I bet you did not even know your constitution was amended!

I am sure you did not know that the laws that govern all of us are going through a process of amendment. I am sure you were too busy to participate in the amendment process. The Federal lawmakers went round the country and had those 'public hearings'. They took the suggestions, went back to Abuja and came up with something that reflected their own selfish ends. What do you expect from a set of people who have killed the Freedom of Information Bill and the Anti-Corruption Bill. They changed the laws and sent the proposals to the State Assemblies. At the State Assemblies, most of the states rushed through- Kogi finished with the amendments in 24 hours! That was supposed to be our last chance to arrest this charade but again we were too busy. We had to go to work, we did not demand to interrogate the proposals in our States and demand that our States do not 'rubber-stamp'! Now they have finished the process and we are still too busy to view the amendments. We will still be too busy until they use the laws to clamp all of us away and until they do not allow us to go to the things that made us too busy in the first place. For all of us, citizens who are too busy to do much, here is to you. Please read these amendments and see what happened when we were too busy.

Section 66

Panel indictment can no longer be used to disqualify candidates.

Section 69
Recall of any member of house of representatives/senate will no longer go through a referendum.

Section 75
1991 census not to be used as basis for delineating constituencies. Latest census figures should be used.

Section 81
Financial autonomy for judiciary, INEC and National Assembly

Section 84
Financial autonomy for the remuneration and recurrent expenditure of INEC board members.

Section 110
Recall of any member of state house of assembly will no longer go through a referendum.

Section 132
Presidential election to hold 120-150 days to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent.

Section 135
No tenure extension for a president who wins a rerun election. Can serve only a maximum of four years (for a term).

Section 145
If the president does not transmit a vacation letter within 21 days, the N’Assembly will pass a resolution making the VP acting president.

Section 156
Members of federal executive bodies, including INEC, must not be belong to any political party.

Section 160
INEC to make rules for itself without presidential interference.

Section 178
Governorship election to hold 120-150 days to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent.

Section 180
No tenure extension for sitting governors who win rerun elections. Can serve only a maximum of four years (for a term) in total.

Section 190
If the gov does not transmit vacation letter within 21 days, state assembly will pass a resolution making the deputy gov the acting gov.

Section 200
Members of state executive bodies, including the electoral commission, must not belong to any political party.

Section 239
Appeal Court to be the first court of jurisdiction for petitions on: president, vice-president, gov and deputy gov.

Kwara House of Assembly Passes Pension Bill- The Most Selfish Bill I have seen in a While

For a State that depends on Money from the Federal Government Here are some of the Key Issues;

1. 100% of the salaries of the Governor and His Deputy

2. Six Cars with a Pilot Car

3. Eight Security Men

4. 1 house in Abuja and Ilorin

5. Furniture Allowance every 2 years

6. Free Medical Service for the Family

7. Yearly Holiday outside Nigeria

So who is the Servant and who is being Served?

Whether you have been indicted or not, you can still contest for elections in Nigeria, the Senate amends the constitution

The excuse here is that the clause is a repetition and that there is another clause in the same section that covers this.

Lawyers????????

The Minister for Power should resign right NOW!

6,500 MW, now 2,700 MW, what a shame!!!

South Africa's ESKOM generates 98% of the power requirements for South Africa and 60% of Africa's. ESKOM has generating capacity of about 40,000 MW. 89.1% from coal-fired generating plants.

40,000 MW vs 2,700 MW.

ESKOM currently supplies power to Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe. Maybe Nigeria should join the list. There is no way this country can develop without electricity.

That is why the GDP for South Africa in 2009(in millions of dollars) is 277,400 and Nigeria is 165,400. When you look at the GDP per capita which divides the GDP by the population, South Africa (estimate for 2009) was $5,700 while Nigeria (estimate for 2009) is a mere $1,100.

We are not producing enough and there is no way we can do that without a good electricity infrastructure.

How can you make a change?

YOU MUST REGISTER OR CHECK YOUR DETAILS ON THE INEC REGISTER WHENEVER THEY START THE EXERCISE. IF YOU DO NOT REGISTER, YOU HAVE CASTRATED YOURSELF!!!

You Must Register to Vote, or else, you are officially Castrated!!!

The fuel queues have now stayed with us for over three months. Petrol stations who sell now sell at N80 or N85 (you buy for your car and buy for your generators). The president has been away for over two months and the politicians have continued to play with our collective destinies. MEND is going back to the creeks. Religious violence in Jos. Even in Lagos, the 'godfather' don vex.

The only solution is the ballot box. If you do not register to vote when registration opens, you have simply 'castrated' yourself. If you do not register, you can only bark, you will not be able to bite.

Get as many people as possible to register when they open the register.

The Freedom of Information Bill once Again Rejected by the House of Reps: What Can we do?

The FOI Bill has been rejected for the 8th Time. Here are some options;

1. Begin to Recall Members of the House of Reps and they will begin to consult their constituencies before taking a stand.

Section 69 of the 1979 Constitution says, ' A member of the Senate or the House of Representatives may be Recalled as such a member if-

a. there is presented to the Chairman of the INEC a petition in that behalf signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member's constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member

b. The petition is thereafter , in a referendum conducted by INEC within 90 days of the date of receipt of the petition, approved by a simple majority of the votes of the person registered to vote in that member's constituency.

I wonder what the media houses are waiting for?

Finally, everything begins with registration. Are you registered to vote in your constituency? If not, you must register in the next registration window.

We have the power to ensure that the members of the Senate or House of Reps really represent us and not themselves.

What do you say?

Welcome On Board

Over the years, I have watched as educated Nigerians, the so-called Elites have continued to complain about the way things are going in the country without really making any suggestions. They have continued to complain without really stepping forward to take part in the democratic process. Long fuel queues, no power at home and at work. The discussions have been passionate but they need to be more directional- moving us forward. I also realised that the word 'Revolution' has been echoed over and over again. Yes, I think we need a revolution but I think we need a different kind of revolution- A Civic and Ethical Revolution. Civic because I have realised that a lot of us do not even know our rights based on the constitution and ethical because a lot of us have lost our values and our responsibility to the society. Therefore, I decided to pick up a copy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to read and to pick out interesting sections that I will throw open for the millions of powerful people who have decided not to use their power. Hopefully, this will create a spark that will combine with other sparks. Please note that I am not a lawyer. I will read the Constitution like a 'layman' and I will explain like a layman. If you are a lawyer and you want to deepen these conversations, please join us, you will be joining the sparks until we can make a fire. Probably, if we all know the power that we have under the law, we may just begin to act to make Nigeria better instead of waiting for others to act.