Thursday, 17 May 2012
Nigeria’s Quagmire And Okey Ndibe’s Dilemma
By Remi Oyeyemi
“We have to bring this system down completely and rebuild…Destroy it…Crash the whole thing. It is not working for Nigeria, it will not work for Nigeria.”
– Dr. Pat Utomi
One has just read the piece by Okey Ndibe entitled “Time To Destroy The Nigerian Temple?” published on several websites on March 29, 2011. His piece seemed to be a reaction to the interview granted by the respected Dr. Pat Utomi as well as the position of his friend living in South Africa who accused him of “taking a failed entity seriously, much like a man who unduly obsesses over a corpse.” The piece also suggested that Professor Ndibe, apart from the pressure from his friend and others who consider Nigeria a “corpse,” is encountering some reality checks about the Nigeria’s quagmire as a country that seemed destined to fail, and woefully too.
One of the major challenges of social critics and commentators is the intellectual responsibility they have to ensure that their positions on issues could withstand the rigors of dissection and analysis in relation to objective facts. A corollary to this challenge is the fact that they (social critics and commentators) owe the public the obligation of being a compass guiding the rest away from the rubble of confusion to a path of clarity that the society can tread for the good of the majority, if not for the good of all.
With the title given to the piece in question, it was implied that Professor Ndibe probably was in the process of reassessing the feasibility of his belief in the possible resuscitation of the “corpse” of a country that Nigeria has unarguably become, at least from one’s perspective. He seemed to be at a cross road as to whether Nigeria could or would ever make it? It was obvious that he was no longer sure whether the Christ like miracle of raising the dead could ever be possible in Nigeria’s case. But going through the body of the article, his resistance to what he referred to as “radical and commonsensical” solution was very palpable, thus proving right his South African friend as “a man who unduly obsesses over a corpse” that Nigeria is. He further underscored his dilemma when he wrote inter alia:
“There is, one must admit, something that strikes a chord in that reprimand. The givennes of Nigeria is suspect. Indeed, I have never viewed Nigeria as a sacrosanct idea, or a settled question. Nor – to balance the sheet – do I subscribe to the omnibus idea that the answer to Nigeria’s troubles lies in dividing up the space into separate nations corresponding to ethnic or other lines.”
In one breath, he was admitting that “The givenness of Nigeria is suspect.” He even insisted that he has “never viewed Nigeria as a sacrosanct idea, or a settled question.” If this were true, as he would want his readers to belief, why is it that he would be unwilling to consider the break-up of Nigeria as a possible option or, at least accept the need for serious restructuring that would give the various ethnic nations a sense of being in control of their destinies? In another breath he felt it necessary to “balance the sheet” by making it clear that he did not “subscribe to the omnibus idea that the answer to Nigeria’s trouble lies in dividing up the space into separate nations corresponding to ethnic or other lines.”
It was one’s former tutor at the Great University of Ife, the radical historian, Dr. Segun Osoba who contended that “it is a sign of bankruptcy to sit on the fence” in matters deserving of clarity of position. One seriously hesitates to describe Professor Ndibe’s ambiguity on this serious issue as “a sign of bankruptcy,” especially being someone one respects and admires, but it seems there is no other way to put it in this context. One finds it intellectually interesting that Professor Ndibe was neither here nor there on this issue of breaking up Nigeria, but it was disappointing that he was not able to come up with an alternative idea that could guide Nigeria to be a place which all would be proud to call one’s country. Eventually, Professor Ndibe ended up being “lazier” than the “partisans” he was taking a shot at when he wrote inter alia:
“The case for balkanization is often pushed by partisans who contend, rather lazily and with little or no proof, that virtue inherently resides in the DNA of their ethnic stock.”
At least, the “partisans,” one of which is this writer, have a position that has been properly articulated - a position that has been explained in several essays as to how it was arrived at and why it was taken. The least expected of Professor Ndibe is for him to intellectually engage this issue, come up with what he considered the alternative solutions to what others have suggested, rather than calling others “lazy.” By taking this path, he would not only have done the latter day Nigerian nationalists a big favour, he would also have successfully exposed the fallacy of the position of “partisans” like this writer who are advocating for the break up of the terminally diseased country. This would engender further debate, more education and bring crystal clarity on what to do with the “corpse” that Nigeria is.
The “partisans” referred to by Professor Ndibe have never at any time claimed that “virtue inherently resides in the DNA of their ethnic stock.” But these “partisans” have been able to properly analyze that if it were not for the Nigerian miasma, some of the vices and their protagonists in the Nigerian setting would not have been able to thrive. The battle waged by Professor Ndibe against Andy Ubah is still very fresh in the minds of his readers. But Professor Ndibe could not deny the obvious fact that if it was not for the nauseating umbrella of the decadent Nigerian State, frauds like Andy Ubah would be rotting somewhere. To refuse to accept the obvious fact that Nigeria is serving as an incubator for moral decadents, fiscal rascals, political charlatans, religious rogues and social scoundrels is to be intellectually dishonest. What other evidence could be needed after the celebration of the ex-convict Bode George by the stakeholders of the Nigerian State?
A proper analysis of the Nigerian political trajectory since independence would show that the Southwest of Nigeria, peopled by the Yoruba race resiliently resisted the corrupt and visionless Nigerian state since 1960. The Action Group political party that was representing them was in the opposition at the Federal Parliament. It was the attempt to undermine Action Group’s principled resistance to a feudalized country that led to the fall of the first republic and forced the military boys to take over. The same happened in the second republic when the Yoruba Nation represented by the Unity Party of Nigeria(UPN), refused to join with the feudalistic, corrupt, inept, profligate, visionless National Party of Nigeria (NPN)to loot the country and bring it further down the drain. Under the military rules, the Yoruba Nation, more than any other ethnic Nation in Nigeria produced several principled voices in opposition to the crooked behemoth called Nigeria.
The Nigerian State through its civilian and military stakeholders waged series of wars against the mainstream Yoruba politicians because the Yoruba politicians would not descend to the low suggested to them. The culmination of these wars was in the aftermath of the June 12 Election crisis, when the rest of Nigeria appropriated the renegades of the Yoruba race to give a semblance of “national character” to the miasma and malaise. They forcefully imposed Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the rest of us. At least this way, it could be claimed that the Yoruba Nation was an active participant in the looting and the pillaging of Nigeria. But everyone knows that things would have been definitively different if the maintream Yoruba Nation has a say in the matters.
It is on record that it was mainly in the Southwest of Nigeria that the PDP was soundly rejected as part of the age long resistance to corrupt political system that Nigeria incubates. The rejection of Obasanjo in his Ward, Local Government and State during that 1999 exercise was emblematic of the Oodua Nation’s age long resistance to the contaminating Nigerian epidemic of valueless politics. This remained the case until Obasanjo rigged out the truly elected representative of the Yoruba race in 2003 Elections using the “might” of the Nigerian State. Without the apparatus of the corrupted Nigerian Federal State, Obasanjo would never have been able to accomplish this travesty. He could never have dreamt of this in an Oodua Nation. He would never have been able to install the parasitic satellites of the Nigeria State that invaded the Yoruba nation and bring it to its knees. This is why Obasanjo said that he was willing to die for Nigeria. This is because it is only in Nigeria that his likes could make hay. Other ethnic nations in Nigeria might be able to relate to this in varying degrees.
