"By way of preamble, Biafra is that part of Eastern Nigeria, Africa that tried unsuccessfully to secede from Nigeria through a civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970”
Is it conceivable to argue that Biafra technically was not conquered but was forced to surrender due to a very asphyxiating economic blockade; which brought untold hardship on the people of Biafra thereby compelling the protagonists of the war effort to throw in the towel? Could this effort at secession just be in abeyance since there is still no real reconciliation, rehabilitation and re-integration amongst Nigerians thirty eight years after the end of firearms-hostilities between Biafra and Nigeria? Is it logical to postulate that although the battle was technically “lost” in the war front but the war still goes on in the hearts and minds of both sides particularly the people of Biafra? Further is it plausible to say that the rest of Nigerians do not really want Biafra to come back into their fold, otherwise, where are their incentives? Assuming the surrender is conclusive, could Biafra then be the only lost cause in the annals of freedom fighting and survival efforts throughout the world? Was it Sudan with John Garanger? Was it East Timor and Indonesia? Was it Aceh in Malaysia? Was it Palestine or in the Balkans Kosovo which provides us the reference place in this discuss. Freedom fighters all over the world usually most always end up with either a two nation states arrangement or at minimal, a power-sharing arrangement wherein the fears of the fighters are enshrined in a document and protected by the oppressive central government; with the rebel leader as a vice president or premier carrying out oversight functions respecting the arrangement. Why Biafra’s result was different remains to be emphatically and empirically determined; however some school of thought posits that Biafra’s cause became so personalized thereby alienating other interests groups hitherto propagating it and also that Biafra failed to properly mobilize her war effort. Some protagonists have quipped that Biafra was a child of necessity and under such circumstances could not have done any better. To this blogger, the jury is still out on the real under-belly of what made Biafra to “fail” and this cause will remain a secret until long after the principals on both sides have all gone, then and only then would the real root cause of what went awry be revealed.
Nigeria as an entity is an aberration. It is a ruse. It is a quandary. It is an illusion. It made no sense then when it was clobbered together by colonial Britain with their amalgamation of 1914, it does not make sense now as a “viable” political entity and it will not ever make sense in the future as a viable force to reckon with. Nigeria’s inactive passivity at present is comparable to a volcano that although not currently erupting is very restive inside the bowls of the earth. It is an unholy marriage – people forcibly yoked together in an unholy wedlock will someday either divorce themselves or kill one another. For some time now without end Nigerians have been clamoring for a Sovereign National Conference to discuss the conditions of their continued tolerance of one another as a country but to no avail. Some lords of manor therein have resisted this call and the same people are first to question why all the mushrooming freedom fighters especially in the Niger Delta area of the country. This clique of people forget that those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable. To some people, these so called militants are patriots whose only sin is that they are questioning the continued injustice being meted to their people by successive Nigerian governments. One of such governments arrested, charged, convicted and executed one of their leaders all within forty-eight hours; and that leader’s name was Ken Saro-Wiwa. He stood up for what was right for and by his people against apparent wrongs by the Nigeria government and they killed him, no questions asked. At the rate of the restiveness in the cavity of Nigeria, one day the world will wake up to learn that Nigeria as a nation has joined the “league of countries that once was” - like the old Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and most recently Serbia-Montenegro. But the good news for these other countries is that while their decimation was for most part peaceful, that of Nigeria may be a lot much different judging from the bottled-up anger, frustrations and grievances so embedded in most many Nigerians. There is no reason to continue to hold the various nationalities together in the suffocating hell’s kitchen called Nigeria; absent a comprehensive re-assessment of the bonds holding them together. As it is presently constituted, there is no love lost among the various ethnic nationalities therein encapsulated. The good news however is that the handwriting on the wall suggests that the glue hitherto holding them together is fast melting and the resulting cataclysm shall be unparalleled if not timely checked. Sovereign National Conference is the answer!
