The Prisoner of Aso rock

Obj may have left Aso rock but he definitely left his 'agbada' behind. Apart from ensuring he remained the head of his party, he has ensured that his favoured candidates and allies were elected as president of the senate and as speaker of the house of representatives.
He obviously needs his allies to keep an eye on the new government. Who knows, Yar'Adua may develop delusions of grandeur and conveniently forget how he got to power.

In Naija, it's hard to trust a man in power, the powerbrokers that helped Obj in 1999 found that out not too long after he moved in to Aso rock. So i suppose Obj is ensuring he has all bases covered.
Yar'Adua may argue that he has a mind of his own and he is not a puppet, but in reality he is a prisoner. A prisoner to the forces that got him into power.
The signs are already there: exhibit A - Ahmadu Ali Dares FCDA
Dr. Ahmadu Ali [PDP chairman] yesterday dared the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) by starting the reconstruction of one of the houses, demolished by the Development Control department of the FCDA.[snip]

Vanguard gathered that the [demolition] exercise had to stop following an instruction from above as it may not augur well for the new administration of Yar'adua to begin with an unpopular agenda of demolition especially that of the Chairman of a party that made it smooth for him to win the primaries amidst the array of aspirants under the platform of PDP for the number one position of the land.

----
Coming slightly later than expected : - )
Heres the second part of A Post sElection Analysis
A Post sElection Analysis 2

David Mark is new senate president
Who said lying and stealing doesn't get you anywhere, it certainly gets you far in naija, to the number 3 position if you play your cards right.

What to expect:
Well he won't be needing that 6 million pounds frozen in his accounts ; - )

What NOT to expect:
Any debate on how a public officer ended up with 6 million pounds in his personal account

--
Patricia Foluke Etteh is new Speaker of the house of representatives
I have to be very careful here as she is wifey's aunty ; - ), but the fact remains that she only got the job because she is "extremely" close to Obasanjo and supported his third term agenda.

What to expect:
Will ensure Obasanjo's interests are well protected

What NOT to expect:
ijebuman sending a congratulatory message : - )

---
Akala, Orji and Uba

Christopher Alao-Akala is the "new" Governor of Oyo state. This is his second reincarnation as governor of Adedibu Kingdom. His first attempt ended when his impeached boss was returned to power by the supreme court.
Akala has shown to his master, by prostrating flat on the ground after he was sworn in as governor, that he will be an obedient servant, but not to the people of Oyo state.
What to expect:
More rolling around and prostration to his political godfather - Lamidi Adedibu

What NOT to expect:
A crisis free Oyo state
--

T.A Orji is the new Governor of Abia state.

He was 'elected' while in detention, sworn in before may 29 while out on bail and now there are half naked pictures of him at a shrine all over the web (could be fake but who knows).
The whole situation is like a badly acted Nollywood movie

What to expect:
Many more trips to 'Okija shrine' when things turn sour with his political masters

What NOT to expect:
Any investigation into Abia state's finances under Kalu

--
Andy Uba is the new Governor of Anambra state

Uba was Obj's Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs, brother of Chris Uba (the notorious political godfather of Anambra state) and a regular feature on saharareporters (which uncovered his involvement in money smuggling)

Read more about Uba on his wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Uba
And his reponse to the 'money laundering allegations' - http://www.andyubacampaign.com/facts_faqs.php

What to expect:
All lies and no action

What NOT to expect:
A scandal/corruption free tenure

Denial of denial

I had nothing better to do today so i watched Yar'Adua's inauguration ceremony on Ben TV (it was either that or the usual trash on daytime tv) .
After the ceremony, the station cut back to a studio panel, i don't know what i was expecting but i was really disappointed with the stuff i heard, the discussion, the phone calls, everything was all about us moving forward and everyone hoping that Yar'adua will sort everything out, oh and everyone made a point of reminding us that this was naija's first successful hand over of power from one civilian govt to the other as if that changed the facts about the elections.

There was a bit of a faux pas from BEN TV's Alistair Soyode (who is also the owner of the station) who got slightly carried away and described today as "Nigeria's 47th independence anniversary as well as Yar'adua's inauguration".
Not that anyone noticed with all the high-fiving and backslapping going on in the studio.
but i digress..
what really got me was that some people even defended the whole electoral process that threw up Yar’Adua, by using Obj's lame excuse that our nation is still young and we shouldn't compare ourselves to western countries.
I agree we shouldn't compare ourselves to western countries as they've obviously had many years of practice but whom should we compare ourselves to? We could start with Ghana or if that’s too far away how about Rep of Benin, which had similar elections last year, an election regarded as free and fair. (Rep of Benin also got its independence in 1960)

Like a friend jokingly said, we Nigerians suffer from 'denial of denial', according to wikipedia it's a process that involves thoughts, actions and behaviours which bolster confidence that nothing needs to be changed in one's personal behaviour. This form of denial typically overlaps with all of the other forms of denial, but involves more self-delusion..

meanwhile sorry for the break in transmission it was due to an anomaly in the space time continuum, Please stay tuned as we now return you to our normal 'state of denial' where Nigeria is the giant of Africa and the happiest country on earth..
-----------

Almost forgot about this, courtesy of Solomonsydelle:

The Nigerian Proclamation

In recent history, Nigerians have been overwhelmingly betrayed by those charged with addressing their needs. Instead of serving the people, public servants have served themselves to the detriment of the masses. The result is a nation lacking adequate infrastructure, organisation and security.

The ineffectiveness of Nigerian leaders indicates a lack of accountability to their constituents. Nigerians are no longer relevant to their leaders, thus, leaders do not feel responsible to them.

From this day, all Nigerians are responsible for the future of this great & powerful country. Consequently, all Nigerians must commit themselves to the following:

1. We must demand that elected officials be held accountable for their actions and in-actions.

2. We must expect democratic principles to be honoured, respected and maintained.

3. We must believe that all Nigerians are equal under the law and should be treated as such.

4. We must apply ourselves to improving the lot of every individual Nigerian regardless of gender, religion, tribe or social status.

5. We must strive to maintain a united republic despite our differences.

Only upon achieving these principles can we as a people fully live up to our potential as a land of greatness. For ours is a country renowned for its illustrious people, ample resources and sheer physical beauty.