The unscrupulous stakeholders of Nigerian State have repeatedly rebuked the Yoruba mainstream politicians for refusing to join the “Nigerian mainstream” crooked politics mired in myopia, corruption and fraud. A shady politics with subversion and subjugation of the peoples’ will as its main thrust. It is this kind of situation, improperly dissected and inappropriately contextualized in factual dynamics of the contemporary Nigerian History that could have made it possible for Professor Ndibe to assume that various component ethnic Nations within Nigeria think they could not do better on their own. Or what else could professor Ndibe mean when he asserted that the “partisans” have “little or no proof, that virtue inherently resides in the DNA of their ethnic stock?” By implication, Professor Ndibe was suggesting that vice “inherently resides in the DNA” of all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Nothing could be more condescending and offensive as it is incorrect and fallacious.
Professor Ndibe, as erudite as he is, also manifested an embarrassingly insufficient knowledge of History when he wrote the following:
“There’s nothing in Nigeria’s history to sustain the idea that any one ethnic group has demonstrated an impressive and sagacious outlook in the management of their affairs.”
How could anyone of Professor Ndibe’s intellectual status and trajectory write the above quote? What could be his motive for the above statement? Is this deliberate mischief or a mistake? How could any properly tutored average student of contemporary Nigerian History posit that no “one ethnic group has demonstrated an impressive and sagacious outlook in the management of their affairs?” How could Professor Ndibe intellectually sustain this in the face of monumental achievements that time and history have attested to, in the Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo?
Is Professor Ndibe intellectually oblivious of the fact that one of the reasons that the so-called “partisans” like this writer have been advocating for the break up of Nigeria has to do with the fact that the Yoruba Nation has been forced to have delayed development because she is part of the Nigerian malaise? Is he unable to link nostalgic yearnings for the successes of the Yoruba Nations in those years under the leadership of Chief Awolowo to the desire to want to go it alone as a possible independent Oodua Nation or at worst, an autonomous entity within the Nigerian structure? It is on record, that since 1960 when the rights and freedom of the Yoruba Nation to be in complete control of its destiny have been undermined and subsumed under that of the corrupted Nigerian State, the Yoruba have been “no longer at ease” as things continued to “fall apart.” If Professor Ndibe has no intention of being a revisionist, there is no way he could be oblivious of the above in the context of Nigerian history, given his erudition, intellect and knowledge.
When the late Senator from the State of New York, Patrick Moniyan contended that one is always entitled to his own opinions, but not to his won facts, he probably had this following quote by Professor Ndibe in mind. Professor Ndibe posited thus:
“And then there’s the evidence that things are getting better – however slightly…….. The evidence is that Nigeria is evolving politically. But – in the nature of evolutions – the changes are slow, often imperceptible, sometimes too negligible, and easy to miss.”
The daily facts of the Nigerian life do not support the above. Professor Ndibe could not sustain this position if we are to consider the economic stagnation, the political paralysis, the customization of vices, the commercialization of faith and social turpitude in the country. Add to it the increasing gap between the thieves and the owners of the wealth, complete break down of law and order, the incessant explosion of bombs, killings, arson, kidnappings and maiming. There was no time in the Nigerian History that things have been bleaker than this. Could Professor Ndibe please, point to any time in Nigerian History, save the Civil War period, when things have been worse than this?
Even, if Professor Ndibe was to be believed, did he not think that he contradicted himself on this point when he wrote as follows?
“Besides, even as Nigerian politicians are forced to drop some horrible habits, their diabolical dexterity enables them to acquire new, equally terrible – sometimes worse – habits. One of the new tricks this election season is for governors, often with the collusion of commissioners of police, to declare their states off-limits as campaign turfs to opposition candidates. Such illicit efforts to cripple the opposition has (sic) led to disturbing violence in Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Oyo, Plateau, and other states.”
Professor Ndibe did not isolate any number of “horrible habits” the typical Nigerian politicians have dropped that could be seen as evidence that “things are getting better” even if their “diabolical dexterity enables them to acquire new, equally terrible – sometimes worse – habits.” How could Professor Ndibe contend that “things are getting better” while insisting at the same time that Nigeria has “been hijacked by some of the most contemptible mediocrities to walk the face of the earth” and become “a country in which convicts assume governorship and other exalted offices.” Until this era of PDP, could Professor Ndibe refresh the memory of his readers when we have had “convicts assume governorship and other exalted offices” in the land?
One has no problem with those who do not agree that Nigeria should be broken up. They have the right to their views. Just like those of us “partisans,” as in Professor Ndibe’s parlance, have the right to suggest our own views that Nigeria must be broken up. But rather than engage in name calling and intellectual inanities, the modern day Nationalists who believe in oneness of Nigeria should come up with concrete and feasible alternatives to resuscitate the “corpse” of Nigeria. Rather than engage in feel-good grandstanding about vacuous nationalistic mantra that has no bearing in reality to the desires of the ethnic nationalities to have self determination and be in control of their destinies, it would be more productive if they agree to take the case to the ordinary folks of various ethnic nationalities to decide.
One has argued before that the fact that the philosophical world views of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria are different makes it impossible to build a country out of Nigeria. Our expectations were functionally related to the cultural milieus that have been cultivated over a thousand years. This is one of the things that make Nigerian experience different from that of a United States of America. To this end, there is no singular dream to which all “Nigerians” could aspire. By implication, a unifying effort to build a country is seriously negated.
More so, majority of “Nigerians” themselves do not seem to believe in “Nigeria” as a country. To challenge the validity of this claim, every ethnic nationality should be allowed to conduct a plebiscite to ask its people whether they want Nigeria or not. This way, not just the elites, but the bricklayers, carpenters, mechanics, taxi drivers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, market women, students and other pressure groups would be able to contribute to determining their own destiny. If, they vote “yes” to Nigeria, then how do they want it? If they vote “no” to Nigeria, such an ethnic nationality should be granted its heart’s desire. By so doing, we would be able to prevent the possibility of armed resistance and struggle to the Nigerian State that might inevitably come. This way, we can save millions of innocent men, women and children that might become victims. The spirit of man abhors bondage that Nigeria represents. We ought to listen to the voice of reason in Dr. Pat Utomi before it is too late - “Crash the whole thing. It is not working for Nigeria, it will not work for Nigeria.”
But our modern day nationalists are anti-people. They sound more like dictators and slave drivers. They are afraid of the people. They are closet democrats. They arrogate to themselves the right to determine the destinies of others. They mouth “democracy’ on the roof tops but work assiduously to hold the rest of us in bondage and subjugation. They are scared stiff that such freedom for the peoples to determine their destinies would jeopardize their ability to plunder the blood tainted loot bequeathed by the decadent “corpse” of the Nigerian State. As far as they are concerned, Nigeria is the best thing that could ever happen to those trapped in the open prison of Nigerian State. They are not even willing to entertain the Sovereign National Conference to discuss Nigeria. All they want is Nigeria at all costs by their own dictation.
Well, they are welcome to make their case(s) for the oneness of Nigeria and let the rest of us hear them out and evaluate their position in comparison to the realities of our lives and choices that might be available. But please, no one should make any effort to deodorize the desolation of the peoples of Nigeria and sugarcoat their deprivation in an attempt to make a case on a discredited platter of NATIONAL UNITY for a “corpse” of a country that Nigeria is. To do so would be less than truthful and candid. It would be utterly unacceptable. Not even from a well liked Professor Okey Ndibe.
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yoruba should wake up
Submitted by Ekene Anaebo (not verified) on April 2, 2011 - 21:11.
I have always admires RO style of writing and how he marshals his argument. In his piece about what ON wrote, RO got it wrong. The Yoruba Nation messed up in the social political calculations of the Nigerian politics. Chances that avail itself for this God-forsaken country to divide, the Yoruba Nation went completely blind. When the Igbo Nation left before the civil war,the Yoruba Nation could have gone their way too but Awolowo went to Gowon and accepted the post of the Federal Commissioner of Finance equivalent of Minister of Finance.