The inept Aremu Obasanjo’s past administration made matters worse by his hellish policies and draconian governance; to the extent that fear and distrust today has become more palpable than at the beginning of his maladministration in 1999. Obasanjo did not achieve anything worth the billions of revenue his government took in through an unprecedented high cost of crude oil. In comparison, the erstwhile midget dictator Sani Abacha will forever be remembered for at least an accomplishment – Nigeria won a junior world cup during his regime. Obasanjo will however be perpetually vilified for all the atrocities of Odi massacre, Zaki-Ibiam’s mayhem, Chris Uba’s running amok in Anambra State and destroying several state properties and some lives in his infantile tantrum, and his moronic ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon. As a panacea, Nigeria should be peacefully divided along the various nationalities that presently make it up; that each may go their separate ways to pursue their respective destinies. Some people are tired of being held down waiting for some “mallam” somewhere in the Sahara desert of Northern Nigeria to finish drinking his “nono” or chewing his “gworo” and waking up by 12.00noon to start figuring out the policies of State. Or an “mgbati man” from Western Nigeria to finish dancing his “owambe music” and hatching out another line of conspiracy before leading the example of the failed Obasanjo’s administration or an “okolo man” from Eastern Nigeria to finish the day’s hustling (with some of them stuffing medicine capsules with white chalk-powder ready to send hit men after NAFDAC chair-lady for daring to straighten them up) before tinkering with States affairs. We are not one and neither do we share any affinities whatsoever together in common – not in culture, not in language, not commonality of interest, not in life style, not in appearance or outlook, not in ethnic food, not in philosophical and political aspirations; even the geographies are different. This blogger remembers the history of Nigerian independence struggle which would have paid off the same time as Ghanaians in 1957 but for the North which told the South to go ahead with their own independence because they are not ready yet. The south decide to wait in the spirit of one Nigeria till 1960 and this wait is still going on in the year 2008. This blogger goes further to add that these group of “mullahs” were not ready then, are not ready now and will never be ready. Look at the developments in the various regions and yet they have been in power much longer than all the other tribal regions put together, who is the least developed? The North, because the government cannot do everything for the people, the people must also put some foot forward. There is no common denominator coalescing Nigerians together to pursue a common purpose; and those in the Diaspora are not any better as they find it utterly difficult if not impossible to maintain one viable Nigerian Unions/Associations because they cannot tolerate one another. No Nigerian believes earnestly in one Nigeria any longer since the death of Nnamdi Azikwe although those power-drunks at the helm of affairs use that mantra as a tool of exploitation. Every Nigerian sincerely holds other Nigerians from other regions outside their own particular enclave with disdain and suspicious apprehension. The "mgbatis" (Yorubas) of Western Nigeria are the arch culprit; even the attempt, the "okolos" (Igbos) of Eastern Nigeria are making to truly unify Nigeria with their unbridled adventurism is constantly being rebuffed by the rest of Nigerians which always make them their "fair" game whenever there is any disturbance. They are usually the first to be slaughtered, maimed, dispossessed and driven out. It is delusional to think that Nigerians are truly one Nigeria and only time will tell what becomes of it.
Prescriptively, Nigeria should go the way of the Balkan States or the old Soviet Union or the recent Serbia-Montenegro cum Kosovo. Population wise, there are easily thirty million people to be found in each of the three principal regional blocks of Nigeria and hence will be very viable countries, respectively. Costa Rica is a country and they are just four point four million people with no standing army. Switzerland is a country with just about seven million people and is home to all the trillion dollars stolen out of Africa by her successive despotic heads of governments and their minions. Aside of China with 1.3billion people, India with 1.2billion people, United States of America with 300million people, Indonesia with 231million people, Brazil with 183million people, Pakistan with 162million people and Bangladesh with 158million people, Nigeria is the next most populous country in the world with about 148million people. Who really wants to call such a "clustered" place home especially when the infrastructure is highly under-developed? Nigeria is numerically bigger than any country in Europe including Russia; Nigeria is bigger also than any country in South America except Brazil; Nigeria is also bigger than Canada's 33million as well as Mexico's 106million; Japan's 127million people inclusive. Among the 222 countries and territories of the world, Nigeria is eight in the hierarchy of most populous countries. Some countries have fewer than 1million inhabitants with Pitcaim Islands being the least populated with only 50 people. All those mantras of the bigger the better has not achieved anything for Nigeria but has been the tool of choice for the over-lords who are milking her dry, so it might as well forever rest in peace. Let the people go; let the willing ones go take flight just like an eagle and soar while the rest can become another Dafour for the United Nation to worry about. Look at United Arab Emirates and the very successful experiment called Dubai! Nigeria, it is a shame! It is a shame that over forty years after her independence and amidst the available resources, Nigeria is still wallowing in abject want of practically everything from good roads, electricity, medical care, security, food, houses to all such other comforts of life that makes modern life livable; yet this is a country that have taken in over $500Billion USD in revenue since 1970. Where are the Benjamines?
