The Nation Newspaper

Tag: berate

  • Nigerians berate Oritsefemi for ‘I’m the best Nigerian artiste’ comment

    Nigerian fans have shaded singer Oritsefemi for saying he is the best artiste ever to come out of the country.

    The musician who got national fame with the release of his song, ‘Double Wahala’ made the declaration on Twitter.

    “I know some people will be waiting for me to buy dem car before dey play my songs that I just drop lately,” he tweeted.

    “Later still give all the award to dem people too… am still the best artist Nigeria has produced.. from me as a 7yr old boy till date still I sing.”

    In another tweet, he posted “Hypocrites,” before he tweeted another post, “Them sha no fit pursue me for my own country, that na one thing I knw for sure.”

    However, many Nigerians threw flaks at him.

    A poster, igwegeorgiano, on Nairaland, wrote, ‘just wondering which brand of weed oritsefemi smoke. if u re the greatest artist ever then where will you keep the likes of king sunny ade, ebenezer obey etc?.’

    Another Nairaland poster, Alejoc, wrote: ‘Anybody is free to say anything!.’

    However, few posters like Bustinsole supported Oritsefemi’s criticisms.

    “Nothin work in Naija xcept u bribe ur way in,” he said, “das d logic.”

  • Northern elders berate Clark, SNPA over alleged collusion with INEC

    Northern elders berate Clark, SNPA over alleged collusion with INEC

    The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday lashed out at  the Edwin Clark-led Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) for claiming that  the NEF connived  with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the 2015 presidential elections in favour of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari.

    The Deputy leader of the NEF, Dr. Paul Unongo, told reporters in Abuja that the SNPA’s allegations were a camouflage to scuttle the elections and promote tenure elongation for an “extremely unpopular administration.”

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, according to him, is angry with the NEF because of the group’s fierce resistance to being used as “cheer leaders by a comatose and clueless administration.”

    The SNPA had, in an advertorial signed by Chief Clark, ex-Vice President Alex Ekwueme and Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, accused the NEF of holding clandestine meetings with INEC with a view to rigging the coming election in favour of Buhari.

    Unongo said there were no such meetings and dismissed the allegation as wild, completely false, irrational and irresponsible.

    He said that the NEF worked hard and initially cultivated a practical relationship with the “reluctant, insensitive Jonathan Presidency” which helped to promote national unity and harmony only for the government to turn “deaf and incredibly insensitive on a range of issues, including how to tackle the intractable insurgency.”

    He added: “We were rebuffed but persisted in our efforts, with copious memos and consultations, right up to the D-day of the emergence of the SNPA sponsored write-up, we are now responding to.

    “NEF believes that what annoyed and irritated this administration with our organisation and with members of NEF is our fierce resistance to being absorbed as ‘cheer leaders’ of an administration which appears objectively comatose and clueless in problem solving using massive graft, ethnicity, nepotism and impunity to induce, ‘elders’ critical institutions of state power, restive youth and super impoverished citizenry to join in self-deception-mass delusion of a better tomorrow, just around the corner.”

  • Youths berate PDP over attack on Tinubu, Buhari

    Youths’ groups, under the aegis of Conscience of The Society, have decried the recent attack by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on two leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, saying it was “disgusting and idiotic”.

    They also referred to the PDP “as a nest of disgruntled, corrupt and unprincipled elements, whose stock-in-trade is self-centredness, ineptitudes, disregard for human dignity and conscienceless administration”.

    The youths, who are from the 33 local government areas of Oyo State, spoke yesterday at a forum in Ogbooro, Orelope Local Government Area.

    They noted that the persecution and calumny against the APC leaders showed that the “Presidency and the ruling autocratic party, called the PDP, are hide-bounded hegemonies, which go all out to stifle the opposition, no matter the incidental inconveniences”.

    The Protem Chairman of the groups, Mr Adams Oju-Oluwa, cited what is happening all over the world, particularly in Arab countries.

    He said the people were fighting for liberty, which also showed that developing countries, including Nigeria, need to be cautious about governance.

    The youth leader said the ruling PDP has not done anything about the people’s welfare.

    Oju-Oluwa said: “Of all the political signatories in Nigeria today, most Nigerians, and even the outside world know that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is not only a patriotic man but his is equally altruistic in his political approach to the welfare of the Nigerian populace.

    “Since the PDP has a notion that they would rule for ever – as its common slogan – the party and the Presidency are not ready to entertain any obstacle to frustrate their ambition. However, the greatest joy is that the party (PDP) and its media are posing as if all is well that ends badly.

    “There are a number of things to tackle to make Nigeria a paradise on earth.”

    Oju-Oluwa said despite the country’s enormous human and material resources, 80 per cent of the citizens still live in poverty.

    He said there were several problems, including the Boko Haram insurgency, which has become “a glorious nuisance to the nation”.

    “Millions of our youths, who are eminently and sophisticatedly qualified to be in any employment anywhere in the world, are roaming the streets, looking for means to survive, in the midst of plenty. “Also, social infrastructure, educational institutions, hospitals and electricity are nothing to write home about,” the youth leader said.

    On the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, the aggrieved youths warned: “If Justice Salami is politically and vindictively thrown out of the Judiciary for his love for justice and sincerity, Nigeria may not be able to give a satisfactory explanation when the rains begin to fall.”

  • 2015: North’s youths berate ACF, NEF over comment

    Northern youths, under the aegis of Northern Youths Network (NYN), yesterday disassociated themselves from comments credited to some leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) seeking a return of power to the North in 2015.

    They said religion and other primordial sentiments, which northern elders whipped up in the past to sway the choices of the people during elections, must be discarded.

    NYN President, Mallam Alli Kano, in a statement in Abuja, with the Secretary, Auwalu Suleiman, said those speaking for the North on the 2015 Presidency had selfish reasons.

    The statement reads: “As a budding organisation, whose cardinal objective is to raise the level of consciousness of the average northerner, in a bid to compel a paradigm shift in the socio-economic and political affairs of Northern Nigeria in particular and the nation in general, we wish to state very clearly that ethnicity, religion and all the other primordial sentiments, which our elders have whipped up in the past to sway the choices of the people during election times must be hurriedly discarded as we prepare for the 2015 general elections. This is to ensure that credible and competent leaders will rule the nation and advance our democracy.

    “May we humbly ask: which age group constitutes the virile population of northern electorate? It is undoubtedly the youths! But have the elders considered it imperative to consult the youths with a view to harmonising positions in this pointless crave to return power to the North in 2015? No!

    “They just assume that as usual, they can set their selfish agenda and the youths, most of whom they have deliberately left impoverished, will fall in line automatically! But this time, they are in for a big surprise.

    “Experience has shown us that politics is not really a game of sentiments but of interest! Therefore, any leader who is capable of protecting and advancing the interest of the North would enjoy the support of the Northern youths.”

    The group said in the 52 years of the nation’s Independence, power at the centre has resided in the North for much longer than it has in the South.

    “But what do we have to show for it in the North?” the group asked. It added: “It is pervasive poverty, insecurity, hunger, disease, illiteracy and underdevelopment!

    “The egocentric and recycled politicians of Northern Nigeria have over the years used poverty and illiteracy as instruments of oppression to subject the majority of their fellow Northerners to be at their beck and call. Hence, they want the people to do their dirty biddings, people they do not really wish well…”