During the June 12 debacle, it was another chance for the Yoruba Nation to leave Nigeria, but the likes of your Generals in the Army : Diya, Adisa, Olarenwaju and others rushed to the same Hausa men to fraternize with them. Do all Yoruba man remember this quotation and his speaker " Abiola is not the saviour we need " O course it came from the greatest beneficiary of the same June 12 - Aremu Matthew O. OBJ.
So which role will the Yoruba Nation play in the current dispensation ??? We shall wait to see.
The law of Karma is an
Submitted by Ydiya Jamie (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 18:30.
The law of Karma is an unavoidable law, like the law of gravity.
Every time Yoruba had the chance to become something, he threw it away.
He had the chance in 1966. He had the chance in 1979 (through Obasanjo). He had the chance from 1999 to 2007 (through Obasanjo). Each time, the Yoruba man barked like a wild monkey and showcased his overbloated ego. The chances have came and gone for you mr Yoruba. You will have to live according to the whims of other ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Look at Ekiti, the so-called state of Yoruba intellectuals. There are more thugs and murderers there than in any other part of Nigeria.
Look at Oyo, the so-called center of Yoruba civilization. An illiterate thug named Lamidi Adedibu conquered the state with the help of Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007. Today the prophets of Adedibu like Akala and Teslim are still in charge, killing Yoruba people left, right, and center.
Look at Kwara. It is become the slave kingdom of Saraki since 1985.
A Yoruba journalist captures the current conditions in all Yoruba states when he writes:
"There is no way violence could be absolutely avoided in the South-West in the forth coming elections. What the security agents- soldiers, police, security operatives and others should do is to help in limiting the incidents of killing during the elections and avoid changing the name of this zone from ‘wise wise west’ to the derogatory former name of ‘wild wild west’"
http://www.leadershipeditors.com/ns/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar...
Genocide in the South West
Submitted by Bitter bitter is the truth (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 18:20.
Why do some commentators here prefer to LIE that there were progroms in the South West? Why the need to LIE? uncontrollable hatred of the Yorubas makes you prefer to throw truth to the wind?
LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, LIARS, YOU LIE
Okey Ndibe's DNA
Submitted by Afam Okosisi (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 12:31.
Ndi ebanyi, make una no mind that Ndibe man. De man no fit become Naija president neither can his lovely and intelligent children. The reason? Becose they all be Igbo But him wife fit be president. Reason? She be Yoroba. You see Ndibe's dilemma. Na dis be the DNA e de talk for in his writup. Ndibe and Utomi now find themselves irrelevant with their one-Naija protestations. Utomi don pull out from campaign after blowing big grama for two years now and after saying he be deltan, south-south, south-Edo, SouthdeltaNaija, but never once Igbo. Ndibe was humiliated and disgraced by Naija SSSwhen last he was in Lagos - de man was detained as if e be common criminal as gotinto airport for Lagos and as he de comot de place de return Amerika. No Yoroba or Awusa varsity don go get dat kind of disgrace. Ndibe and Utomi de talk about smashing the temple. Which temple? Everybody sabi dat Naija temple done smash since. De temple which is smashing around us now are the Ndibe and Utomi temples. What a waste of talent. Agba cha oso, agua mile. Never too late to return to your people, Ndibe and Utomi. The door is wide open. Wheder you two like it or not, Biafra will be back. Stop grieving for Naija. De place don smash since. We love you both. For the sake of your lovely kids if una no care for una selves, return to the land of the rising sun where Ndibe and Utomi DNAs are valued and loved. One-naija is gone and gone. Kaput. Kaput. Kaput.
Great article by NKWOCHA, And Some Home Truth from IBEAGWU
Submitted by Epicenter (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 11:53.
Link to the article:
http://www.saharareporters.com/article/letter-response-ibraheem-dooba%E2...
This article has said it all "the world today is running on the engine of Self Determination: every ethnic nation has the collective right to take control of its own people, resources and destiny, regardless of the subtending State"
Nothing can be further from the truth. This is exactly the point I was discussing with a Luxembourger friend of my mine just last week. Luxembourg is a prosperous tiny country of less than 400.000 people, the size of about 3 local government areas in Imo state, bordering Germany´s state of Saarland, Belgium, and France, here in central Europe. But in Africa, in order to protect the selfish interest of the western powers, and that of their gullible Fulani partners, the ethnic nations must be forced against their will to stay together. A clear example is this fake “one Nigeria” where in the process of being forced to stay together over 3 million Igbos have lost their lives - One Nigeria my foot!
This whole British foisted nonsense projected called Nigeria is a complete fraud designed only for their selfish interest through the murderous Fulani and their Hausa accommodators. The British found it easier to control them. This is why Nigeria never agreed on one thing right from day one, not even on the most important thing every human being wants in life – independence, the same Fulani-Moslem North never agreed. It is a naked truth that the foundation of Nigeria was laid with fraud, treachery and deceit, and thus unworkable, and would never be, Period!
Unfortunately it is only the, shameless, unprincipled, selfish and power hungry elites from every part the country and who are benefiting from of this useless project called “One-Nigeria that are doing everything to maintain it.
Even if an Igbo man becomes the president of Nigeria thousand times will still make no sense for their emancipation. It is only those Igbos who unfortunately do not understand Nigeria that are clamoring for an Igbo presidency. And I ask for what? For Christ sake when will Nigerians honestly sit down to find solution to this illegality, despite too many churches, mosques and so called intellectuals that are abound.
Well , since nothing has been done up to this time, I mean over 50 years after, despite the abundance of human and natural resources that Nigeria has, shameful. The only solution to this British and Fulani and their Hausa accommodators evil design is just to break that country so that all the ethnic nations in Nigeria, in this case the Republics - Biafra, Oduduwa and Sarduana will go and wallow in their ignorance.
nixoncoley@yahoo.com
The Arrogance of OKEY NDIBE!
Submitted by OC (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 08:52.
I am glad that the mask is gradually falling off the eyes of boys, who are also fast turning into men, with the exception of a few that are still bent on worshiping their fellow man and elevating them to cult status. To them, OKEY CAN DO NO WRONG!
Majority, however, are beginning to see the real OKEY NDIBE for what he truly is, arrogant, self-seeking, with a deluded false sense of self-worth and self-importance. An INTOLERANT man who lives in a world of only two colours, BLACK or WHITE. In Okey's world there are either WHITES (Okey's world) or BLACKS (yours/my world). No middle ground!
If you do not agree with OKEY or you hold a different or contrary viewpoint, then you must be BLACK (a 'partisan', an apologist of the status quo, lazy, a FOOL, profiteering, a paid agent, and other invectives and UNCOUTH adjectives he is quick to apply to divergent opinions or contrary views).
I often ponder and wonder what qualifies OKEY NDIBE to criticise or condemn those who hold contrary opinion to him, if not because of his ARROGANCE and his false sense of SELF-WORTH or IMPORTANCE and his INTOLERANCE to opposing views.
What would make OKEY to describe as 'partisans' and 'lazy' those who believe in the balkanisation of Nigeria or refuse to accept the present make up of the Nigerian state? Even though, I do not subscribe to that viewpoint, to balkanise Nigeria (perhaps, not just yet), but then, this does not qualify me or give me the right to condemn or criticise those who believe otherwise, and resort to name-calling or refer to them as 'lazy partisans'.
Just the other day OKEY displayed this same ARROGANCE and penchant for name-calling when he described those who support the election bid of President JONATHAN (in comparison to the other candidates) as paid or profiteering from his Govt or as FOOLS. HOW CAN ANY INTELLIGENT PERSON (a Prof of an IVORY TOWER, for that matter) MAKE SUCH BLAND, FOOLISH AND SWEEPING STATEMENTS or condemnation?