Watching Maoist rebel Prachand of Nepal few years ago, extract resounding agreement from the government of Nepal affirms that a determined rebellion could resolve intractable oppression in a country. A case in point is Nigeria where a peaceful sovereign national conference has become impossible to convene. The freedom fighters of the Niger Delta must not waver but steadily and surely persist in their demands for fairness and equity regarding their territorial wealth. Can you imagine for an instance somebody from Maine going to Texas and asserting rights over oil wells therein – this will surely bring the sheriff to town. Yet almost all the oil blocks in the Niger delta are owned by mostly Northerners with Danjuma’s oil block alone allegedly valued at over $1.2billion USD and Danjuma is from Taraba State and not the Niger Delta. How many oil wells do the Henshaws, the Saro-Wiwas, the Horsefalls, the Okumagbas etc own? It is thievery and must stop! The Niger Delta patriots are honed in and by God’s speed they shall succeed. A saying goes that if you cannot find the cricket, you might as well scatter its’ mound. Let every soul support these efforts by the youth of the Niger Delta in their quest to be fairly treated so that equity and peace may reign in Nigeria. Othman Dan Fodio once said that conscience is an open wound and only truth can heal it; so speak up Nigerians as justice for one is justice for all. The people of Niger Delta deserve to be mad at the injustices they have suffered over the years in the hands of successive Nigeria governments and reserves the right to be heard. It is about time some serious soul-searching is done that equity may prevail. Justice is sacrosanct to peace!
In summation therefore, there is no justification for all the wrongs going on in Nigeria. There is no reason why millions of well qualified Nigerians should be scouring the streets in Diaspora for survival amidst all the natural resources-driven wealth therein situated just because their home governments is rudderless and lost in the wilderness. There is no justification for the non development of infrastructures in Nigeria despite all the billions of dollars USD which the country have taken in since oil was discovered therein, in Oloibiri in 1958. The people of Nigeria are denied and deprived of basics of life amenities and Dubai (UAE) is a testimony for a government that really loves her people. What is the need to continue to sustain an entity that does not thrive or discharge its basic obligation to her people? It is about time some real hard questions are asked. It is about time enough really becomes enough – let everybody go their separate ways that certain group’s desire to go to the moon could be realized. This blogger still remembers very vividly the “Ogbunigwe aka Ojukwu bucket” improvised explosive devices (IEDS); improvised oil refineries that were built overnight to fuel the war effort; planes that were landed in improvised and specially night illuminated runways in the middle of jungles; guns and ammunition that were manufactured as child of necessity - a lot was accomplished during Biafra. It was done then and it can be done again.
Biafra is a testimony of what is possible for a willing mind and a fully mobilized populace. Even these mongrels presiding over Nigeria went as far as technically closing down PRODA, a flagship project development agency in the march for industrial breakthroughs in Eastern Nigeria, situated at Enugu. Biafra is an idea that is worth revisiting especially in view of what recently happened in Kosovo. Maybe a Kosovo style approach will yield desired result for the millions yearning to be free, Biafrans - establish contacts with the mighty and powerful United States of America, Britain, Germany and France; abstract their tacit approval/support and let the chips fall as they may. A complete balkanization is what Nigeria needs so that people could be freed to pursue their destinies however they may deem fit – some people wake up by 4.00am, some by 6.00am; some by 8.00am and some by 10.00am and some others in between so it is an arrant nonsense for anyone to expect that everybody will wake up at the same time. Where this panacea is not possible or practicable then, let the country settle for a full really working confederation with a weak center; sustained from heavy taxation just to maintain the army and foreign relations. Let us declare in one loud voice, “to your tents oh Nigerians” that the Bible prophesy for the Israelites could be fulfilled in Nigeria. Let Nigeria hold a SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE to fine-tune her continued existence as an entity - a lot has been lost over the years to the inefficiency of successive marauding governments! SNC will help in bridging this erosion. SNG is the only way forward that makes sense and nothing short of that will achieve the desired result. Enough of all these yokes hindering Nigeria from becoming a country to reckon with amongst comity of nations. All the phony declarations of greatness or intentions to get there by 2020 will come to naught absent a well conceived and freely conducted sovereign national conference as the way forward which will also serve as a building block for this new Nigeria. Nigeria needs a total rebirth and this is the core of this commentary.