A petty, quarrelsome and insecure old man

"a petty, quarrelsome and insecure old man presiding over the affairs of a complex entity as Nigeria." Abubakar Atiku (in response to Obj's accusations)


Now i've always said Naija politics creates strange bedfellows, who would have thought i'll be using a quote from Atiku as a blog header lol.

I have to give it to Atiku he definitely knows how to defend himself in a 'rofo rofo' (dirty) fight. Don't get me wrong i'm no fan of the vice president, but if there was an award for bravery in the face of repeated 'assaults' i'll give it to him [i'll also give him the award for corruption and the award for turncoat and betrayal, but thats not the point here, is it? : - )]

Obasanjo kicked off the latest round of fighting by accusing Atiku of employing 'jazz' against him, i can't really be bothered quoting obj here as it's really pathetic (see newsreport). I don't know if anyone has noticed how regularly obj uses sentences like 'a fight to finish' or 'do or die', i suppose once a military man always a military man
but i digress
Atiku quickly responded describing obj as a psychotic bastard (ok my interpretation lol)
who needs nollywood when we can enjoy reality TV from Aso rock

At this stage i doubt if there is anyone who is shocked or embarrassed about this current episode of 'washing your dirty linen in public'. In most countries it would be a national embarrassment for the president and his vice president to trade filthy insults in public, but this is naija where the concept of national embarrassment is as alien as organising a free and fair election.

Naija DemoCrazy for 'Dummies'

A friend wanted to know about naija's democracy, so i've decided to do a dummies style tongue-in-cheek explanation of democracy naija style.

According to the 1999 constitution (which is sometimes used as a "guide" and is probably used as a door stopper in the presidential villa) Nigeria is a "democracy" and operates a presidential system of government where there's a true separation of powers (i.e Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary)

The Executive
Since the constitution is just a guide, the president doesn't bother reading it and regards himself as the all knowing leader. In naija's DemoCrazy, the president is next to 'God' and the exercise of his power is seen as "God's will".
Anyone challenging his authority is regarded as an enemy of the state.

The Legislature
This arm of government spends most of its time sharing out 'Ghana must go bags' (i.e large bags of money) which is sent by the executive to ensure the legislature rubber stamps all laws. It also ensures the legislature doesn't get any funny ideas (like debating and enacting laws or starting impeachment proceedings)

The Judiciary
This arm of government is always ignored as it tends to take the 1999 constitution seriously.

The Opposition
in politics the opposition is usually an organised political group that serves to offer opposing views to the government. In the naija context, they are regarded as 'enemies of the state' made up of 'disgruntled elements', 'frustrated' politicians, unpaid contractors, ex government officials and anybody who has a bad word to say about the president.

Elections
Naijas don't elect their politicians directly. Instead, the ruling party 'selects' them.
Voter turnout tends to be low but the ruling party always manages to win by a landslide with a result that reflects 100% voter turnout.

for constitutional terms click here

-------------------------
Breaking the law
Not only are naija politicians bad losers they are also bad winners.
Check out the whole charade going on in Lagos state, three weeks to the end of his term Tinubu has decided to get rid of his deputy - Femi Pedro (who has now resigned, according to news reports, his resignation letter was thrown on the ground outside the governor's office when government officials refused to accept the letter)

and what exactly was Pedro's crime?
He broke an unwritten law of Naija's DemoCrazy, a deputy shall not covet his oga's position.

naija's 'village people'

There's a funny video doing the rounds of a prank played on a naija scammer who is persuaded to perform (and record) along with his friends 'Y.M.C.A' by the village people

more
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=YMCA+scammer&search=Search

you can check out the back story to the whole scam here

saddest part of it all is the con is still on and the poor sod still has no clue (and actually thinks the emails are from George W Bush)

Anyone still interested??

For anyone still interested in naija politics
The current edition of The Economist has the usual post election article on naija
Big men, big fraud and big trouble
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9070922

was about to skip through the article when this caught my attention
[snip]
Progress by saxophone
Nigerian politics does not have to be like this. Given a chance, good state governors do emerge. In Cross Rivers, for instance, on the border with Cameroon, Donald Duke has effected an impressive transformation over the past eight years.

In the state capital, Calabar, the streets have no pot-holes. According to the state government, every village is connected to the national grid and everyone has access to clean water. There is almost no litter. Remarkably, instead of the fleet of blacked-out SUVs that normally idle outside governors' offices, ready to whisk the big man a few hundred metres down the road, outside Mr Duke's office stand brand new garbage lorries from Germany.

Moreover, Cross Rivers has no oil wealth. Mr Duke has achieved all this on a fraction of the money available to his neighbours. Instead, he has frozen official salaries, cleverly exploited existing resources and taken on debt. In partnership with private investors, he is also responsible for Tinapa, the largest retail and business development in west Africa. It contains several new giant studios to grab a large slice of the $200m-300m a year “Nollywood” film industry, which churns out, by some estimates, more films than either of its rivals in Los Angeles or Bombay.

The other key to the state's success is Mr Duke's love of the saxophone. Every Sunday evening he performs in his house with his band. And instead of trying to micro-manage his succession, rig the state elections and prepare for endless court battles, when he leaves office at the end of May Mr Duke is going off to America for a music course. It is an unusual example of a politician who is willing to let go.
[snip]

---------------------
Re: Obj's CRIBs

It's good to see that Dare Obasanjo has at least acknowledged on his blog that the caption on the 'servant' picture was wrong. I'll cut him a bit of slack and will not make any further comments, as it distracts me from my regular Obj bashing and there's only about 27 days left for that..

meanwhile looks like there's a full blown war going on at Grandiose Parlor ; - )
--------------------
Been so long...
for all you lovers of 80s quiet storm (in the uk)
Anita Baker is back in London, she's performing at the Royal Albert Hall on June 26 2007

Her last concert in London was in july 2005 and it was one of the best concerts i had ever attended.
it had to be as i ended up meeting her personally ; - ) see Anita Baker Concert 2005

Obj's CRIBs

Today's post comes courtesy of Grandiose Parlor (Imnakoya). There's an interesting post on the blog called 'A Presidential Servant' about Dare Obasanjo's (one of Obj's many many pikins) trip to naija for his dad's 70th birthday last month.
Dare is a techie and has kindly uploaded all the pics of the bash to flickr http://flickr.com/photos/carnage4life/sets/72157600155828724/55828724/

Imnakoya's post is about the pic below which Dare captions with the following statement “One of the servants sitting down on the bed of his one room apartment. You can see the entire apartment in this shot.”















http://flickr.com/photos/carnage4life/476780953/in/set-72157600155828724/

methinks Dare may soon remove some of the pics so i've downloaded it for una.