And before that, it was again OKEY's turn to insult those who saw and looked beyond his BRIEF detention or incarceration by the SSS for 1 HOUR in Lagos, the other day, and commended the SSS for growing up and moving past the days of the NSO/SSS under the BUHARIS, IBBS/ABACHAS YEARS.
And for that his BRIEF encounter, OKEY called for the scrapping of the SSS SECURITY LIST, which, if properly implemented, it would have stopped or prevented the likes of ABDULMUTTALAB (the underwear bomber) from their nefarious acts or from boarding that Plane to Amsterdam and attempting to kill innocent souls and Nigerians on-board the Aircraft.
OKEY called for the scrapping of a SECURITY LIST, which every Intelligence Agency, worth its salt or onions, keeps, simply because of one TRANSGRESSION, for which he was offered an APOLOGY.
But of course, that is OKEY'S world. Step on his toes or disagree with him, he brands or calls you a name, including his friend, who he branded 'partisan' and 'lazy', for disagreeing with OKEY.
UNTIL OKEY SHEATHS HIS ARROGANCE AND SELF-IMPORTANCE AND BEGINS TO RESPECT CONTRARY VIEWS, HE CAN NEVER EARN MY RESPECT. IN FACT, I WILL CONTINUE TO LIKEN OR EQUATE HIM AMONGST THE LIKES OF MILITARY DICTATORS AND DESPOTS OF YORE, WHO DISPLAYED INTOLERANCE TO DIVERGENT VIEWS.
Ibeagwu, dalu, thank you! Biafra will certainly come to be!!
Submitted by Okwuchukwu Ezeanyika (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 06:07.
Nwa nna, Ibeagwu, before I opted to champion the creation of Biafran nation, I gave the idea very prolonged and pensive thought. It is the lazy and self-centred intellectuals on the Internet; those probably writing to be recognized by Mr. Jonathan in order to be made Vice Chancellor of the University of Otuoke that find it difficult to understand that all the so-called Nigerian leaders do today is to sell their oil and use the proceeds to pay themselves fat salaries and allowances. They establish universities in every corner but do not consider the flip side how the graduates would secure employment in the land. That is not their business! These writers are those who find it difficult to comprehend that the Nigerian project is a massive failure.
There are countries today, less in land size and population compared to Biafra that are economic giants. Look at Israel that turned desert land to a masterpiece nation. Look at what Botswana is doing today. A nation is developed by THINKERS not by selling oil and gas products and doing nothing tangible with the proceeds. The United States is today a great nation because they appropriate thinkers around the world. Now Obama has advocated once more that if you come from any nation around the world and go to an American university and study, if you were found to be a genius, on graduation US will not allow you to go if you wish to stay. They will retain you in the United States and tap your brain / knowledge.
I recall the story of a young Latino genius admitted to Harvard University in 2009 who stated in his records at the university that he wants to develop a cure for cancer. The university was very much interested in him and had granted him full scholarship. This chap's mother sells wares on a street corner in California. One day he went to visit his mother and on his way back to Harvard in 2010, the airport authorities found out that he was an illegal immigrant because he was not born in the US but came with his mother when he was young. The Immigration authorities wanted to deport him but Harvard authorities waded in and put a stop to it. He is today back to the university.
Japan is today an economic giant because it has THINKERS not marketers of oil and gas. Look at their companies such as TOYOTA, HONDA, NISSAN, etc. They were established by THINKERS. In Biafra during the 1967-70 years, we sustained the war the period it lasted because of THINKERS. We did not import petrol from anywhere but it was never in shortage. The Research and Production (RAP) Unit made sure petrol and all the ancillary products like kerosene were never in short supply. When no nation would sell bombs and explosives to Biafra, Professor Engineer Gideon Ezekwe and his Engineering Unit built the 'Ogbunigwe'. When our soldiers did not have guns, the Awka gun manufacturers produced dane guns and rifles for the soldiers. Those THINKERS in Biafra are still around. The only difference is that they are not in Igbo land but scattered outside Nigeria. All that is required for them to come together is to create the Biafran nation. That is what Israel did with the coming of the Israeli nation in 1948.
Whether Okey Ndibe and his ilk like it or not Biafra will certainly be. Again, I recall what a Prophet said in 1968 as my family sought refuge in Adazi, Anambra State, following the sack of my town by Nigerian soldiers. He said that Biafra will not survive the war and will be forced back to Nigeria. He then said that after some years, the people of Nigeria will come together and decide to go their separate ways. At that time, he said, we will have Biafra. I pray that it is done peacefully and not after we had shed innocent blood, a prospect that is already looming in the horizon!
Today, the NATO and the United States are together jostling over themselves to liberate the Libyan masses from the stranglehood of the dictator Ghadaffi. But what Ndi Igbo suffered in Nigeria in 1966-67; the mass pogrom that was visited on Igbos in the north and south west that resulted in the death of over 100,0000 Igbo men, women and children were such that if these acts were committed in today's world, we would not have been left by the world to be killed in the thousands by Nigeria. The mindset has certainly changed as well as information / communication channels. We would not have been consigned to the Nigerian wolves that ensured the death of another 1 million Igbo lives in the ensuing one-sided debacle. Additionally, Nigerian soldiers and leaders like Gowon, Danjuma, Obasanjo, Vatsa, IBB, et al, would have long faced prosecution before the International Court at the Hague like Charles Taylor of Liberia.
I only pray to God to make the creation of Biafra possible in my lifetime so that I will contribute my experience to the Biafran nation. Secondly, I yearn for my children to come to realize that they are not Americans but Biafrans, proud Biafrans!
Ibeagwu, be assured we are in the fight together. Dalu, thank you.
Gibson Ikanone, Bashir Tofa was from Borno State
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 03:24.
Bashir Tofa is originally from Borno State. That's the reason why the people of Kano didn't vote for him.
Gibson Ikanone, geographical expression first used in 1845
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on April 1, 2011 - 03:21.
Gibson Ikanone, geographical expression was first used in 1845 in America over the annexation of Texas.
This writer is a pathological liar!
Submitted by Gibson Ikanone (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 23:52.
Prof. Okey Ndibe only reiterated in his write-up what Joe Garba (former Director-General of Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Jos) proclaimed some years ago that Nigeria is ''a mistake but an opportunity.''
This writer took his prevarication to appallingly disgraceful lengths by claiming that the Yoruba race under the Action Group resiliently resisted the corrupt and visionless Nigerian state since 1960 and that this resistance led to the fall of the first republic and forced the military boys to take over. He needs to read Ademola Ademoyega's ''Why We Struck'' for elementary truths as regards the treacherous roles of the leader of the Action Group that grievously undermined the beautiful concept of the Aburi Accord as championed by Odumegwu Ojukwu and his secessionist group.
The Yoruba race has been and remains the most artful beneficiary of project Nigeria. A scenario in point: An exasperated Ahmadu Bello in a bid to opt out of the Nigerian arrangement with his Hausa-Fulani people to develop at their own pace stated emphatically: ''let us know our differences.'' But Obafemi Awolowo cajoled him to stay by quipping: ''let us forget our differences.'' And this eventually paved the way for an enduring bond between the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani race. Although, Awolowo cleverly depicted Nigeria as ''mere geographical expression'' a term he plagiarised from Prince Metternich of Austria who used it originally in 1847 to register his disapproval of the unification of the north and south of Italy.