Is it conceivable to argue that Biafra technically was not conquered but was forced to surrender due to a very asphyxiating economic blockade; which brought untold hardship on the people of Biafra thereby compelling the protagonists of the war effort to throw in the towel? Could this effort at secession just be in abeyance since there is still no real reconciliation, rehabilitation and re-integration amongst Nigerians thirty eight years after the end of firearms-hostilities between Biafra and Nigeria? Is it logical to postulate that although the battle was technically “lost” in the war front but the war still goes on in the hearts and minds of both sides particularly the people of Biafra? Further is it plausible to say that the rest of Nigerians do not really want Biafra to come back into their fold, otherwise, where are their incentives? Assuming the surrender is conclusive, could Biafra then be the only lost cause in the annals of freedom fighting and survival efforts throughout the world? Was it Sudan with John Garanger? Was it East Timor and Indonesia? Was it Aceh in Malaysia? Was it Palestine or in the Balkans Kosovo which provides us the reference place in this discuss. Freedom fighters all over the world usually most always end up with either a two nation states arrangement or at minimal, a power-sharing arrangement wherein the fears of the fighters are enshrined in a document and protected by the oppressive central government; with the rebel leader as a vice president or premier carrying out oversight functions respecting the arrangement. Why Biafra’s result was different remains to be emphatically and empirically determined; however some school of thought posits that Biafra’s cause became so personalized thereby alienating other interests groups hitherto propagating it and also that Biafra failed to properly mobilize her war effort. Some protagonists have quipped that Biafra was a child of necessity and under such circumstances could not have done any better. To this blogger, the jury is still out on the real under-belly of what made Biafra to “fail” and this cause will remain a secret until long after the principals on both sides have all gone, then and only then would the real root cause of what went awry be revealed.
Nigeria as an entity is an aberration. It is a ruse. It is a quandary. It is an illusion. It made no sense then when it was clobbered together by colonial Britain with their amalgamation of 1914, it does not make sense now as a “viable” political entity and it will not ever make sense in the future as a viable force to reckon with. Nigeria’s inactive passivity at present is comparable to a volcano that although not currently erupting is very restive inside the bowls of the earth. It is an unholy marriage – people forcibly yoked together in an unholy wedlock will someday either divorce themselves or kill one another. For some time now without end Nigerians have been clamoring for a Sovereign National Conference to discuss the conditions of their continued tolerance of one another as a country but to no avail. Some lords of manor therein have resisted this call and the same people are first to question why all the mushrooming freedom fighters especially in the Niger Delta area of the country. This clique of people forget that those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable. To some people, these so called militants are patriots whose only sin is that they are questioning the continued injustice being meted to their people by successive Nigerian governments. One of such governments arrested, charged, convicted and executed one of their leaders all within forty-eight hours; and that leader’s name was Ken Saro-Wiwa. He stood up for what was right for and by his people against apparent wrongs by the Nigeria government and they killed him, no questions asked. At the rate of the restiveness in the cavity of Nigeria, one day the world will wake up to learn that Nigeria as a nation has joined the “league of countries that once was” - like the old Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and most recently Serbia-Montenegro. But the good news for these other countries is that while their decimation was for most part peaceful, that of Nigeria may be a lot much different judging from the bottled-up anger, frustrations and grievances so embedded in most many Nigerians. There is no reason to continue to hold the various nationalities together in the suffocating hell’s kitchen called Nigeria; absent a comprehensive re-assessment of the bonds holding them together. As it is presently constituted, there is no love lost among the various ethnic nationalities therein encapsulated. The good news however is that the handwriting on the wall suggests that the glue hitherto holding them together is fast melting and the resulting cataclysm shall be unparalleled if not timely checked. Sovereign National Conference is the answer!
The inept Aremu Obasanjo’s past administration made matters worse by his hellish policies and draconian governance; to the extent that fear and distrust today has become more palpable than at the beginning of his maladministration in 1999. Obasanjo did not achieve anything worth the billions of revenue his government took in through an unprecedented high cost of crude oil. In comparison, the erstwhile midget dictator Sani Abacha will forever be remembered for at least an accomplishment – Nigeria won a junior world cup during his regime. Obasanjo will however be perpetually vilified for all the atrocities of Odi massacre, Zaki-Ibiam’s mayhem, Chris Uba’s running amok in Anambra State and destroying several state properties and some lives in his infantile tantrum, and his moronic ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon. As a panacea, Nigeria should be peacefully divided along the various nationalities that presently make it up; that each may go their separate ways to pursue their respective destinies. Some people are tired of being held down waiting for some “mallam” somewhere in the Sahara desert of Northern Nigeria to finish drinking his “nono” or chewing his “gworo” and waking up by 12.00noon to start figuring out the policies of State. Or an “mgbati man” from Western Nigeria to finish dancing his “owambe music” and hatching out another line of conspiracy before leading the example of the failed Obasanjo’s administration or an “okolo man” from Eastern Nigeria to finish the day’s hustling (with some of them stuffing medicine capsules with white chalk-powder ready to send hit men after NAFDAC chair-lady for daring to straighten them up) before tinkering with States affairs. We are not one and neither do we share any affinities whatsoever together in common – not in culture, not in language, not commonality of interest, not in life style, not in appearance or outlook, not in ethnic food, not in philosophical and political aspirations; even the geographies are different. This blogger remembers the history of Nigerian independence struggle which would have paid off the same time as Ghanaians in 1957 but for the North which told the South to go ahead with their own independence because they are not ready yet. The south decide to wait in the spirit of one Nigeria till 1960 and this wait is still going on in the year 2008. This blogger goes further to add that these group of “mullahs” were not ready then, are not ready now and will never be ready. Look at the developments in the various regions and yet they have been in power much longer than all the other tribal regions put together, who is the least developed? The North, because the government cannot do everything for the people, the people must also put some foot forward. There is no common denominator coalescing Nigerians together to pursue a common purpose; and those in the Diaspora are not any better as they find it utterly difficult if not impossible to maintain one viable Nigerian Unions/Associations because they cannot tolerate one another. No Nigerian believes earnestly in one Nigeria any longer since the death of Nnamdi Azikwe although those power-drunks at the helm of affairs use that mantra as a tool of exploitation. Every Nigerian sincerely holds other Nigerians from other regions outside their own particular enclave with disdain and suspicious apprehension. The "mgbatis" (Yorubas) of Western Nigeria are the arch culprit; even the attempt, the "okolos" (Igbos) of Eastern Nigeria are making to truly unify Nigeria with their unbridled adventurism is constantly being rebuffed by the rest of Nigerians which always make them their "fair" game whenever there is any disturbance. They are usually the first to be slaughtered, maimed, dispossessed and driven out. It is delusional to think that Nigerians are truly one Nigeria and only time will tell what becomes of it.
Prescriptively, Nigeria should go the way of the Balkan States or the old Soviet Union or the recent Serbia-Montenegro cum Kosovo. Population wise, there are easily thirty million people to be found in each of the three principal regional blocks of Nigeria and hence will be very viable countries, respectively. Costa Rica is a country and they are just four point four million people with no standing army. Switzerland is a country with just about seven million people and is home to all the trillion dollars stolen out of Africa by her successive despotic heads of governments and their minions. Aside of China with 1.3billion people, India with 1.2billion people, United States of America with 300million people, Indonesia with 231million people, Brazil with 183million people, Pakistan with 162million people and Bangladesh with 158million people, Nigeria is the next most populous country in the world with about 148million people. Who really wants to call such a "clustered" place home especially when the infrastructure is highly under-developed? Nigeria is numerically bigger than any country in Europe including Russia; Nigeria is bigger also than any country in South America except Brazil; Nigeria is also bigger than Canada's 33million as well as Mexico's 106million; Japan's 127million people inclusive. Among the 222 countries and territories of the world, Nigeria is eight in the hierarchy of most populous countries. Some countries have fewer than 1million inhabitants with Pitcaim Islands being the least populated with only 50 people. All those mantras of the bigger the better has not achieved anything for Nigeria but has been the tool of choice for the over-lords who are milking her dry, so it might as well forever rest in peace. Let the people go; let the willing ones go take flight just like an eagle and soar while the rest can become another Dafour for the United Nation to worry about. Look at United Arab Emirates and the very successful experiment called Dubai! Nigeria, it is a shame! It is a shame that over forty years after her independence and amidst the available resources, Nigeria is still wallowing in abject want of practically everything from good roads, electricity, medical care, security, food, houses to all such other comforts of life that makes modern life livable; yet this is a country that have taken in over $500Billion USD in revenue since 1970. Where are the Benjamines?
Watching Maoist rebel Prachand of Nepal few years ago, extract resounding agreement from the government of Nepal affirms that a determined rebellion could resolve intractable oppression in a country. A case in point is Nigeria where a peaceful sovereign national conference has become impossible to convene. The freedom fighters of the Niger Delta must not waver but steadily and surely persist in their demands for fairness and equity regarding their territorial wealth. Can you imagine for an instance somebody from Maine going to Texas and asserting rights over oil wells therein – this will surely bring the sheriff to town. Yet almost all the oil blocks in the Niger delta are owned by mostly Northerners with Danjuma’s oil block alone allegedly valued at over $1.2billion USD and Danjuma is from Taraba State and not the Niger Delta. How many oil wells do the Henshaws, the Saro-Wiwas, the Horsefalls, the Okumagbas etc own? It is thievery and must stop! The Niger Delta patriots are honed in and by God’s speed they shall succeed. A saying goes that if you cannot find the cricket, you might as well scatter its’ mound. Let every soul support these efforts by the youth of the Niger Delta in their quest to be fairly treated so that equity and peace may reign in Nigeria. Othman Dan Fodio once said that conscience is an open wound and only truth can heal it; so speak up Nigerians as justice for one is justice for all. The people of Niger Delta deserve to be mad at the injustices they have suffered over the years in the hands of successive Nigeria governments and reserves the right to be heard. It is about time some serious soul-searching is done that equity may prevail. Justice is sacrosanct to peace!
In summation therefore, there is no justification for all the wrongs going on in Nigeria. There is no reason why millions of well qualified Nigerians should be scouring the streets in Diaspora for survival amidst all the natural resources-driven wealth therein situated just because their home governments is rudderless and lost in the wilderness. There is no justification for the non development of infrastructures in Nigeria despite all the billions of dollars USD which the country have taken in since oil was discovered therein, in Oloibiri in 1958. The people of Nigeria are denied and deprived of basics of life amenities and Dubai (UAE) is a testimony for a government that really loves her people. What is the need to continue to sustain an entity that does not thrive or discharge its basic obligation to her people? It is about time some real hard questions are asked. It is about time enough really becomes enough – let everybody go their separate ways that certain group’s desire to go to the moon could be realized. This blogger still remembers very vividly the “Ogbunigwe aka Ojukwu bucket” improvised explosive devices (IEDS); improvised oil refineries that were built overnight to fuel the war effort; planes that were landed in improvised and specially night illuminated runways in the middle of jungles; guns and ammunition that were manufactured as child of necessity - a lot was accomplished during Biafra. It was done then and it can be done again.
Biafra is a testimony of what is possible for a willing mind and a fully mobilized populace. Even these mongrels presiding over Nigeria went as far as technically closing down PRODA, a flagship project development agency in the march for industrial breakthroughs in Eastern Nigeria, situated at Enugu. Biafra is an idea that is worth revisiting especially in view of what recently happened in Kosovo. Maybe a Kosovo style approach will yield desired result for the millions yearning to be free, Biafrans - establish contacts with the mighty and powerful United States of America, Britain, Germany and France; abstract their tacit approval/support and let the chips fall as they may. A complete balkanization is what Nigeria needs so that people could be freed to pursue their destinies however they may deem fit – some people wake up by 4.00am, some by 6.00am; some by 8.00am and some by 10.00am and some others in between so it is an arrant nonsense for anyone to expect that everybody will wake up at the same time. Where this panacea is not possible or practicable then, let the country settle for a full really working confederation with a weak center; sustained from heavy taxation just to maintain the army and foreign relations. Let us declare in one loud voice, “to your tents oh Nigerians” that the Bible prophesy for the Israelites could be fulfilled in Nigeria. Let Nigeria hold a SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE to fine-tune her continued existence as an entity - a lot has been lost over the years to the inefficiency of successive marauding governments! SNC will help in bridging this erosion. SNG is the only way forward that makes sense and nothing short of that will achieve the desired result. Enough of all these yokes hindering Nigeria from becoming a country to reckon with amongst comity of nations. All the phony declarations of greatness or intentions to get there by 2020 will come to naught absent a well conceived and freely conducted sovereign national conference as the way forward which will also serve as a building block for this new Nigeria. Nigeria needs a total rebirth and this is the core of this commentary.
You’re unfair to S’East in appointments, PPA tells Yar’Adua
ReplyDeleteBy Sun News Publishing
Monday, June 23, 2008
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Few days after South East senators raised an alarm over perceived marginalization of their zone in federal appointments, the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) has accused President Umaru Yar’Adua of lopsidedness in the appointments.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Ben Onyechere, the PPA said there is deliberate attempt to exclude the South-East from the Federal Government.
Citing the retirement of Mrs. Ebele Okeke, the PPA wondered why the Federal Government did not replace her with another person from the South-East instead of another geopolitical zone.
The party said that the Yar’Adua government has set a pattern in appointments, adding that influential positions are either given to people from the North or South-South.
It said that the refusal to appoint a South easterner as the Inspector General of Police, when he was the next in command to the former police boss, was part of the plot to ensure that no Igbo occupies sensitive position in the current government. It said that the South-East has never had it so bad, even during the Olusegun Obasanjo government.
The PPA said that Yar’Adua wants to use the government of national unity to gain stability, accusing him of planning to remove members as other parties serving as ministers as soon as the presidential election petition was decided at the Supreme Court.
The statement said: “The retirement of Mrs. Ebele Okeke and her replacement with Ama Pepple is not agreeable in any sense of equity and justice. PPA is very disturbed that the South East is totally short changed in the manner of appointment going on in Yar’Adua’s administration . If somebody at that level was retired from such a position it is only justifiable that her replacement should come from South-East and no where else considering the fact that South-East is not occupying any major position in the government of today and even in the Legislature.
“What is wrong in appointing somebody from South-East to head customs or to be SGF or head of service, not to talk about other key functionaries at the Executive arm? Why must the North continue to produce the head of customs, and this is just one example out of many? Another example is that in the Aso-Rock villa the North holds sway in all the positions. It is with keen interest that one is observing the lopsidedness in the government whereby positions are being shared between Yar’Adua and his deputy.
“Nobody has any reason why a South easterner was denied the position of Inspector General of Police. The Nigerian polity has advanced so high that nobody should dream of taking others for granted. The so-called South-East leaders are very complacent because they have been privately settled, but the fact remains that the lack of sincerity in distribution of key position is the bane of real and sincere unity and growth of democracy in this nation.
“We are not here talking of Government of National Unity because already it is well known that the PDP intends to use the coalition to derive majority support in its days of trial after which the PDP will drop the coalition arrangement as signs abound in its stinginess with respect to appointments. The inequity in distribution of appointments, even within the PDP, is alarmingly curious, whereby some regions are cheated, not taking into cognisance that Nigeria is meant for Nigerians and winner must not take all. The system of appointments in Yar’Adua’s government portrays Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in a better image.”
You’ve Abandoned Us, S’East Lawmakers Tell Yar’Adua
ReplyDeleteFrom Stanley Nkwazema in Abuja, 06.26.2008
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Lawmakers from the South-east geo-political zone in the House of Representatives yesterday accused President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of relegating the zone to the background in the scheme of things.
The lawmakers, who spoke yesterday at the National Assembly said, "we had at various occasions expressed the view that there appears to be a scheme to exclude people from the zone from critical offices at The Presidency. From the list of appointees released by The Presidency last weekend, we have been vindicated.
"Except for about two inconsequential appointments in the office of the Vice President, we can categorically state that nobody from the South – east has a job in the State House.
"The politics of systematic and apparently deliberate exclusion of South-east zone from the commanding heights of the presidency, legislature and the judiciary, and indeed other critical sectors of the economy, did not start today. It has, however, now assumed a frightening dimension, leading to total exclusion in the scheme of things," they said.
The lawmakers also claimed that the Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, has deliberately refused to release the N6.7 billion presidential grant for rehabilitation of South-east roads.
They said "critical infrastructural need of the zone, including access to the sea, modern rail lines, air transportation, road transportation, power stations and projects, exploitation of vast petroleum resources and indeed other social and economic projects that will contribute to the social and economic development of our people are deliberately ignored."
The meeting, attended mostly by legislators from the House of Representatives, noted "the deplorable state of federal roads in the South-east and the meagre allocation made to the zone in the 2008 budget, while we continue to be excluded from the N200 billion Presidential Initiative on Road Projects and other special Presidential Grants."
The lawmakers said "it was grave error of judgment to allot lesser number of board positions to the South-east on the misleading criteria that only two states in the zone have PDP governors. In reality, even states like Anambra, Imo and Abia, have more PDP legislators than some states with PDP governors.”
"Aside, the quality of the board allocated to the South-east are so inconsequential that it in our view, reflects our fears that the South -east does not matter in the scheme of things in the Yar'Adua administration. We, therefore, wish to underline that in a long time, the South-east has never had it so bad."
The lawmakers, therefore, called on the President to redress the imbalances, to reassure the zone that it still has a stake in this country
You Should Be Ashamed, Ume-Ezeoke Tells Igbo PDP Members
ReplyDeleteBy Sunny Igboanugo, Deputy Editor, Politics
National chairman of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Edwin Ume-Ezeoke has rebuked Ndigbo still remaining in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves in spite of being ill-treated.
