Write-The-Future! Win N5 MILLION!

The Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation has commissioned Write-The-Future - a national competition in search of the best national development manifesto for the people of Nigeria written by a Nigerian.

The well-researched manifesto must have a bias for welfare and people-centered policies touching on all key areas of national development. Submissions must be presented with evidences of research, relevant data, facts and figures, references with a very practical outlook of issues addressed. Entries must be written in very readable and straightforward language.

The adjudged winner(s) of the Write-The-Future competition will be awarded a cash prize of N5 million (Five Million Naira) at the end of the competition when all entries have been assessed by a select panel of seasoned Nigerian technocrats, politicians and professionals. Aside from individual authorship of manifesto, joint authorships by a group or team are welcome though the same cash prize of N5 million will be awarded to whichever individual, group or team emerges as winner.

All entries should be sent to writethefuture@delemomodu2011.com and must reach the Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation on or before Monday 13th December, 2010.

NOTE: Participation is FREE and requires no registration. All entries become properties of the Write-The-Future Competition on the point of submission.

For more information, please visit www.delemomodu2011.com/writethefuture OR CALL 08123308670, 08055069220

SING4VOTE AND WIN N2.5 MILLION, N1.5 MILLION, N1 MILLION!

SING4VOTE AND WIN N2.5 MILLION, N1.5 MILLION, N1 MILLION!

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE? VERY SIMPLE. FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:

1. Any one can participate. Create and produce a none-minute song (jingle) in Pidgin, English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and any other Nigerian language of your choice for the Dele Momodu 2011 presidential campaign. The recorded song (jingle) should end with "OUR TIME HAS COME. VOTE FOR CHANGE. VOTE DELE MOMODU FOR PRESIDENT, 2011."

2. Write in not more than one hundred (100) words a music video concept for your recorded song (jingle).

3. Send the recorded song (jingle) in MP3 format along with the music video concept, your full names, phone number and address to sing4vote@delemomodu2011.com

4. Wait for the announcement of the thirty (30) shortlisted entries. They will be contacted and invited to a live event in Lagos where they will compete for the final three (3) winning positions.

NOTE; PARTICIPATION is FREE and open to all Nigerians both at home and in diaspora. ALL entries automatically become properties of the SING4VOTE Competition on the point of submission.

Deadline for submission is Tuesday 30th November, 2010.

For more information, visit www.delemomodu2011.com/sing4vote or call 08123308670, 08025367571.

N5 Million to be won in the Write-The-Future Presidential Manifesto Competition

N5 Million to be won in the Write-The-Future Presidential Manifesto Competition

Coming a day after it unveiled the SING4VOTE competition - a competition in search of the best presidential campaign jingle and music video concept for the Dele Momodu 2011 presidential aspiration, the Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation has commissioned Write-The-Future - a national competition in search of the best national development manifesto for the people of Nigeria written by a Nigerian.

The well-researched manifesto must have a bias for welfare and people-centered policies touching on all key areas of national development. Submissions must be presented with evidences of research, relevant data, facts and figures, references as well as a very practical outlook. Entries must be written in very readable and straightforward language.

The adjudged winner(s) of the Write-The-Future competition will be awarded a cash prize of N5 million (Five Million Niara) at the end of the competition when all entries have been assessed by a select panel of seasoned Nigerian technocrats, politicians and professionals. Aside from individual authorship of manifesto, joint authorships by a group or team are welcome though the same cash prize of N5 million will be awarded to whichever individual, group or team emerges as winner.

All entries should be sent to writethefuture@delemomodu2011.com and must reach the Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation on or before Monday 13th December, 2010.

In a statement issued from the Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation, National Coordinator of the campaign, Ohimai Godwin Amaize said these two competitions were part of Bashorun Dele Momodu's vision of reaching out to the Nigerian people both young and old in a bid to encourage widespread people participation in the shaping of our nation's future. "The SING4VOTE and Write-The-Future competitions speak volumes about the type of governance the people of Nigeria will experience under a Dele Momodu presidency. Ours will be a people-centered government that speaks to the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian people at all levels," he said.

Date of the formal launch of the Write-The-Future Presidential Manifesto Competition will be announced soon.

Tahir didn't deserve to die

Tahir Hassan Zakari Biu was too much a fine gentleman to have been wasted just like that. He was an amiable young man who put smiles on the faces of all those around him. He was lively. He always spoke to me and his friends about his dream of a new Nigeria. I first met Tahir in 2007 during my national youth service at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abuja. Memories. I remember those days very well now. It's just like yesterday. We became friends in a few weeks of my arrival at the Commission and enjoyed such a warm relationship thereafter. Under the mentorship of Dapo Olorunyomi, the then Chief of Staff who was our boss, we became a family of young people; myself, Tahir, Abdul Elayo, Oby, Kalu, Sunday Ogidigbo - altogether young people with a dream and passion to build a new Nigeria.

The incident that caused Tahir's passing has thrown up a lot of questions on my mind. How could this happen right at the center of the nation's federal capital territory with all the security around? What was done about the warning issued by the perpetrators of this heinous crime? Now what was MEND trying to achieve by wasting the lives of innocent Nigerian citizens? Tahir and all others who died were not the problem. They are not the root of the problem. They didn't deserve to die. They didn't have to be sacrificed on the altar of Niger-Delta politics just like that. If it is frightening how life has become so cheap in Nigeria, it is even more dreadful that no one, not even those in authority are safe.

What a shame. At the tender age of 27, Tahir's dream of a new Nigeria has been cut short by the failings of the same system he believed so much in. It was enough that some of us thought there was nothing really spectacular to celebrate about Nigeria at 50. Still, we believed and expressed hope in the possibility of a new dawn only to be thrown into mourning with this irredeemable loss on a day we mustered faith to celebrate 50 years of great expectations.

When the news hit me last night, I was too dazed, too shocked to cry. But this morning, I wept like a baby. I remembered my last phone conversation with Tahir, just about three weeks ago. He was teasing me; "Ohi, I hear you are with Dele Momodu. You won't come and support Mallam? We dey miss you here o." He said that in reference to the former EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and I replied, laughing, telling him not to worry because we were one big family though we were on opposite sides of the 2011 presidential campaign.

I use to help Tahir with his Facebook; he knew I was very active online and gave me his account details so I could do for him some of the things he couldn't do by himself. This morning, logging into that Facebook account threw me into deeper grief. I just can't believe he's gone...

I pray for his parents, his widow (they wedded only last year) and their little baby girl. Only the Almighty God can grant them the strength to bear this loss.

The time has come for us to wake up from our apathy as a people. Today, it's Tahir. We don't know when the next bomb will explode, where it will explode and who will be the next victim. The future of Nigeria is in the hands of its people. If we can rise in 2011 to determine with our votes, a new set of credible leaders who can give us a future, Tahir and all those who have died as a result of the failure of the Nigerian system, would not have died in vain.