Hear him again: ''The Nigerian State through its civilian and military stakeholders waged series of wars against the mainstream Yoruba politicians because the Yoruba politicians would not descend to the low suggested to them.’’ Who were Abacha's key political henchmen? Ebenezer Babatope, Lateef Jakande, Olu Onagoruwa, Alex Akinyele, etc! These despicable characters remain heroes in mainstrean Yoruba politics today! Who helped Abacha to thwart Abiola's victory? Ernest Shonekan! Who coordinated NPN and Shagari's fraud? Olusegun Obasanjo and MKO Abiola! Was it only the Yoruba race that voted for Abiola on 12 June 1993? No, Nigerians from all the zones and Abiola's opponent, Bashir Tofa lost in his home state of Kano!
For the writers information: As ''Marginalisation cuts across Nigeria'' Mokwugo Okoye, so also does criminal-minded politicians as such Okey Ndibe is not far from the truth in his assertion that: ''the case for the balkanization of Nigeria is often pushed by partisans who contend, rather lazily and with little or no proof, that virtue inherently resides in the DNA of their ethnic stock.'' Is the writer arguing that each of the zones that currently comprise Nigeria would become Eldorado overnight should Nigeria disintegrate into probably six geopolitical zones? Or that Oodua would dwarf all the other geopolitical zones in developmental strides in the event of Nigeria's balkanisation because Oodua is free from predatory politicians and has the largest number of ultra-intelligent people? Olusegun Obasanjo, one of the vilest leaders of a nation in the history of mankind is Oodua-born! Well, he did site some huge projects in Yorubaland such as the multi-billion dollar Olokola Gas Plant with funds sourced from blood-oil in the Niger-Delta.
Again, Prof. Ndibe is correct in his assertion that ''there’s nothing in Nigeria’s history to sustain the idea that any one ethnic group has demonstrated an impressive and sagacious outlook in the management of their affairs.'' Where the groundnuts are pyramids today? Where are the cocoa warehouses now? Where the famous palm is produces of eastern Nigeria or the cash crops and timber of the mid-west? What is the state of the Liberty Stadium today? Where is the Oodua Bank? All the aforementioned are in decrepit conditions as a result of the criminal dependence of all the ethno-national groups of Nigeria on Niger-Delta oil! Rather, the reverse was the case, wherein a 1964 Harvard University and World Bank report concluded that eastern Nigeria's economy was far ahead that of the south-west of Nigeria.
It is interesting that those
Submitted by Smul Dan (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 22:02.
It is interesting that those who fought the civil to keep Nigeria as one nation are now calling for the break up of the nation. Okey Ndibey is more to the side of those who fought the civil war to keep Nigeria as one nation. I understand the problem of Mr Ndibey: His wife and kids are half Yoruba while he is an igbo. When Nigeria breaks up, Okey will have to choose whether to be a citizen of Igbo Nation or yoruba nation
AS NIGERIA POSTPONES THE DOOMSDAY.
Submitted by osita DIOKA (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 21:45.
The ideal situation would have been for Nigeria to go foward in progress as one entity.We never chose to exist as one ,we are a British colonial experiment gone wrong.The question of where we go from here is a legitimate one because the fundermental basis of any marriage should be love and that does not exist amongst the different ethnic groups that make up Nigeria no matter how one might wish to pretend about it.Some in Nigeria are outright advocates of disintegration into different ethnic nation states ,some want the disfunctional status quo to prevail forever,others in my "school of thought"still believe in the protection of the Nigerian entity through a rational arrangement that grants more freedom of self determination and self government which is twarted by the present federal system.Our leaders must stop the denial and grant us a forum to re-negotiate our existence as one entity else the risk of a violent and messy divorce stares us in the face ,the events in the Niger Delta is definitly a sign of ugly things to come. We must "make hay while the sun shines" The alarm bells are ringing, Nigerians are getting restless about the lack of progress and the selfish, unpatriotic leadership unleashed on them in the last thirty years.
Okwuchukwu Ezeanyika nwa nna
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 21:29.
Okwuchukwu Ezeanyika we will need more of your comments in future. Okey Ndibe is running away from the truth. Just to please nigerians.
Mr Remi Oyeyemi, you made
Submitted by Danboyi Gomsuk (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 21:18.
Mr Remi Oyeyemi, you made some critical appraisals of Professor Okey Ndibe's writeup where you discovered his ambiguity on an issue. That was okay as a critic but one must not completely write Okey Ndibe off in this case, considering the brushes he had had with the Nigerian authorities just recently. And as we know, the first law of nature is a strive for survival; Okey Ndibe will still have to visit Nigeria again and again and he needs to be very careful or circumspect on what he pens on paper on churns out on any website.
But the other part of your writeup is what I have been hesitant to address, given the sensitive nature of it; I have always been very careful not to dabble on things ethnic or religion since these two are just like incendiary, ready to blast to smithereens any unwary visitor. But you have raised many important issues which must not be allowed to lie low, lest they be taken as absolute truth.
Yes, your statement that the yoruba, under the aegis of the Action Group (AG), fought the feudalised Nigeria was right to some extent in the sense that the Action Group was more of the time in the Opposition. However if the yoruba detested the feudalistic government then it becomes something of an enigma when one considers the role the yoruba leaders played during the Nigerian civil war. Here was an ethic group that detested a situation in the country and an exit route was provided it on a platter of gold by the civil war and yet this ethnic group made no serious or visible attempts to pull out of the federation as the eastern region was doing at the time.
That to me is perplexing because the yoruba nation would have had a very easy exit from the nigerian federation without even shooting a gun! And, of course, that would have saved Biafra for the rest of nigeria would have found it pretty difficult to wage a war at two disparate fronts. Subsequently, the UN would have waded in to do what it knows best: that it appears this contraption called nigeria has failed and so would allow nations to grant recognitions to the resulting seceding nations.
But this situation never occurred and the civil war ended the way it did. And would the yoruba nation think it would succeed again in fending off the so-called feudalistic situation in another election? That, as we have seen, was a wrong tactic. A good tactician would have realised that the operators of the so-called feudalistic nigeria were no pushovers and have never been. Of course and subsequently, the resuscitated Action Group, under a new garb, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), only succeeded in swimming upstream in its attempt to upstage a firmly establshed operators of the feudalistic government.
Olusegun Obasanjo has always been a controversial figure amongst the yoruba nation when politics is being discussed. An average yoruba person will quickly disown him whenever OBJ's failings are the subject of discussion. And this writer is no exception. For example he claims that OBJ was imposed on the nation in order to show that the malaise and other ills of the nation were universal as it concerned every nook and cranny of the nation. And the corollary to this assertion is that the yoruba is exempt from such ills! What a way to write! Therefore by extension, what this writer is alluding to is that the yoruba nation has and had been bystanders in the affairs of nigeria! And that nigeria has been run by other ethnic groups to the full exclusion of the yoruba! Haba, my friend, ogbeni, how can you think that way?
Are you saying that the yoruba have in their genome special dominant genes that usually inactivate the 'recessive'gene of corruption and all other malaise? I am sure you do not mean that! For the avoidance of doubt, every ethnic group in Nigeria has sinned and has come short of God's glory, as far as corruption and all other malaise are concerned.
Going back to OBJ,the acceptance or rejecion of OBJ by the yoruba race is immaterial here for everybody knows he is a full-blooded yoruba man. You cannot throw OBJ out of the yoruba race without incurring a serious dent on that race. In fact it is the fact of OBJ's origin and his geopolitical station that have placed Jonathan on the hot seat of the northern geopolitical station that claims usurpation of its presidential slot by Jonathan.
