2009 AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR!!!!!

Its all over and we now know that Yves Didier Drogba defied stiff opposition from Eto'o and Essien to grab the 2009 African player of the year title awarded by CAF barely two(2) months after the BBC world service gave a strong signal by crowning him African best player of the year on the 10th of January 2010!
Here below, are arguments for Eto'o and Drogba.....please find time to read through and see for yourself where you align!

Have a great weekend celebrating Africa's talents!!!



Why I'd vote for Drogba


He's petulant, controversial but a great player and that's why BBC Fast Track's Mohamed Fajah Barrie is rooting for Didier Drogba.

I would vote for Drogba because of his consistency in scoring vital goals - goals which have made the difference for both Chelsea and Ivory Coast.

He doesn't just score goals - he creates them for his team mates too.


Undoubtedly Didier Drogba has had a remarkable year. Over the past 12 months, the Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker has proved, once again, that he is central to the ambitions of both club and country.

He has shown that, when on form, there are few goalscorers who can match him in terms of power, vision and persistence. And he has demonstrated, all too publicly, that he can be arrogant and rude.

He has strength and power, but he has grace and guile too. He has the ability to unleash a rocket of a shot, but can also provide a delicate and decisive touch.

Petulant but great

He is fabulous to watch and he is the main reason why Chelsea are currently leading the Premier league table this season.

So now to the downside - Drogba's amazing talent is paired with a fiery temper and a petulance which does him no credit.

His expletive fuelled rant about the referee, following Chelsea's elimination from the last season's Champions League, live into a television camera, was seen by millions – and a three match ban swiftly followed.

Despite his obvious strength he still has a reputation among fans and media for going to ground too easily and recently was booked in a game against Manchester United for diving despite being getting a boot in the chest.

Good or bad, it is impossible to ignore Didier Drogba and he deserves his place on the shortlist for BBC African Footballer of the year!







Why I'd vote for Samuel Eto'o

I would vote for Samuel Eto'o because the Cameroonian always represents his teams with ambition and pride.

His goal tally is virtually second to none and even after Barcelona tried to sell him in the European summer of 2007, the wiry striker responded with little animosity and great character by displaying his worth on the field.


In just 36 league games Eto'o found the back of the net a whacking 30 times, while his half dozen in the Champions League included one to help see off Manchester United in the final.

After being compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the man for whom he was swapped between Barca and Inter Milan, Eto'o settled matters at his first press conference in typically punchy fashion.

"I'm Samuel Eto'o and don't want to compare myself to anyone. I believe the victories I have earned up to now can contribute to giving the right value to my name," he said.

And at international level, his reputation has rarely been higher.

He has been an impressive leader of Cameroon and assumed the captaincy of the Indomitable Lions smoothly and promptly.

He helped steering the 'Germans' of the continent from disaster to triumph in World Cup qualifying.

His nomination among Fifa's 23-man shortlist for the 2009 World Footballer of the Year is thus richly deserved.

And in a time of footballing mercenaries, it's pleasing to think the lithe striker is talking about ending his career with Spanish side Real Mallorca, where his European odyssey really took off.

Finally, it's hard to believe that Eto'o's cabinet locker shines with Olympic, Champions League and Nations Cup medals - but still no BBC African Footballer of the Year award

Nigerians want to see their President!!!!