We should thank Dare (AKA Carnage4Life) for giving us mere mortals (or is it "servants") a glimpse of Aso rock, like i didn't know the place had a zoo, the zoo self get lion (quite handy as the presido can always throw any of his pesky opponents to the lions).










Kai even the giraffe looks better fed than most naijas lol







Anyway here are some of the other pics i found 'interesting'...









According to Dare, this is 'The presidential car. This car only carries the president of Nigeria.'

http://flickr.com/photos/carnage4life/476780981/in/set-72157600155828724/









And here's the famous presidential chopper, the one Obj uses to avoid using the horrible deathtrap that passes for roads in Nigeria

















According to Dare 'Members of my dad's security detail hanging out taking turns playing checkers'





surely this must be a security breach LOL, not only has Dare shown us the presidential 'copter (NAF 541), the presidential benz (which we now know ONLY carries the presido), he has even shown us his dad's security details (they're not really playing checkers they're practising security strategies)

Return from the bay of the sheikh

Sharm el sheikh means bay of the sheikh

I'm back from Sharm, had a nice time even though i had to attend a conference as well lol.

The Egyptians are a very nice and friendly people (especially the ones trying to flog some dodgy statute of Ramses with a big 'instrument')
Unfortunately i didn't have enough time to visit the pyramids and the Sphinx, as they are hundreds of miles away from Sharm el sheikh (that’s for another trip)

One thing i was slightly surprised about and i don't know if this is just in sharm, was the subservient attitude of the locals to European tourists. I was quite disappointed, come on, you guys were building pyramids, temples and monuments before the rest of the world even had a clue about anything.

Another slightly annoying thing is the lack of respect by European tourists for local customs. Egypt is a Muslim country and it clearly states in most travel brochures/guides that women should wear appropriate clothing. So imagine my surprise when i saw a woman walking around topless at Nabq bay (I admit it was a great sight LOL) but seriously, i thought it was extremely disrespectful and it really makes me wonder what price Egypt is paying for tourism.

Another interesting thing i also discovered was that there are hardly any Egyptian women in sharm and all the people who work in the tourist industry are men, who travel from other parts of Egypt to live in Sharm during the tourist season.


-------------------------------------
A Post sElection Analysis 1

I suppose if the elections had gone well, many of us in blogosphere will have spent this week looking at the new set of political office holders and what to expect from them when they assume power next month..

So assuming nothing major happens before may 29 ; ) I'll be looking at some of the characters the 2007 "elections" has thrown up, starting with my favourite state (at least thats what it used to be before Tinubu became governor) - Lagos State

The "new governor" is Babatunde Raji Fashola. Anyone expecting anything radical from him for Lagos has probably not seen his website, http://www.tundefashola2007.com/

clicking on the link to find out 'His vision for Lagos state' all you get is 'This page will soon be updated please check back' . You get the same thing when you click on 'Accomplishments' (none of the pages has been updated since the site launched last year)

Well i guess that sums it up really, it just goes to show you how unimportant 'vision' and 'accomplishments' are in the Nigerian political scene, all you really need is a political godfather (which explains why the site is full of pictures of Fashola with Tinubu)

What to expect:
He is Tinubu's boy so i expect it's going to be 'business as usual'

What NOT to expect:
Any meaningful program like the utilisation of Lagos's waterways for mass transportation or a probe of Lagos state's finances since 1999

-------------------------
Victims of our own Circumstances

Could Nigeria go Orange?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6587161.stm

There's an interesting point in the above article from Richard Dowden (executive director of the Royal African Society) as to why Nigerians should not expect much assistance from the international community.

[snip]Mr Dowden also doubts there will be any sanctions, simply because it is difficult to hurt Nigeria. "It is not Malawi," he says.
"You can't take their aid away because there isn't any. It's such a huge, powerful country that there is very little leverage that either the Commonwealth or Britain could deploy against Nigeria, and Nigeria is too powerful for other Africans to criticise.

"Nor do I think the Americans will make too much fuss about this because of the oil and Nigeria's strategic significance."[snip]

views from sharm

Nabq bay
















Naama bay















Across the road from the resort is the sinai desert

the bangladeshi option

In light of last weekend’s embarrassing fiasco, sorry "elections", I've resigned myself to the fact that Obj has intentionally sabotaged the fourth republic and it looks like we're heading for another 'june 12' like scenario.

It was not surprising that the organisation of last week's presidential elections was equally as bad as the previous elections on April 14 despite Obj and INEC's pathetic excuses and promises. Infact it was a classic case of 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic', things were further compounded by the late arrival of the ballot papers from South Africa (the whole fiasco has to be the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to our country and in any decent society heads should roll starting with Obj's)

But enough of the grammar and the adjectives, We know our history very well, when politicians turn elections into a 'rofo-rofo' (i.e dirty) fight then its time to call in the naija politician's kryptonite - the Nigerian army to sort out the mess they've created.

Don’t get me wrong, i'm not calling for a coup in the traditional sense where some idiot takes over power and then promises to handover in "a few years time", but a simple army takeover of government to conduct an election (a sort of interim military government). The army steps in for an extremely short period (not more than 6 months) organises new elections, handsover to the winner and returns to the barracks.

The army seems to be the only organisation in Nigeria that is able to organise 'credible' elections. They did it in 1979, 1993 (although annulled by IBB, its still considered the most credible election held in the country) and in 1999. Compare these elections with the elections of 1965, 1983, 2003 and 2007.

And now to the Bangladeshi option
Bangladesh: No going back
The army exiles the country's leading politicians

I've used Bangladesh as an example here because of what the army has done to the country's leading politicians. It has asked them to go into exile so the political environment is free of any sort of influence from the old brigade.
It's an option that definitely makes sense in Nigeria, we've been ruled by the same set of people in different guises since 1960.
Imagine what will happen to the political environment in Nigeria if all our leading politicians are stripped of their assets and kicked out of the country.

They've fucked up Nigeria for so long, won't it be great if Nigeria told them to fuck off somewhere else too..

----------------------------------
And The Man Spoke..

Soyinka urges new Nigeria polls
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6600945.stm

Couldn't disagree with Wole Soyinka when he said "I wish he [Mr Yar'Adua] would carry his decency even further by publicly renouncing this poisoned chalice to say: 'I'm not a receiver of stolen goods',"

if ijebuman was Yar'adua i'll be watching my back or in his case his dialysis machine.

And if the calls for the elections to be cancelled is not bad enough
its been almost a week since Yar'adua was declared winner and the response from the international community has not exactly been warm.
South Africa is the only country i'm aware of (at the moment) that has congratulated Yar'adua.
No surprise there, it's definitely in SA's interest to continue to deal with a Nigeria that never rises to its full potential, or where else will they get such lucrative last minute contracts like last week's ballot paper print job..

from Ghana with Love

Article below is from ghanaweb

Letter From The President: 419 elections
By: J. A. Fukuor/Daily Dispatch, (2007-04-27)
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=123107

Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents,
I suppose you have all been following with keen interest the recent happenings in Naija. If you haven't, you should. Naija is our "big brother", it is Africa's most populous country, we get a lot of oil from them and, of course, they've promised to give us some electricity. We've recently seen a lot of Naija-owned businesses opening in Sikaman - providing employment for many.
Historically, we've been friends with Naija and as I heard someone say recently, 'when Naija sneezes, Sikaman catches a cold.' So we all need to follow what's happening there with keen interest, give praise where it is due, speak out against any injustice and do all we can to help them get through these trying times they seem to have brought upon themselves.

I have kept my ears and eyes wide open, following every bit of the unfolding drama in Africa's most populous country and in doing so, I have been bombarded with a flurry of emotions ranging from anger, amusement and shame to disappointment and regret.

I am angry because I believe both the legislative and presidential elections were rigged and everything was done to make sure that Olu's government continued to stay in power - from the ludicrous decision by the Electoral Commission to overstep its bounds and ban one of the candidates from contesting to the ill-conceived plan to print the ballot papers in South Africa and have them delivered less than 24 hours before the day of the presidential polls.
I am ashamed at the sheer scale of disorganisation which characterised the whole process. It appears very little thinking and planning (if there was any) went into the exercise. Instead of concentrating on the logistics of organising an election, the Electoral Commission decided to do the ruling party's dirty job by banning one of the presidential candidates from contesting. The ensuing legal battle, I believe, made them forget that there were more serious and challenging issues to deal with.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court did not kowtow to the government and ruled that the EC had no power to ban any candidate. This ruling was issued just a few days to d-day and under normal circumstances, one would have thought that the elections would have been postponed because for a country of 60 million voters, it is virtually impossible to reprint new ballots with re-instated candidate's name. But the EC claimed that they had a ˜Plan B". That plan meant that the new ballots would be printed in far away South Africa. And I am quite angry with this decision as well. In the spirit of sub-regional co-operation, I think our brothers and sisters in Naija could have printed their ballots here in Sikaman; we would have delivered the ballots much earlier than the South Africans did. As things turned out, the ballot papers were delivered less than 24 hours before the polls and if you consider that the EC had no contingency plans (say aircraft and helicopters) for distributing the papers within such a short space of time, you would very easily laugh at their folly and ask yourself: 'what do they have in their skulls: brains or grains?.'

The massive organisation failures meant that for so many polling stations, the ballot papers were delivered several hours after the time the polls were supposed to have ended. In other areas, voting materials were in very short supply. I have never seen such disorganisation in my life and that's why I am disappointed. I am disappointed that Africa's most populous country and one of its richest (in fact, Naija is considered a continental super power) was not able to organise a smooth election devoid of logistical hiccups.

Most annoyingly, amidst the chaos of disorganisation and the unanimous verdict of several election observer missions (including that of the African Union) that the polls were a charade, the chairman of the Naija EC was urging his compatriots to 'be proud.' Proud of what? That they succeeded in showing the rest of the world how to organise ˜shambolic" elections?

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that the organisational failures were all part of a grand plan to rig the election in favour of Olu's party. But why rig an election in such a blatant fashion, with all the major international news networks watching? Couldn't they have done it in a more intelligent fashion? I believe there are more subtle ways of rigging elections not that I am an expert, but I have seen it before.

In 1992 and 1996, Jerry Boom and his people used cunning and various other machinations to win the elections, forcing us to write the ˜Stolen Verdict". Remember? Olu and his cohorts should have consulted with Jerry's people and I believe they would have saved us all the embarrassment of being associated with them. I am now even reconsidering the folly that made us name a street in Accra after Olu.

I thought he was a sensible, forward-looking African president who would graciously step aside when his term ran out. But, alas, I was wrong. He doesn't want to go. He wants to rule by proxy and so he has gone to every length to make sure that his anointed one succeeds him. I am very appalled, to say the least, about his conduct. Apart from making his friends (like my excellent self) look stupid and power-drunk 'show me your friend and I'd show you your character' he's made Jerry Boom look like a hero. I mean, if upon all his excesses, Jerry Boom left power graciously without blatantly trying to subvert the will of the people, why would someone like Olu 'who claims to be a champion of the African renaissance ' go to such foolish and undemocratic lengths to perpetuate his rule, albeit through a chosen successor?

Olu might be thinking that he has won. Maybe he has. But his country (and the rest of Africa) has lost. The rest of the world know that we in Sikaman have organised better elections (not the best, just better than Naija's). But from now on, they are only going to associate our continent with late arrival of voting materials, polling stations remaining opened 18 hours after they were supposed to have closed and thugs snatching ballot boxes and running away with them.
What became of Olu's dream of an African renaissance? I want to say that if he really holds the interest of our continent and its people at heart, he should do as many have suggested: order a re-run of the polls. And instead of pulling every string to make his man win, he should just let the people decide. If what I know about him is anything to go by, I think Olu will not listen to anyone and he'll just allow things to be as they are. He won't order a re-run because I believe he's already started preparing his hand-over notes. And that concerns me. As I write this letter, the opposition parties are calling for daily street protests to compel the government to overturn the results of the ˜shambolic" polls. In a country like Naija, daily street protests could spell disaster. Many would die, several would be maimed, thousands would be displaced and lives would be destroyed.