To further drive home what I have said in the earlier paragraphs above I want to feed you with a little statistic if this would help correct the assertion that OBJ was forced on the nation and, by tangential implication, on the yoruba race. In the 1999 presidential election it was a race between two candidates of yoruba extraction: OBJ and Olu Falae. OBJ scored 62.78% of the votes while Olu Falae scored 37.22%. Ogbeni, you would agree that the 37.22% scored by Falae was not a block vote by the yoruba; in fact one does not need to be asked to adduce evidence to cement this fact because this would just be a mere waste of time and an academic exercise only.
Then another controversial statement this writer made was that to the effect that if the mainstream yoruba had had a say in national affairs then all these malaise would not be around! That, again, is just speculation for we know that there are states where yoruba sit as governors from whatever party; these states have not stood out as shining examples of rectitude in the way of doing things. If the argument is performance, as in Lagos State, there are also other states where a non-yoruba governor has performed creditably, and even more creditably than Lagos State, when resources at their disposal are compared. So, the bottomline here is: rectitude or performance is not driven by ethnic origin but by the person and persona of the individual governor, be he/she from any ethic group.
The assertion that all the malaise in the nation would disappear if the yoruba are allowed more say is another statement made without deep concentration. One wonders how much further say we are talking about here? How would one quantify that? If the writer is implying more say in the presidency or national assembly, then how is that going to be? This writer must remember that the nation has a Constitution which must be followed in recruiting members from the federating states of the nation to serve in national matters. So far most authorities have been striving to abide by these Constitutional provisions.
In conclusion, the points I am making here in answer to Mr. Remi Oyeyemi's writeup are as follows:
1. The assertion that the yoruba nation is exempt from the malaise that has enveloped the nation is not correct; every ethic group has contributed to the disease afflicting the nation;
2. All the allusions to a need for a secession of the yoruba race from the feudalism-striken nigeria was something incomprehensible because opportunities arose for the yoruba to realise this dream but they did not;
3. The yoruba cannot claim they did not vote for OBJ in 1999, adjudged to be one of the fairest elections so far; their votes must have swung the balance against Olu Falae who represented the philosophy so much espoused by the yoruba nation;
4. OBJ is a full-blooded yoruba and his kith and kin must never deny him because of his failings in government.
It is only in Nigeria that
Submitted by MEKINA (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 20:18.
It is only in Nigeria that you see people use words like Quagmire!!! I wouldnt even bother with this article before I get a headache.
Be honest Femi
Submitted by Poster Boy (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 20:03.
Femi, I agreed with you that Nigeria country is ro---ootten to the core. It is not and never a country. It is just a geographical expression as Awo decoded long time ago. That is why that after 50 yrs., the most important and must not miss information on any application form in Nigeria is your father’s state of origin not and never where you were born.
Now Femi, I want you to honest here. Do you truly believe that the Oodua Nation truly wanted out of this dead on arrival country Nigeria? If so, don’t you think that the Biafra war would have been the perfect storm to opt out? The North cannot and will never dare fight the Oodua nation and the Igbo nation at the same time.
Rather, your Awo was made the finance minister and a promise of taking over from Gowon and that quickly changed his perception of Nigeria and made the Oodua nation a champion of the supposedly rotten country Nigeria. It looks like somebody is economical with the truth.
It looks to me that it is you Remi is the one that is engaged in feel good grandstanding, hard core Yoruba nationalist on internet, holding court on the Oodua nation. Like somebody asked here…. what was the Yoruba stand during the 2003 Obj conference on the way forward for rotten country Nigeria?
Talk it was said is indeed cheap. And talk not and never backed with action is nothing but a FAT ASS HYPOCRICY. Thanks Femi.
Paiko, the Yorubas also want out
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 19:40.
Paiko, the Yorubas also want out. As for the Ijaws and the Ogonis, they always want out.
Paiko Biafra Beckons
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 19:39.
Fulanis are the most god-forsaken people nature has placed beside any rational being. These people who paid their way to northern nigeria by selling shayi across the desert, by the time nigeria is pulled away from you, you and your Hausa landlords who first put shelter over your heads in the inhuman heat of northern nigeria, and whom you instead enslaved, will turn against each other. We have to cast out the leeches from our lives. You disgust to high heavens. You moved in the cover of the dark and rendered northern nigeria desolate, killed or wheeled away the owners of the place. Your nigerian history, on paper, begins with the criminal in the name of Usman Dan Fodio. How could a group of people whose only custom is leaking the glittering blades of their knives, come over from the Futa Djalon in Guinea, destroy a civilization, come to help direct the affairs of their British masters, because the British saw in them agents of destruction? These people rose in the dead of the night to silence Bola Ige because he revealed to the world what they are. In Jos, they are experimenting with different ways of reenacting what they did to the Bayajidas. Recently, in Benue State, in their line of trade, they burned down at least 38 villages, leaving those who survived to plead with them to retreat. Even in places like Ibadan and Yenegoa (in Bayelsa State), having made the forests their highways, they destroy farms, rob people and rape the women.
They took advantage of the laxity they put in place in northern nigeria to turn their women and other women into wares, something that is ravaging West Africa. Their personal ID cards were/are knives and bombs. Wetin you carry? Bang! Explosion. Each Fulani (plus Hausa) pushes up his or her ineffective talisman up around the biceps or have them on their waste lines. Barring brewing facilities, each Fulani (plus Hausa) has as much alcoholic drink in the house as a small distiller. If cunning were goods their finished products would attract the highest prices in the market. You believe a Fulani, then the night will claim you as it did the Habe rulers of the Hausa empires.
So, why is Mohammed Paiko foaming from the mouth over a mention of Biafra? Fact is, the whole truth about the Fulanis (plus Hausas) will roll off like rotten tablets from a stumbling container. If the presidency doesn’t get into the hands of Buhari, whose father packed his things and settled in Daura from Niger Republic, Fulanis (plus Hausas) will get off their pleasure cars and jump onto camels headed back home.
Fulani (plus Hausa) laziness is legendary. They plotted all the known drug routes in West Africa. That is why Guinea, where they trace their ancestry, is the Liverpool of drug exportation. Fulanis (plus Hausas), unknown to everybody, sent the earliest cry-for-help 419 letters to the outside world. Go around Igbo land and see what their minds have directed them to do in the types of leaders Fulani (plus Hausa) military leaders have imposed on our people. The bridge between Onisha and Asaba should be a case study in human wickedness. Or is it the siege on our lands? Every ten meters of your journey in Igbo land is like a trip through Bagdad in the days of Bush Junior. You will be robbed and dehumanized at check points mounted by Fulanis (plus Hausas) and Britain. Welcome to nigeria, a country where Fulani (plus Hausa) objective is to make people live in anguish. In Jos, in Maiduguri, in Kafanchan, people are struggling through Fulani (plus Hausa) web of anarchy. Love is the scarcest commodity among them. A Kano man will say “Do you mind him, Dan Katsina?” Burning hatred. Pretence is just a way of life.
If Igbos pull away, where will the Fulanis (plus Hausas) be? How about all the armored tanks covered with akwete clothes in every lungu (Hausa for corner) in the North West and North Central nigeria? How about the sacred military installations all over northern nigeria? What about the capital that has been brought to them, Abuja? Accursed desertification.
This Mohammed Paiko believes that they have built a shrine known as NASS (national assembly), where we can present our case. This is a place, where their chief priests sleep idly, waiting to be woken up to hear us say we want Biafra. This is a place, where all Kano State indigenes have taken the front seats, with a sprinkle of hand-picked fake Igbos, sitting in the back row. But, verily verily, I say onto you and nigeria that your days are numbered. We will leave. Biafra land will be a place where I will pass through without venturing into any village but an Igbo village. No Fulanis (plus Hausas). Only Igbos. There is still enormous space to fill in the Middle East from hence they came. It is not our problem if they can’t breathe the air in their places knowing Igbos have an Igbo country. If our God-given choice will make you not push away the suicide capsule on your table, that’s your problem. Haha. Haha.
