Thursday, May 15, 2008

Dimeji Bankole on Hard Talk



You can watch it again on Nkem's blog here. Is there a stronger version of the word 'smug'?

26 comments:

Anonymous,  9:06 am  

You mean Mr. Bankole is smug? Frankly, the interview made me throw up: revolting dishonest rogue with his Oxbridge/Ivy-League degrees thinks he has a birthright to steal from a brainless populace. Yuk, yuk and yuk.

With friends like that slinky bastard, who needs enemies.


A fine product of the chop-I-chop politicians in Nigeria. I was shocked when he defended Iyabo the rogue. What an ansolute twat. Ewu!

If he had met Tim Sebastien, choiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Sebastien would have roasted him alive. Olodo rabata.

Anonymous,  1:55 pm  

ahn ahn..anonymous! Bankole definitely smug, and you might indeed have found him revolting. however to call him a dishonest rogue is really at this point, slander. a wild accusation with no basis in fact.
Slinky bastard? ohmigod, the gentleman truly dost offend.
pele...

also he didnt offend iyabo, he just didnt condemn her, which we pretty all expected him to. but in reality, he is right to leave it to the courts, and his glib "non-condemnation" is Politics 101.

Give the brother a break.. he just really enjoyed being on International TV, and thought he did well and it showed. S M U G!

Anonymous,  1:56 pm  

dang, i shoulda previewewd. can you change "offend" above to defend? ta.

Waffarian 2:32 pm  

I am leaving the same comment I left on Nkem's.


Heheheheheeh. Yeah, his facial expressions were quite irritating, I thought he was about to ask Steve for a date at any minute! The raised eyebrows, the arrogant smile...the cocking of the head to one side...where did he think he was? any minute i thought he'll be munching on peanuts and groping poor Steve.

Anyway, apart from the fact that at least he can speak English(I still have nightmares about Kalu Orji on hardtalk), I am not really sure...too diplomatic for me...we've seen this all before....need some one with bloody passion in that fucking country.

Thanks for posting.

Harry-Rami Itie 2:39 pm  

love your blog...it is awesome

gungun 4:11 pm  

I thought it was a brilliant interview. Facial expressions and smugness aside, the substance of the debate was profound and his answers were mostly devoid of sentiment. The jury is still out on this administration, but I think he helped rather than hurt their case.

He didn't defend Iyabo, rather he gave an appropriate response. Also, regarding the NLC/TUC issue, I believe his response was accurate. You may not agree with the man, but he is quite correct in pointing out that we need strong institutions rather than than individuals.

omidanbellafricaine 4:24 pm  

Ok so i've not even seen the damn video but the look on his face is definitely smug

internationalhome 6:58 pm  

@ anon 2: He was arrogant and smug. He automatically acquired the title of ole when he became a Nigerian politician, something he doesn't outrightly deny, steven sucker did ask! That said, his political speak was impressive though, he didn't answer a single question!

Anonymous,  7:17 pm  

OBJ was crude! Orji Kalu was crass! Now Dimeji is smug!

Nija people are so good at chopping off their own at the knees. So much gripe, so much bad belle.

To the ever negative dogonyaro bitter whiners, what have you done to make Nija a better place apart from visit blogs to vent? At least Mr Bankole offered himself for public service, a step up from the sitting-at-a-pc-forver complaining crowd.

lola,  7:38 pm  

i don't know, its kind of difficult to deal with the condescension of the media when it comes to Nigeria without trying to surpass them in arrogance. its kind of the way that if you're too meek at the embassy they assume they can push you about... its just a fact of dealing with bigoted brits, you have to match their throwing their weight about. No offence to your british sensibilities, Jeremy.

Anonymous,  7:46 pm  

he appeared smug but the substance of the interview was enlightening. if it was a radio interview most people would walk away impressed by him

Chanteuse,  7:53 pm  

I didn't think he was smug although he was very very very self-assured. Maybe we're saying the same thing, no?

Anyways, he speaks pretty well but as my friend informed me, what else do you expect from a millionaire son of a millionaire father.

He was very diplomatic and sometimes you wished he'd actually verbally indict someone.

He seemed slightly antagonistic, like, he was just waiting for the interviewer to say one wrong word and he'd (journalist, that is) get chewed out.

That's what I thought sha. But he speaks well, gotta grant him that.

Anonymous,  10:15 pm  

Guys,
Maybe his facial expression looked smug. Fine.

But you all are being un objective here. It was a substantive discussion. Stop the name calling.

If you have issues with the substance of what he said, then put it out there.

At least, he didn't go disgrace and present a House Speaker with no brains.