Things are not looking good, and I'd urge you all to spare a moment of prayer for Naija. Let's pray that things do not get out of hand and that Olu's successor (even if he came in through a rigged election) will be accepted by all and he'd be a father to all the citizens of Naija. Most importantly, I hope that Olu's successor will be a friend of Sikaman and he'd give us oil and electricity.

Excellently yours,
J. A. Fukuor
(fukuor@gmail.com)

sharm el sheikh

I'm in Egypt, in the desert holiday resort of sharm el sheikh. I'm here for the rest of the week but before you think i'm on holiday, this is a work related trip ; - )

Just saw our "president elect" Umaru Yar'adua on CNN earlier today and i just can't convince myself that this guy is our next president, he just seemed so scared like a rabbit caught in the glare of the headlights of a car thats about to run it over...

Having a bit of a chuckle

I've always found it difficult to take the situation in Nigeria too seriously, certain things happen and you think it definitely has to be a joke, like yesterday's news story about the late arrival of the ballot papers from South Africa (that’s on my upcoming list of reasons why Naija is now the laughing stock of Africa), which Iwu accidentally revealed while responding to reports of soldiers intercepting a trailer full of ballot boxes stuffed with thumb-printed ballot papers.
But i digress; i had a bit of a chuckle at this morning's report of an attempted attack on INEC's Hq in Abuja

An overnight attack on election HQ in Abuja failed when a petrol tanker laden with detonators failed to explode.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6578499.stm
http://africa.reuters.com/nigeriaelection/top/news/usnL2116214.html

here's a top ten list of the reasons why it failed to explode;

1. The tanker was filled with water instead of petrol (as there was fuel scarcity)
2. The tanker was actually empty as someone had stolen the petrol and sold it on the black market.
3. The detonators were fake.
4. Someone got 'settled' and sabotaged the plan.
5. Its "Gods" will...
6. Someone had a vision, then fasted and prayed to prevent it from happening
7. The detonators were not set up properly but they decided "make we manage am like that"
8. The tanker was full of adulterated petrol as real petrol is too expensive
9. Actually it wasn't an attack, the tanker's brake failed and the driver lost control..

10. This is Naija nothing works

-----------------------------
Ben TV now broadcasting online

I'm not exactly a big fan of BEN TV but kudos to them for making their broadcasts available online (including election coverage from NTA)
http://www.bentelevision.com/2007/home/homepage.php

You can now enjoy Bisi Olatilo's vomit inducing show and more online ; - )

Another exciting episode of..

It's bigger than any Nollywood blockbuster, it has Action, Violence, Intrigue, Drama, Magic and Betrayal. Its tomorrow's exciting episode of Nigeria PDP decides

Will the election be 'free and fair', what does that mean? (I know no book o)
Will there be widespread rigging, yes ke
Will Iwu talk trash and describe it as the best elections ever, definitely
Will the hoodlums, hired thugs and area boys 'keep it real', fo' shizzle
Will there be a lot of violence, gba o
Will it be another 'election landslide' for PDP, of course
Will the opposition try to outrig the ruling party in their strongholds, you bet
Will the ballot papers arrive in time (from South Africa) for the elections ?, if its "God's will"
Will observers describe the elections as 'flawed', no doubt
Will the international community do anything about it, forget dat one
Will Nigerians do anything about it, who wan die?


This won't be showing at your nearest multiplex, it'll be happening in real life...
----------------
saving face
a week they say is a long time in politics, it seems Obj has already begun to implement the face saving measures i hinted about early this week (see previous post)

Nigeria's president has admitted there were flaws in last week's state polls and urged election officials to prevent rigging in the presidential vote.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6574869.stm

After presiding over one of the worst elections in the history of Nigeria, all Obj could say was ''no election could be regarded as perfect, but said progress had been made in Nigeria since elections in 1959''

I'm assuming the progress Mr President was referring to, was election rigging 'Cause if he meant anything else then he must be using the same mind-altering substances Maurice Iwu has been on since last year.

Idols WA

fela incarnate on idols west africa

I've just been sent some hilarious clips from idols west africa (Nigeria/West Africa's version of Pop Idol)

check out the best of the worst:

There are loads of clips from the show on youtube

OBJ, A True National Leader

Obj playing the African nationalist, while his own House is on fire

So the question is, how will all this play out. Obj has put himself in a tight spot, with violence erupting in various states as a result of the elections, an emboldened opposition demanding the election is postponed and the previous election cancelled, the islamic threat in the far north, the usual wahala in the delta and the US urging him to ensure the next elections are "free and fair and conducted in an atmosphere free of violence".

For someone who wanted history to remember him as the man who "saved Nigeria", i doubt he ever thought things could turn out this way. His options now are quite limited and all he can do is to try and 'save face' so he can at least retire and spend his 'loot' in peace.

Obj has always wanted to be remembered as a "national" leader, well he is now, as in almost everyone in the country now hates him. That's not an easy achievement in multi ethnic, multi religious, multi everything Nigeria. Even in his backyard - Abeokuta, praise for him is muted. Abacha, horrible as he was, still had support in his hometown...

PDP Decides (2)

a smashed windscreen, is this a metaphor of what will happen to Nigeria following PDP's "Landslide"

PDP Decides

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable...."

Nigeria PDP Decides

While NTA has called its election coverage Nigeria Decides, the reality on the ground is that the ruling party -PDP has already decided who won the "elections".

The results of the state elections has started trickling in and our worst fears have been confirmed. There has been widespread rigging on an unprecedented scale. INEC as usual was completely unprepared, which was not exactly surprising. (see top ten signs)
Maurice Iwu (INEC Chairman) was on NTA (i would have used this opportunity to say thanks to BEN TV for hooking up to the NTA network yesterday but as usual they messed up by cutting to another programme halfway through Iwu's verbal vomit) claiming INEC has "done well in this election, and nobody should take our success away from us, the process so far has been wonderful"

whatever drugs this guy is on i want some of it. LOL

If yesterday's election is an indicator of what will happen in the presidential election next week then its safe to say that any administration sworn in after Obj gets his old ass out of Aso rock will not finish its term. If there's a constant factor in Nigeria's embarrassing history, a fraudulently elected government never lasts long.

somewhere out there like a hurricane forming out in the sea, a violent revolution is brewing....

Robbed by a small minority

The Oprah Winfrey show did a feature on scams and ehem (clearing throat..) a certain west African country is featured.

Cunning Cons
http://www2.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_101.jhtml

Oprah obviously expecting protests from the Nigerian community added at the end of the segment
"I know we're going to get a letter from somebody saying that Nigeria has a lot of wonderful people. You don't have to send the letter, We already know that. We're just talking about this particular scam that's going on. We're not talking about the entire country and everybody in the country."
----
Forgot to post this one from last week

419ers take Kent minister for £12k
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/05/textbook_419/

I think it was Shakespeare’s Othello who said it
"He that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed. "

In the end we're all scammed and made poorer by the antics of a small minority who have ruined our reputation

Let the sElections begin..

obj countdown

And so the elections begin, no doubt the elections will be ‘flawed’ but lets face it a ‘free and fair election’ in our part of the world would be nothing short of a miracle with our level of political development. Our politicians don’t understand the concept of ‘living to fight another day’ so when they lose they start throwing their toys out of the pram.

It’s hard to be optimistic about the end result of this election. How can a corrupt system produce anything but a corrupt leader ? But we don’t really have an alternative; all we can hope for is that the election is credible enough for us to live with.

Personally I’m quite interested in the outcome of the “elections” in Lagos and Oyo states. It’ll be quite interesting to see whether the good people of Lagos will allow that idiot called Tinubu to impose his candidate on them.
And in Oyo state, if the people will allow that old scarecrow Adedibu to hold them to ransom by imposing Akala as governor or if they will finally free themselves from his oppressive power.

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The real meaning of PDP

NL has a funny thread about the various meanings of PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) Nigeria's ruling party
Here's a list of the best ones so far:

People Distributing Poverty
Poverty Distribution Party
People Destroying People
People Disappoint People
People's Destruction Party
Papa'sanjo's Deceitful Party
Pigs Demanding Power
Power Drunk politicians
Politically Desperate Parasites
Pain Distribution Party
People Depraved Party
People's Demonic Party
Politicians Deceiving Populace

Times are changing...

There used to be a time when the only crime committed by Nigerians in the UK was fraud but it seems things are changing...

From the Evening Standard:
Jailed for raping and imprisoning young women

Four men who imprisoned and brutally raped two young women in a Clapham flat were jailed today.
Idris Adeokun, 22, from Crownstone Road, Brixton, Emmanuel Garrick, 24, of Tessa Sanderson Place, Clapham, were both found guilt of imprisoning and raping two young women at Garrick's home on February 21 and 23 last year.

They were both sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of a minimum of seven years for the attacks.
James Olanrewaju, 20, of Sultan Road, Brixton, was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of false imprisonment relating to February 21 last year. He was given an indeterminate sentence and will not be eligible for parole for six years.

full story
Jailed for raping and imprisoning young women

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100 million iPods

So the iPod has hit the 100 million sales mark, apparently last year's report about abuses at several of Apple's chinese factories has not dented sales of the ipod.

I don't have an iPod as i refuse to be seduced by Apple's marketing gimmick. As far as i'm concerned it's just another 'glorified MP3 player' and don't get me started on the price which i think is outrageous, but Apple (especially its marketing dept) must be doing something right if people are prepared to pay that amount of money just to get one.

Characteristics of a naija politician

sElection 2007 (4 days(state)/11 days(federal) to go)
a blog entry on the Nigerian elections in April 2007.

























Politicus Naijarius

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
- Nikita Khrushchev

Creepy, crawly, slimy, lying, thieving bastard are just a few of the words used by many to describe this creature.

Character: chameleon like in nature, this creature is well known for its ability to quickly change sides, political party or affiliation to suit any dispensation. Highly skilled in the art of deception, this creature can not be trusted.

Diet and habits: Usually unfit with a thick neck and pot belly, this creature enjoys the high life. Can become extremely volatile during elections and will resort to a tactic called rigging to ensure its survival.

Habitat and Range: Can be found in large abundance in the political entity called Nigeria. Large numbers can be found in the capital city called Abuja.

Senses: Deaf, Dumb and Blind to everything except its own bullshit

Intelligence: The mental capacity of the naija politician is still being explored, but going by anecdotal evidence the average naija politician has the IQ of a ten year old child.

Personality: This creature is title hungry and loves to be addressed as "Chief", "Alhaji", "Dr", "Prof", "Engnr", "Pastor" etc

Adaptation: Has adapted extremely well to the Nigerian political environment

Reproduction: Extremely fertile with many partners and offspring.

Impact: Extremely bad for its environment as it consumes all economic resources available. This creature sees public office as a means for amassing wealth.

Status: Sadly this creature is not an endangered species...

The Joseph Project

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. - David C. McCullough

The current issue of New African has a great spread on Ghana, one of the articles that caught my attention was about an innovative programme launched by the Ghanaian government called The Joseph Project

The Joseph Project is part of an elaborate plan to establish Ghana as the homeland for Africans in the diaspora. The project takes its name from the story of the Biblical Joseph who was sold into slavery.
Ghana is using the 50th anniversary of its independence which coincides with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, to reach out to Africans in the diaspora to return to the motherland and help in its development.

So what is Nigeria doing considering Badagry was a major slavery port?
Nothing..
A brief history lesson:
In the early 1500's, slaves were transported from West Africa to America through Badagry. It is reported that Badagry exported no fewer than 550,000 African slaves to America during the period of the American Independence in l787.

As usual Ghana is leading the way while Nigeria is still looking for the way...

dawn over the atlantic

i took this shot this morning as our plane was flying over the atlantic..

an ijebuman in new york

it was my birthday last week so we headed off to New York for a few days. Left London's lovely spring weather on friday and arrived in the big apple to what can best be described as "artic conditions"

Despite the weather it was still business as usual in New York, London would have ground to a halt if we ever experienced weather like this.

check out central park

'WTF' Moments

Last time there was a "WTF" moment on this blog was this time last year (see previous post), But seriously when it comes to Naija every day is a "WTF" moment.
I don't know if it has something to do with the coming elections but the number of "WTF" moments in the last few weeks is mind boggling even by naija standards.

check out the top 5 in recent days

5. SR reveals Bukola Saraki's (governor of Kwara state) stupendous wealth, if you had money in the former Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) (like one of my friends did) you now know who "took" your money

4. "Daniel may have his own weaknesses, but such can be corrected" Is Obj's response to corruption 'allegations' made against the governor of Ogun state (Gbenga Daniel). I suppose that only applies to those in the "right" party while those in the "wrong" party end up on the EFCC "list"

3. "We need his experience to win the polls." is what Obj had to say about the antics of Lamidi Adedibu, Political Godfather in Oyo state. I'm sure his experience of thuggery, rigging and intimidation will serve the PDP well..