He is peeved at the progressive manner the fortunes of the South East members of the party have nosedived despite their contribution in founding it, stressing that the situation was totally unacceptable.
Ume-Ezeoke, an Igbo, who himself, is engrossed in a bitter conflict with the presidential candidate of his party, General Mohammadu Buhari, over issues relating to last year's election, told Sunday Independent, in an interview that nothing should make his people stomach their total relegation in the affairs of the party.
Dwelling on the contentious issue of sharing the spoils of office after the PDP won last year's presidential election and majority of other elections at the national level, he said the present arrangement was the first time in the history of Nigeria that the Igbo were totally removed from the scheme of things in a civilian government.
As a former House of Representatives Speaker in the Second Republic, Ume-Ezeoke described the South East as the weeping boy of Nigerian politics since coming out of the civil war, but argued that they have not had it so bad until now.
His words: "PDP is the only party since the inception of this country as a nation state that does not want to recognise South East as a major player in this country; that does not want to recognise the contributions of the people of this South East, both past and present to the socio-political and economic development of this country.
"Even from the colonial days, this is the first time political offices are shared in this country and people from the South East have nothing. We haven't got the President, we haven't got the Vice President, we haven't got the President of the Senate, we haven't got the Speaker of the House Representatives; we are not talking about the Chief Justice of the Federation. That one is entirely impossible for us to attain. How people from the South East can take this I can't understand. I am surprised that people from the South East are still in that party. And when I see them, when I look at them, I just say, you people are a disgrace. You are a disgrace to the South East. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You were there and all these positions were shared.
"The only thing they gave you is chairman of party. I am chairman of party, but look at me now. Tell me what decision for the improvement of the South East that a chairman can take. That is why our roads are the worst in this country. I don't know whether you have been to the South East. They are the worst in this country, except the ones we built by ourselves."
He said it was for this reason that the people totally rejection the party in the area in the last election, arguing that a situation where the party now controlled only two states out of the five at the beginning of the current democratic exercise, was a confirmation of the people's feelings towards it.
The PDP lost Imo and Abia states in last year's election to the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), while Anambra is controlled by the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), leaving it with Enugu and Ebonyi states.
"Our people are now happy, saying oh! So, we have been able to get rid of this monster called the PDP. The other two states that are remaining will also be taken away and ANPP will emerge," he said.
Mayhem Looms Over Killing Of Igbo Trader In Kaduna
ReplyDeleteBy Okey Maduforo, Correspondent, Awka
Reprisal and full scale showdown is currently looming in Northern and South Eastern Nigeria following the reported killing of an Igbo trader in Kaduna State by a mob suspected to be members of the Hausa community.
It was reported that an Igbo trader who was arrested following allegations of missing genital organs was dragged out of police custody, murdered and burnt in Kaduna last week.
It was later discovered that the allegation was not true when police conducted investigations in the area.
In reaction to the incident, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazuruike, has issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government to take action on the matter or face a showdown.
Uwazuruike, who spoke with reporters in Awka on Friday while on a visit to Senator Ben Obi, contended that no part of Nigeria had a monopoly of violence, insisting that since the life and property of Ndigbo were not guaranteed, there was no need for them remaining as Nigerians.
His words: "Just about few days ago, another Igbo man was dragged out of police custody and beheaded, and that is why I am talking of Biafra. Because there is no security of life and property of the Igbo in Nigeria, and in as much as there is no security - life is more important than any other thing, and if the lives of our people are not secured in Nigeria - what else do we want and what else are we waiting for?
"And at times, the killing of these people seem not to matter, because they don't belong to the families of big people in Igbo land. Assuming that he was the son of a governor or minister, it would have made meaning.
"But what I am saying is that it is unacceptable to MASSOB, the group I speak for, and we are waiting to see what will happen and we insist that it is unacceptable and we cannot close our eyes when Igbo people are killed like sheep in the streets or like chicken in the street.
"If nothing is done over the death of that man in Kaduna, something else will happen. Nobody in Nigeria has the monopoly of violence."
Continuing, he said: "The law enforcement agents can arrest somebody and keep him in custody, I think the rule of law and justice says that equity should be fair and if he committed any offence, he should be tried. But for people to go to the police custody and bring him out to kill, is unacceptable to us.