Paiko on Oguchi Nkwocha/Biafra
Submitted by Ibeagwu (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 19:37.
Submitted by Mohammed Paiko (not verified) on March 30, 2011 - 05:25.
The author of this gibberish certainly lives in wonderland! Waow, such misdirected frustration! My friend, get over your sober reflection and direct your angst towards the THIEVES your people parade to NASS and elsewhere in PDP government and not at a gentleman who advised you to make a wise choice to liberate yourselves. The painful truth is, the so-called elite of Igbo extractions are so helpless in dealing with the semi-literates who have held the south-east to ransom and are milking Nigeria on their behalf to their personal bank accounts that they see no other means of salvation than to blame other parts of Nigeria for their predicament. Get real! How many among you folks are educated in that south-east zone? If you have any courage at all, what I expect you to do is to dethrone that clan of ROGUES who represent your people first, and replace them with credible, educated people who would truly represent you in NASS and in government. The truth is, none of those who actually matter shares this tall-tale of yours. At best, you have just made your wishful thought into a story fit only for your own younger generation, yea, save a copy for them. Sure, none of them will blame you for not speaking out when illiterates were representing you in Nigeria and taking your collective destiny into their bank accounts. Keep dreaming!
For your information, while you were deep asleep and dreaming up this tale of a wasted south-eastern opportunity, most of your so-called youths are sprinkled all over the globe, hustling to bring back the little they can to make Biafra a reality. Do not mind that they have been embarrassing Nigeria in the process, because like your story just stated, it is the pay back we deserve for your illiterates milking Nigeria on Igbo peoples' behalf.
I do not believe anyone should be made to forcefully align to something he is not in support of. Therefore, I can only see reason in what you are saying, when, and only when you convince your people to come under one umbrella and collectively write to the National assemble to ask for your BIAFRA. Lets see how far you can convince them.
Otherwise, stop this mumbo-jumbo weeping and do something productive about your frustration. Try contesting and winning the councilperson of your ward for a start! I doubt if you are that popular.
My friend, you are enslaved to Nigeria, except you step up and do something about those THIEVES who represent you and are making your life more miserable by the hour.
Lastly and for your information, no section of Nigeria is scared to live alone. If your Biafra includes the south-south, forget it man, they do not have you in their calculations (they have enough problems of their own to bother taking up additional burden of IGBO). Begin your calculations with cassava, palm wine and ogogoro as your export commodities and stop weeping like a baby, your dream will not become reality anytime soon. The IGBO are the architects of their own woes, GET REAL! When your leaders stop exchanging EVERYTHING for money, maybe the remaining people will be relieved. Until then, Enugu, Owerri and the whole of south-east will REMAIN Nigeria. Drop dead if that is poisonous enough! Or Smile and swing into positive action, if it is inspiration enough!
Is Okey Ndibe afraid of Biafra?!
Submitted by Okwuchukwu Ezeanyika (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 19:16.
I have since reading this piece come to realize that Remi has been having an intellectual battle on the Internet with Okey over the years. May be there are personal grouses involved, but frankly, a lot of what Remi said here is very apt. I join Remi in the call to break Nigeria into different nationalities because the entity called Nigeria is not workable. There is nothing in Nigeria for anyone who is not crooked and fraudulent. For us who do not belong to the class and in the Diaspora, our Nigerianness is even a bigger curse. A professional colleague in the United States once told me to obtain the Ghanaian passport; just be citizen of any nation and I will have more assignments come my way. He posited that the fact that I am a Nigerian is the problem for some in our industry to refuse to pass assignments to my office!
Nigeria is a failed state. The only good Nigeria's President, Mr. Jonathan, has done to date is that he stopped the possibility of Nigeria having an openly corrupt and crooked President in the person of Atiku. But the man, Atiku, is still angling for the position. Thus, there is the possibility he will make another try for the Presidency!
The solution to the dreadful Nigerian situation not finally degenerating to our arming ourselves with AK 47s and fighting like the Libyans are doing today, is to convey a Sovereign National Conference and decide on 'to your tents O Israel'.
In today's world, virtually every country including very economically backward countries of Africa have functional National Identification Card database system. In Africa, the countries of Kenya and Cameroon come to mind. In Nigeria, the north refuses the idea. I am told that Buhari is against it. I am not sure if that is his view. To make economic and social progress and even to begin to solve myriad social problems are tied to having functional national identification card database. But in Nigeria it is unworkable because everything is politicised. How can Nigeria then make progress?
I was older than Okey Ndibe when we fought the Nigeria-Biafra war, that is, if I go by his avowed birth year, 1960. I can tell Okey that if the Yorubas did not join the north to ensure defeat for Biafra, we would have long gone from Nigeria. The spirit of 'can do' we had in Biafra was sufficient for us to transform Igbo land into becoming 'Japan'. In Biafra, we would not be saddled with such 'leaders' like Obi, Uba, Ohakim, Kalu, Nnamani, Orji, Ekweremadu, etc. Such hustlers would be the ones to be consigned to the dregs outside Biafra.
Okey, do you know that many Igbo intellectuals and elite left their peaceful abodes overseas to return to Biafra to join in the effort to actualize Biafra? When Biafra failed they naturally left the scene. It is because the larger Nigerian entity does not augur good for the Igbos that MOST of the Igbo elite; those who are ready to work with the likes of late Engineer Gideon Ezekwe of 'Ogbunigwe fame' to ensure economic and social development in the land are today in the Diaspora. If we had Biafra, I am certain Okey would have preferred to be there than in the United States. Personally, I would be there too. Then, you would understand my view that the likes of Obi, Kalu, Ekweremadu and fellow travellers would not have sprung up to become champions of our political fate today.
In Biafra, we would have transformed the shirt-makers in Aba; those who make such fine shirts but whom Nigerian government refuses to recognize and provide for their growth because of 'politics'. Okey, imagine how you would feel if you walk into one of the Macy's stores in Massachusetts and picks one of the shirts for sale and reads on the label 'Made in Biafra'. Okey, that tiny island of Madagascar in Africa (less the size and population of Bifra) makes over US$500 million every year importing shirts into the United States. Dianyi, can you get my point?
Finally, some of us have faith in the forthcoming elections and free and fair results. I do not share such optimism. I am praying for the balkanization of Nigeria. My spirit cries everyday, 'let my people go'. It is good and worth noting that Remi and his fellow Yorubas have now realized that Nigeria as a nation is unworkable and would prefer the Oduduwa nation. If they had this mindset in 1966-1970, this their latter dream would have been actualized as we in Biafra would have set the example.
Nigerians, please, allow Biafra to be. Thank you.
Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Benin, Calabar, Tiv, etc. countries now!
Submitted by Omo Homeboy (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 19:13.
One Nigeria is dehumanising everybody in Nigeria, including the "eating" political class who must live in highly gated fences and have to move around with top security. There is no air of freedom in Nigeria. Every body is livibg in bondage. Life can be lost anytime any where. Contacts between people and groups are gradually coming to be greatly severed. It is no longer enough that the wealthy all crawl to Abuja for secure residence. Bombs now explode anyhow in Abuja.
The political class is deceiving the masses about one Nigeria. But One Nigeria is a big falsehood. The constituent groups especially in the south of Nigeria eould not blink an eye now if given the opportunity to form their own nations - Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Itshekiri, Benin, Calabar/Akwa Ibom, nations, name them.
The sufferings of Nigeria are daily becoming unbearable. Let those who want to form their own nations do so, those who do not want can join any group can join eevn the Hausa/Fulani to form their Arewa nation. It is criminal to wait until things come to a bloody end.