2. Yar'Adua's rumoured death. Yar'Adua catches a 'cold' and the whole country sneezes

1. Atiku flies out for treatment to a torn knee cap (shame he didn't break his neck while exercising)
Obviously if Atiku had any intelligence this would have been a great opportunity to gain political capital by using a local hospital ( according to his officials the equipment to treat him was available in Lagos)
------------------------------------------
Who will fight?

An interesting article from sahara reporters...

The Angry Nigerian In Diaspora (from sahara reporters)
http://www.saharareporters.com/www/article/detail/?id=255

By ‘Tosin Olawale Duyile

I am an angry Nigerian in diaspora. I mean a very angry Nigerian.

I am so angry that I look at our country’s neighbour Ghana and dream about what could have been in ours.

I am so angry that I wish and dream that I could be in a position with resources to hire a professional assassin and do something similar to what Jerry Rawlings did to the pigs and rats that looted his country’s treasury, to the thieves that have stolen and to those still stealing our country’s wealth, inheritance and resources.

Oh I am so angry, so angry that I constantly dream about what I would do if I have the resources at my disposal and tremendous will-power to execute my plans. If I do, I would target the corrupt leaders, including governors, administrators, legislators, political eunuchs, ex-khaki boys and hangers-on one by one. I would provide the hired assassin with high powered telescopic rifle with lead encased bullets and eliminate these bastards from afar one by one. I would then leave ransom notes at the scene and place anonymous advertisements in several national newspapers with clear instructions for each and everyone of the rest to return their loots to the national treasury. Believe me, there will be no hiding place for any of them.


But then I, like most other Nigerians am a coward. The only thing we as Nigerians are good at doing is talk and write. Talk is cheap. I sometimes watch some Nigerian current affairs discussion programmes via satellite television here in the UK. I feel so disgusted at times at the filth coming out of the mouths of the participants that such programmes rather than provide a psychological uplift, actually make me more depressed. I always look at them and think ‘birds of the same feather’.

A so-called journalist working for BEN TV in London (I won’t mention his name) interviewed Babangida last year and sucked up to him throughout the interview. He neither asked him any probing question, nor took him to task about his crimes against the Nigerian people. Rather, he pretended to be his son and kept referring to him as ‘My Father’. I felt like smashing my TV to pieces. I was angry that my 2 young children could feel the anger oozing out of me. I reckon this journalist was harbouring the hope of landing a plum job if the ‘evil genius’ (as he is called) returns to power.

The fundamental problem of the Nigerian polity is precedence. Precedence in that it is in the psyche of the Nigerian that if he / she is elected to, or appointed to a position of power or that which controls resources, he / she would embezzle and misappropriate funds and nothing would happen. Worst case scenario if he / she is found out – he would be incarcerated for a few months at worst, and later freed to enjoy his / her illicit gains.

I have often debated this ‘precedence’ problem with my compatriots here in the UK. The universal consensus is to adopt Rawlings’s solution to Ghana’s problem – Line up the leaders and corrupt officials (past and present) and shoot them, but not before they return their ill-gotten wealth. Failure to cooperate means that their immediate and extended families would be complicit and suffer the same fate. To the reader of this article, this may sound callous and inappropriate and against the fundamental principle of human decency. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Prayers and talk alone cannot solve Nigeria’s problems. Make no mistake, the majority ethic groups of South Africa dismantled the apartheid structures not because of international support, but because there was no other option but death in struggle.

In the film Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) visited Cuba around the time of the revolution. In the scene, they witnessed a revolutionary blowing himself up rather than be arrested by the police. His partner in crime told Corleone to ignore the action, but Corleone wisely did not and flew back to the States. His words were that the revolutionaries would succeed because they were not afraid of death. True to his words, they succeeded. I suspect that that part of the film is reminiscent of the Fidel Castro’s struggle for power in Cuba.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a communist. In fact I am a very successful Town Planning Consultant here in the UK and I run my own business. But the message I am trying to put across is that until we as Nigerians take matters into our own hands and target these corrupt and satanic politicians and bureaucrats and force them to experience the penury and hopelessness that millions of Nigerians currently experience, we are condemned to eternal damnation. No amount of prayer will solve our problems. We need to take the bull by the horns and adopt the biblical principle of ‘heaven helps those who help themselves’.

We should adopt the same draconian principles that the Animal Rights Movement have put into perfection in the UK and the US by targeting companies and organisations profiting from research using animals, mainly primates. Some may call this terrorism, but in the long term, it would be successful. Of this I have a firm and unshaken conviction. The one thing that these dubious politicians and brigands fear is death and injury. History and posterity will forgive anyone who dares to follow this path. All peaceful means have been exhausted to stop the looting and mismanagement of our resources to no avail.

I empathise with the various militant groups operating in the Niger Delta, but they seem to have got their priorities wrong by kidnapping foreign expatriates. They should instead kidnap people like Odili and the others who mismanage their resources. Kidnapping foreigners only tarnishes our image abroad. To an average British or Korean or Chinese or Filipinos, these people are simply terrorists, no different from Al Qaeda operatives. The foreigner is not interested in the injustices in the Niger Delta area.

A taxi driver of Ghanaian descent took me to Heathrow Airport on my way to Lagos last year. This gentleman was so much in tune with the current affairs in Nigeria that he mockingly showed me Umaru Dikko’s grandiose mansion in Hammersmith. His exact statement was that what Umaru Dikko put Nigerians through, can never happen in Ghana. I nearly cried.

The sad thing about the sorry state of the Nigerian nation is that the younger generations do not know better. When I was in Nigeria last year, I engaged in a dialogue with a University Undergraduate, whom I have known since he was born. I told him in no uncertain terms that if Babangida returns to power, that would be the end of Nigeria. His emphatic conviction was that Nigeria would improve. I was alarmed and asked him why. His response was that Babangida would facilitate corruption and in his words allow everybody to chop. Babangida’s motto according to him is ‘You chop I chop’. At that very moment, I lost hope and firmly believe that I will never see a better Nigeria in my life time.