POLICE BAR PROTESTERS FROM GOING TO ASO ROCK

By Idris Akinbajo
March 11, 2010 05:45AM
Thousands of Nigerians who joined the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) to protest the continued absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua were stopped by the police from taking their protest to the Presidential Villa yesterday in Abuja. This is the second protest organised by group in Abuja,
“Section 144 must be invoked,” Yinka Odumakin, the group’s spokesperson, said. “We are tired of a president we cannot see. We need a president we can see, who can talk to us, who can govern. Not one they will be telling us that he said; somebody saw him drinking tea, somebody saw him playing with his grand children. We want to see him and if we cannot see him, we want a functional president.
Diary of a protest
The protesters had trickled in, first in dozens and then in hundreds, to the Unity Statue, beside the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, to demonstrate their displeasure at the state of affairs in the nation.
Buses from Lagos later arrived, bringing in more protesters. Carrying placards with different inscriptions, such as ‘Jonathan, Get decisive now;’ ‘We must know Umaru’s health status;’ and ‘Turai, leave Nigeria alone,’ the protesters patiently listened to the speakers.
But just as they began their march to the villa, they were stopped. John Ahmadu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, explained to the leaders of the SNG that the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, was on his way to the nearby Transcorp Hilton Hotel, and the protesters had to wait for his motorcade to pass. The protesters reacted with loud crises, but Mr. Ahmadu stood his ground.
“We are here to give you all the necessary protection while you march,” he said. “Because we want to take care of those who may want to hijack your good intentions for a bad intention, please we urge you to go with our people orderly. Until you leave, we shall not stand down.”
The march continued after Mr. Jonathan’s passage and the crowd, now split into about three sections, sang choruses to show their displeasure.
The protesters were, however, stopped again when they got to the Bullet Junction that leads to the presidential villa. They were told by the police boss that they could not go beyond that point.
After over 20 minutes of waiting at the point, and placating speeches by their leaders such as Tunde Bakare, Femi Falana, Najatu Mohammed, and Abdur-Rahman Ahmad, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, arrived to receive the protesters message.
‘This is our message’
“When we received your request that you will like to hand over a letter to Acting President Jonathan, he directed the Secretary to the Government, in my own person, to come and receive it. I find it very easy and natural to come and face you because yours is a demonstration of democracy in action in Nigeria,” Mr. Ahmed said, despite being booed all the way by angry protesters.
“Your three basic demands are noted,” he said. “One, you want to know the status of your president; it is because you love your president that you want to know his status, because you elected him. Secondly, you want us to take constitutional ways of dealing with it. This government is a creation of the constitution and we will do what the constitution says. Thirdly, we are aware of your concern regarding credible election in this country. Only two weeks ago, the Acting President handed over, again, Uwais committee report unedited, to the National Assembly.”
An assembly of drama
The protesters then moved to the National Assembly to submit the same demands, only to yet again be stopped at the gates by stern looking mobile policemen.
Despite several minutes of discussion between the SNG leaders and the police, the protesters were not allowed into the compound of the National Assembly. But for the intervention of Messrs. Falana and Bakare, the protesters were ready to confront the police.
“Their (members of the National Assembly) days are numbered,” an angry Mr. Bakare declared. “Whether by election or by divine intervention, their days in the National Assembly are numbered. Since they refused to allow Nigerians, for whom the institution is built, to enter their premises, they can die inside. Nigeria will flourish again. Nigeria will conquer our conquerors.”
When contacted, however, the leadership of the Senate denied issuing orders to security officials to bar the protesters from entering into the premises of the National Assembly.
The Senate’s deputy spokesman, Anthony Manzo, said “Certainly, Wole Soyinka and his group are welcome anytime. We are ready to receive anybody that embarks on meaningful protest.”
However, the police officers had claimed they were acting on the orders of the leadership. Two rows of the officers interlocked their elbows to form a formidable barricade.
The Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, Okere Emeka, who is in charge of the security of the complex, was not immediately reachable to clarify who gave the orders to bar the protesters.
One of the demands of the Save Nigeria Group is that the lawmakers should begin the process to remove Mr. Yar’Adua from office. Mr. Manzo however said the Senate is not contemplating that yet.

The World's richest Person for 2010 is not an American!!

The Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest people in 2010 has been released and Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has been named the world's richest person, having an estimated fortune of $53.5 billion, higher by $18.5 billion than the previous year, and jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list.

The 2010 list consists of names of 1,011 billionaires and a combined net worth of $3.6 trillion, while in 2009, the total net worth identified was $2.4 trillion. This year names of 218 new billionaires have been added.

Source: Forbes.com

Italy set to experiment against Cameroon - USATODAY.com

Italy set to experiment against Cameroon - USATODAY.com

Cameroonians alongside many other African countries will during this year(2010) organise festive ceremoines to mark the celebration of 50 years of independence.

Beyond the folklore and speech making that is going to caracterize these celebrations, what can we say is our balance sheet?

Can we say that in 50 years progress has been made in the fields of Leadership, constitutional democracy,humanrights and development in all its facets?