Rain Curses
Submitted by Bitter bitter is the truth (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:58.
@ Insha- Allah-Gbadamosi-For-Christ's-Sak
He said: "An Igbo man is entitled to rain curses on the Yoruba any day any time any where. In fact if Yoruba start secession, Igbo should simply forget Biafra but join the Fulanis to conquer them in retaliation for Yoruba "treachery" in Biafra war".
My reply: Yes, you have been doing so even before Nigeria became a country. And we are still standing. SO may God bless you and deliver you. Curses have a great boomerang effect, doesn't it - Just like the constant political alliance with the North since independence...I laugh in Hebrew
Goodluck Jonathan you could
Submitted by Patrick Agbobu (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:53.
Goodluck Jonathan you could have used the opportunity to address this fraudulent awards. You could have explained why the NNPC are postion staff members to the London, Huston, etc offices, of these companies and whose interest are they representing? Who are the Nigerian private interests in these companies and details of their off shore accounts and their relationship with Duke Oil London UK. Where are their audited verifiable accounts and why the NNPC gives them huge destination discounts and who benefits from these huge discounts? If Jonathan says that he does not know. then he is poorly briefed or he is inconpetent on the other hands if he knows then he is party to the massive corruptions. The President must now see why we want the freedom of Information bill (FIO). Goodluck Jonathan must stop this massive corruption by stoping these deals and institute a high powered Judicial inquiry. Any thing short of these is foul and very unacceptable.
Nigeria has awarded crude oil supply contracts worth around $30bn (N4.5tn), with trading companies, Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore, landing some of the biggest contracts.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation awarded term contracts for around 1.5 million barrels per day from its share of the country‘s oil production, Reuters reported.
Based on the current price of Brent crude oil, the total supply deals are worth around $172m a day or $32bn for the June-December period, when trade sources said the contracts would be valid.
Given crude supply disruptions from Libya, relatively stable Nigerian oil output since a 2009 amnesty has increased the appeal of the country’s light, sweet oil and competition for contracts was fierce, trade sources said.
Strong demand has pushed cash prices of the benchmark Nigerian grade Qua Iboe to more than two-year highs this month, making it among the most expensive oil in the world.
There were lots of arguments and infighting and trips out to Nigeria to arrange this,” an unnamed oil trader working for a company appearing on this year‘s list told Reuters.
Trading firms Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore each won the biggest contract awarded for 60,000 bpd of crude oil.
This amounts to two crude oil cargoes a month.
Nigeria‘s production has been steady at around 2.6 million bpd over the past year, the energy advisor to the President Goodluck Jonathan said this month.
Many African trading companies such as Delaney, Masters E and Elanoil appeared on the 2011 list that were not previously term buyers, trade sources said.
But larger international trading firms might increase their allocations by buying out contracts given to smaller African companies, they added.
”It used to be just the bigger firms that got the contracts, but the indigenous list is rising. The big firms will be going around and trying to buy from the smaller ones,” a West African crude oil trader told Reuters.
Some thought that the April elections could result in further contract revisions.
”The people in power can do what they want in terms of allocations. There is room for change,” a second crude oil trader told Reuters.
Italian refiner, ERG, was awarded a contract to sell 30,000 bpd in a move that market participants saw as likely driven by the firm‘s need to replace lost Libyan barrels.
The firm was previously only a sporadic buyer of West African oil, a trader told Reuters
PAT "We have to bring this
Submitted by A. M. (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:46.
PAT
"We have to bring this system down completely and rebuild…Destroy it…Crash the whole thing. It is not working for Nigeria, it will not work for Nigeria.”
– Dr. Pat Utomi
By supporting an unlikely winner of the 2011 presidential election, have you already started your parochial ambition of breaking up the country. I thought giving your support to Buhari could have helped Nigeria stabilize. At least you could have laid claim to Buhari's success even though we now you are a paper tiger when it comes to political relevance. What a progressive presidential candidate indeed!
A Masterpiece!
Submitted by Tonsoyo (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:45.
Bros Rem,
Thanks a million for this masterpiece, you have made my day and the weekend!
You have presented us all reasonable Nigerians with a target to hit!
Liars, Haters, Propagandists, plotting downfall of the West
Submitted by Bitter bitter is the truth (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:42.
Anyone interested in the truth please read Harold Smith's autobiography and the article below.
http://www.biafraland.com/harold_smith/harold_smith_frm.htm
http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/betrayal_or_water_power.htm
May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Yakub bless Nigeria and God bless those that have received the light of civilization and want the continent to unite rather than he balkanize.
PAT "We have to bring this
Submitted by A. M. (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 18:41.
PAT
"We have to bring this system down completely and rebuild…Destroy it…Crash the whole thing. It is not working for Nigeria, it will not work for Nigeria.”
– Dr. Pat Utomi
By supporting an unlikely winner of the 2011 presidential election, have you already started your parochial ambition of breaking up the country. I thought giving your support to Buhari could have helped Nigeria stabilize. At least you could have laid claim to Buhari's success even though we now you are a paper tiger when it comes to political relevance. What a progressive presidential candidate indeed!
To hell with Nigeria Unity!
Submitted by Obibi (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 17:30.
Remi Oyeyemi, while not standing for Okey Ndibe, I must say with clear candor that you have a blurred sense of history. " the Yoruba nation, more than any other ethnic nation in Nigeria produced several principle voices in opposition to the crooked behemoth called Nigeria" says who? where was the Yoruba nation that, through their self-styled local god called Awolowo, promised to declare Oduduwa Republic toeing Biafra foot-steps, soonest the latter did.? Did not the very Awolowo hurriedly join the Nigeria quagmire as finance minister to resurrect the "Nigeria corpse"? Or did he not realise that Nigeria was stinking of stench and decay? Please follow Ndibe's line on history. But wait, Yemi, are you talking of a Yoruba nation that talks and talks but never acts or any other yoruba nation that I know not.? There is nothing wrong in Ndibe's "ethnic DNA test or Utomi's " crash the whole thing." The only thing wrong in Nigeria purgatory or mortuary is the Yoruba malaise in this ill-structured cave baptised Nigeria. Wait! When MEND struck in Lagos not so long ago, did not Yoruba elders cowardly hasten to Abuja to solidarise with Yar'dua? Who is deceiving who? The major problem Nigeria has is the Yoruba hypocrisy, and not until they are called to order could things be put aright. Let me not forget! During the constitutional conference jerked together by Obasanjo, South-East and South-South opted for true federalism, if not for a confederal system; perhaps resource control. What did the modern Yoruba nation do? What efforts has the Yoruba nation made to dissect this corpse named Nigeria? Why is the Yoruba nation afraid of balkanization of Nigeria? Afraid of competition or what? I would rather you, Yemi and Okey who sees nothing good about Goodluck Jonathan, first ponder and know why Providence, in His infinit wisdom, placed Jonathan on Nigeria Sofa, before leashing out your tirade against him. "... touch not my annointed and do my prophets no harm" I hate and detest the entity called Nigeria. Let us crash this Tokumbo that is Nigeria.
Remi u goof. OOdua voted
Submitted by Remi u goof (not verified) on March 31, 2011 - 17:08.
Remi u goof. OOdua voted obasanjo in 2003 not bcos of performnace. ACN primary is not different from PDP.OOdua from opposition betrayed the first attempt to challenge the statusquo. Eastern region was rated 5th fasting growing econmy ahead oodua. Why are you angry over mild Okey when you are full of shit. So you propose referendum to know if the east want biafra, when mossop peaceful movement is crushed by ur nigerian system? Ur article is unnnecessary ego trip. Enough of oodua hypercrisy.