Nigeria’s politicians and power brokers are like a malignant tumour that feed on the organs of the body. Unless they are wiped out (I mean literally) there is no salvation for this great country of ours.

I remain angry, but take comfort in that my dreams may yet come to fruition in my lifetime. Any volunteers?

I am laughing

sElection 2007(35 days(state)/42 days(federal) to go)
part of a series of blog entries on the Nigerian elections in April 2007.




















Now laughing after ''exhibiting symptoms of catarrh''


So it seems Yar'Adua did not die as the rumour mongers hoped. I bet Obj almost had a heart attack, you could tell he was really pissed off as he 'described the rumour mongers as satanic'

According to the Sun (Nigeria's trashy tabloid paper)
Obj (obviously frothing at the mouth at this stage) also lambasted those alleging that he had known all along that Yar’Adua would not last a year in office, saying
"They are wicked. Anybody saying that is a child of satan. How can anybody say somebody will die on a particular day? They even said that I was dead in far away Ghana. They are wicked,"

Obj seemed to be in a better mood later in the day at a PDP rally in Abeokuta when he spoke to Yar'Adua on the phone, The Punch had excerpts of the telephone discussion:

Obasanjo: 'Umaru [Yar'Adua] are you dead?'
Yar'Adua: 'I am alive'
Obasanjo: 'What are you doing?'
Yar'Adua: 'I am laughing.'
The President, looking directly at the crowd: 'He is laughing ha! ha!! ha!!!'"

You gotta love that country, its so tragic it's funny. No wonder Nigeria is the happiest country on earth...

Ghana Celebrates

“It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else” - Kwame Nkrumah


Jeremy Paxman had Cameron Duodu (the renown Ghanaian journalist and writer) on BBC2's newsnight last night along with journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
The discussion was about Ghana's 50th independence anniversary and the disappointment of other "independent" African countries

Paxman in his usual condescending way wondered if there was anything worth celebrating considering how poor Africans are despite independence while Yasmin felt that after 50 years Africans had themselves to blame for the current state of affairs.

Cameron Duodu made some valid points especially regarding comparisons of African countries with other former british colonies like India, Malyasia and Singapore, by pointing out that these countries had their own written languages (prior to colonisation) and their economy was built on their own culture and language while African economies are still largely based on European exploitation which has not changed despite "independence".

Ghana definitely has a lot to celebrate, as the first sub-Saharan country to break from Britain it prompted many others to seek independence in the following years. The country has been through a lot and despite its history it is doing well (at least compared to other west African countries).

Shame we can't say the same about naija but i'm sure we'll get there someday...

-------------------------
And the most emailed story on the BBC site since yesterday is
(yeah you guessed right, another amusing story about naija)

"Welcome to the animal kingdom where man pikin dey show dog pepper"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6419041.stm

I don't know what the big deal is when dog meat is also a delicacy in many other parts of the world, even here in Europe (Switzerland)

as far as i'm concerned its just another excuse for the BBC to give a dog a bad name (forgive the pun)

The Last days

sElection 2007(50 days(state)/57 days(federal) to go)
part of a series of blog entries on the Nigerian elections in April 2007.

I thought i might as well join the whole 'last 100 days of Obj's regime' bandwagon, as of today i think there's roughly 96 days left.
The feeling is quite similar to IBB's last days back in 93, when everybody couldn't wait for him to go and then he pulled a fast one on Nigerians and left them with Abacha. No one knows what Obj has up his sleeves, he has already described the April elections as a do or die affair... (Actually this was taken out of context but what did he expect) .
Anyway me i don't know why people are making noise and comparing Obj to Abacha, methinks that is so unfair to Abacha....
anywaaay sha
By may 29, Obj would have ruled naija for 11 years (1976 - 1979, 1999 - 2007), making him the longest serving leader in naija's turbulent history. Lets hope his likes never rule the country again..

Meanwhile his deputy was in town talking about Naija's DemoCrazy...

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Atiku at Chatham House

Abubakar Atiku was at Chatham house on wednesday to give a speech on the 'Challenges for Nigeria after the election'.

Unfortunately i couldn't attend the event, it would have been a great place to practice how to throw rotten eggs.
here's the transcript of the speech he gave yesterday
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/meeting_transcripts/200207abubakar.pdf

I take it he has a great speech writer but he still has not said much about the allegations of corruption made against him. If he is really interested in "attacking corruption head-on" he should start by showing evidence of where he got the money to start his American style university - ABTI and where he got the funds to buy the multimillion-dollar mansion in Potomac Maryland in 2000.

In the speech Atiku claims
"I have been humbled by the ravages of debilitating poverty and I know what it means to go hungry.
I have diligently served my country in the public sector for over 20 years before successfully venturing into private business and professional politics. I have over 20 years of cognate experience as a tested and committed democrat and politician, the last 8 years of which I have served as Vice-President of our country sometimes, even, under the most harrowing and trying of circumstances."

"the ravages of debilitating poverty"
really, this is from a guy who paid $1.7 million for a house in the US.
Anyway it's pointless talking about Atiku, its not as if he can even contest to be the next president

No hablo espanol

No hablo espanol (i don't speak spanish)
followed closely by habla usted ingles (do you speak english) seems to be the only sentences i've said since we got to spain. I guess we have the brits to thank for creating a situation where you travel to a foreign country and expect them to speak English.


Little Britain



No visit to the costa del sol is complete without a trip to Gibraltar (nicknamed little britain) a british crown colony seized from the spaniards over 300 years ago.
You can tell the spaniards are still pissed about it as you have to go through "delays" at passport control to get into the colony.


Pic: The Rock of Gibraltar (seen from La linea)






The place is so small that the main road into the colony crosses over the airport runway (the road has to be closed whenever a plane lands)

But i digress, after hearing the full history of Gibraltar you kind of feel sorry for the spaniards but then you realise that spain has done the same thing to Morocco.
Ceuta and Melilla are two spanish enclaves on the African continent and its pretty obvious they are part of Morocco (abi spain reach Africa??)


Pic: Airport runway (seen from the top of the Rock)