to the Iwu-led commission on why we haven’t seen Voters registrations desks in our neighborhood. For me, I have not seen any registration desk in sight on my street, two streets away, three streets away and actually five major roads away from my house.
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Taking a cue from this invisible voters registration exercise, I wonder if we are been given a picture of the number of voting booths we would be seeing in April. And now, whenever I come across those posters with the heads of those beckoning to us to vote for them, I ask myself who among these people have bought Nigeria ’07 just like the hotels were bought. How much did it go for? Was it an impetuous purchase or carefully planned? Who received the paycheck on behalf of the country? You? The guys in national assembly? The man in aso rock or miscreants on the street?
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To the guy or group or party who may have purchased Nigeria ’07, just to satisfy my curious nature “how much did it cost?†Just tell me and you can be sure I wouldn’t say it to anyone else outside of the internet.
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13 comments
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December 11, 2006 at 7:49 am (UTC 1)
Continuation;
Presently, if you drive around Lagos and Abuja, you would never be able to miss the splash of posters with enlarged pictures of politicians, nicely cut-out phrases such as Jerry Gana Declares, Man of the moment, with the posters designed with icons and acronyms such as PDP, ACCORD, AC, ACD, ADC, NMDP, AD etcetera, etcetera signifying names of political parties. We are constantly being made aware that there are people bidding for the ‘soul’ of this country.
With the election timetable set as seen below, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appeared before the both houses of the national assembly to answer questions relating to the commission’s plan on the elections, especially on its scary plan to use electronic registration and voting system.
1. Issuance of Notice of Polls- Nov. 8, 2006
2. Collection of Forms commences: Dec.1, 2006
3. Last day for collection of forms
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec. 14, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec. 21, 2006
4. Last day for submission of personal particulars and list of candidates by Political Parties
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec.15, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec.22, 2006
5. Last day for publication of personal particulars of candidates-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Dec. 22, 2006
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Dec. 29, 2006
6. Collection of Nomination Forms by Parties commences – Jan.15, 2007
7. Last date for Return of Nomination Forms by Political Parties – Jan. 29, 2007
8. Last date for withdrawal by candidates-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb.3, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Feb.10, 2007
9. Last date for change of candidates by Political Parties
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb. 13, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Election – Feb. 20, 2007
10. Last date for substitution after withdrawal-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – Feb. 13, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – Feb. 20, 2007
11. Publication of list of nominated candidates/ persons nominating them-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – March 8,2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – March15,2007
12. Publication of Notice of Polls-
Governorship/State Assembly Elections – March 24, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections – March 31, 2007
13. Last day for campaigns for
Governorship/StateHousesof Assembly Elections – April 13, 2007
Last day for campaigning for
Presidential/National Assemble Elections – April 20, 2007
14. Governorship/State houses of Assembly Elections – April 14, 2007
Presidential/National Assembly Elections- April 21, 2007
However, I have not heard any questions posed to the Iwu-led commission on why we haven’t seen Voters registrations desks in our neighborhood. For me, I have not seen any registration desk in sight on my street, two streets away, three streets away and actually five major roads away from my house.
Taking a cue from this invisible voters registration exercise, I wonder if we are been given a picture of the number of voting booths we would be seeing in April. And now, whenever I come across those posters with the heads of those beckoning to us to vote for them, I ask myself who among these people have bought Nigeria ’07 just like the hotels were bought. How much did it go for? Was it an impetuous purchase or carefully planned? Who received the paycheck on behalf of the country? You? The guys in national assembly? The man in aso rock or miscreants on the street?
To the guy or group or party who may have purchased Nigeria ’07, just to satisfy my curious nature “how much did it cost?†Just tell me and you can be sure I wouldn’t say it to anyone else outside of the internet.
December 12, 2006 at 11:35 am (UTC 1)
I saw a poster of an aspirant who was not looking good, he had a long dreadlock and his beard wasn’t looking tidy and i just wonder how he would convince people to vote for him.There are so many people who are hungry and wants to be in power.Appearance speaks a lot about a person.We need to be careful and vote in the right people and not the greedy ones because the future of this country lie in our hands.Let us go out together and vote in people with integrity,humility,charisma,poise,intelligence and above all the fear of God.
December 30, 2006 at 4:12 am (UTC 1)
Please Dipo, what has happened to our heated discussion and interview about nigerias next president 2007, are you adjusting the website? please rectify it, or is this the new platform.
December 31, 2006 at 3:21 am (UTC 1)
http://nissan12.blogspot.com/2006/12/
January 4, 2007 at 2:06 am (UTC 1)
Well fellow Nigerians its good we are back, i hope you all enjoyed your holidays and once again happy new year. Gbenro this platform is good enough to continue our discussion/interview, as you can see the election time table is above so this is a good idea. o.k to your question about the circumstances that lead to the death of general yar adua and chief abiola well ….let me put it like this……
They were both (including Obj) injected with the Aids virus, by the medical officer attached to the directorate of military intelligence (DMI)cell at apapa by order from above (gen abacha) where they were initially kept, neither was recieving medical attention or drugs for the illness. The director of DMI then was Brig-Gen. Ajibola Kunle Togun, popularly known as “A.K Togun” for all those who remember him during the Dele Giwa issue as the then deputy to the then Col and later Gen Haliru Akilu (IBB’s director of military intelligence) I was newly commisioned and was assigned to Gen Togun at DMI at the time. The short of the story is that thier health was failing rapidly.
January 4, 2007 at 8:17 pm (UTC 1)
http://20six.co.uk/ritas/
January 10, 2007 at 2:41 am (UTC 1)
Christmas
January 14, 2007 at 6:21 am (UTC 1)
car news
January 23, 2007 at 7:38 am (UTC 1)
@ J
People say the government have a hand in the death of Fela how true is this?
March 20, 2007 at 11:29 am (UTC 1)
what is minimum qualification,age,certificate for the aspirant of councillor and chairman for2007 coming election
March 20, 2007 at 11:34 am (UTC 1)
what is qualification of asparant of councillor and chairman for 2007 coming election
April 14, 2007 at 1:06 am (UTC 1)
Jane please neither the government , nor security operatives had a hand in Felas death. He simply died from his lifestyle of many women, Indian hemp, music etc in short the very lifestyle that made him rich and popular is what killed him ie Aids, and being a Naturalist that does not use condom!
please regarding more information/discussion about the nigerian presidency and lections etc please see the “nigerias next president 2007 section on the upper left hand corner”
May 26, 2007 at 6:58 am (UTC 1)
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