He acted as a politician, but a smart one, and none of you have proof of what you're calling him.

bee,  3:29 am  

smug my a**. he's well-spoken and intelligent and those 2 things are very often mistaken for smugness. this won't be the first time or the last time. forgive the man if his agenda wasn't to kiss ass. he did a fantastic job in my opinion, and that's SO bloody sexy to me right now, LOL. what was he supposed to do? sit there looking like a third world wretch? so what was the essence of his extensive education if he's not allowed to have opinions and express himself? the world can't keep thinking we're a society of imbeciles who have nothing intelligent or worthwhile to say. he didn't buckle under the badgering and that's to be commended. if we keep acting like fools, we're going to keep being treated like fools. there's firm and there's smug. two very different things. and even if he is/was smug, i find his brand of smugness incredibly gratifying. this is the new face of nigeria, and there's a lot of pride to be had in that.

yemisi ogbe 5:30 am  

Who caught the answer to the question of why he is a politician? A result of his british education and because he comes from a family of politicians; pedigree and more pedigree. Or the response to 300people dying during the elections "no one wants that" I love the way he hardly allowed the questions to be asked, but always jumped in with "Steve...Steve..." He obviously agreed to go on because it is apparent that he can hold his own. I watched the interview hoping he wouldn't say anything irredeemably stupid, and at the end of it, I wished he had been a little stupid, and not so devious. We are asked to come and show a sincere face to the world and we send an aristocrat, a poser, someone who feels that his british education is a medal. Someone should have made him sit through past Hardtalks, and learn that it is rarely as much about the answers to the questions as the way the questions are answered. My favourite of course is the one about the Chinese, and how we don't like the way they do business.

Anonymous,  10:44 am  

good interview. that whole interaction tells you everything you need to know about the state of the game of public life today. Steven sackur did his job REALLY well.

as for bankole's performance, B-grade. His strong points - unruffled, had some figures at his fingertips, and most important of all, conceded the indefensible rather than losing credibility trying to defend it. EG straight admitted that he was one who would be biased cos he benefitted from elections, and admitted that he can't comment on Iyabo cos they're homies. Ah, the travails of a man with two godfathers...

weak points - slow start. uneccesarily fumbled the elections thing, he could have just gone straight to the court outcomes. ummed and erred and generalised a bit too much before getting into his stride. and his physical stature. shiny tubby politicians who hestitate to answer the question 'are you one of those who enter politics for personal gain'??? A BIG no-no. want to know why the west loves giving Rwanda money REALLY? cos paul kagame's so skinny. But considering he's hardly used to being given a proper grilling by the brown-envelope settled media naija-side, i think he did his job well.

Anonymous,  12:54 pm  

bee, 'it was so bloody sexy'?


When you start thinking with your brain and not your vee-jay-jay, perhaps you'll watch the interview again with a more objective eye. Ewu.

Beauty 1:28 pm  

The Hon Dimeji Bankole talks hard to Stephen Sackur is the headline here. Eloquence and dignity with fire fire fire worked well in the face of difficult questions. I think he has put forward a case for delivery on the current House of Representatives.

Communicating ideas and presenting yourself well is a mark of leadership.

Anonymous,  5:17 pm  

Well said Lola, so the guy did not let the moderator get away with insulting Nigeria and our Govt. past and present. If that makes him smug then we need more of him in Nigeria.

Sugabelly 5:08 am  

I could have slapped the pompous bastard. Oh my goodness.

Anonymous,  9:54 am  

Thank u o lola, gungun and anon 5.17: for nigerians who live abroad theya re always hungry to see our politicians embarrased that any departure from that scenario is so intenseley hated.. It is shameful. And to jeremy's question: something stronger than smug would be naijablog's opinions on a well-handles, self-assured interview. Hiss!

Afolabi 6:18 am  

Regarding deaths due to elections as just "casualties" or even referring to rural villages as "obscure" and his expressions show a bit of detachment on his side.
He was very sharp and quick in answering questions passed to him.

Funmi,  5:48 pm  

What is this nonsense about putting Nigeria down?

So being able to respond accurately to questions without acting like the stupid cat that got the cream is putting Nigeria up? How about responding to the question and remaining humble? He had public school education and that inspired him to be a politician. Come again?

Prat!

tps360 8:59 am  

scared huh? i watched a lil bit of his interview on YOUTUBE. HE WAS Scared of offending Iyabo abd never condemned her...

salewa,  10:11 pm  

HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY CALL DIMEJI BANKOLE A SMUG?THATS THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIANS, WE NEVER APPRECIATE GOOD THINGS,THIS IS A WELL POLISHED GUY WITH GOOD VISION FOR THIS COUNTRY AND ALSO MAKING US (NIGERIANS) PROUD AND ALL WE CAN DO IS CALL HIM NAMES....NO MIND DEM,RIDE ON DIMEJI.

Anonymous,  4:26 am  

LOOK AT THAT NAGGER SLINK HES GUNNA PLEASURE JOHN DUONG WITH HIS LIPSTICK

About This Blog

  © Blogger templates Psi by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP