Acting president osinbanjo speech at the colloquim on Biafra
Chinua Achebe repeatedly reminded us of the Igbo saying that a man who cannot tell where the rain began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body. If we lose the past, we will inevitably lose the opportunity to make the best of the present and the future.

Today at the colloquium on Biafra, I shared on why we are greater together than apart.

I was ten years old when my friend in primary school then, Emeka, left school one afternoon. He said his parents said they had to go back to East, war was about to start. I never saw Emeka again.

I recall distinctly how in 1967, passing in front of my home on Ikorodu road almost every hour were trucks carrying passengers and furniture in an endless stream heading east. Many Ibos who left various parts of Nigeria, left friends, families and businesses, schools and jobs. Like my friend and aunty some never returned! But many died. The reasons for this tragic separation of brothers and sisters were deep and profound. So much has been said and written already about the ``why's and wherefores’’ and that analyses will probably never end.

The issue is whether the terrible suffering, massive loss of lives, of hopes and fortunes of so many can ever be justified.

As we reflect on this event today, we must ask ourselves the same question that many who have fought or been victims in civil wars, wars between brothers and sisters ask in moments of reflection....``what if we had spent all the resources, time and sacrifice we put into the war, into trying to forge unity? What if we had decided not to seek to avenge a wrong done to us? What if we had chosen to overcome evil with good?’’

My God-son is Somkele Awakalu, his father Awa Kalu, SAN, and I taught at the University of Lagos. My first book was dedicated to Somkele and my two other God-children. Chief Emmanuel Dimike is almost 80, he was my father's friend and business associate in his sawmills in Lagos. Chief has been like a father. I see him most Sundays, he worships with me at the chapel.

The individual affections and friendships we forge some even deeper than family ties, must remind us that unity is possible, that brotherhood across tribes and faiths is possible

Let me make it clear that I fully believe that Nigerians should exercise to the fullest extent the right to discuss or debate the terms of our existence. Debate and disagreement are fundamental aspects of democracy. We recognize and acknowledge that necessity. And today’s event is along those lines – an opportunity not merely to commemorate the past, but also to dissect and debate it. Let’s ask ourselves tough questions about the path that has led us here, and how we might transform yesterday’s actions into tomorrow’s wisdom.
Indeed our argument is not and will never be that we should ‘forget the past’, or ‘let bygones be bygones’, as some have suggested.

In an interview years ago, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, explaining why he didn’t think a second Biafran War should happen, said: “We should have learnt from that first one, otherwise the deaths would have been to no avail; it would all have been in vain.”

We should also be careful that we do not focus exclusively on the narratives of division, at the expense of the uplifting and inspiring ones. The same social media that has come under much censure for its propensity to propagate division, has also allowed multitudes of young Nigerians to see more of the sights and sounds of their country than ever before.

You can read the full text of the speech at https://medium.com/@VicePresidentNG/we-are-greater-together-than-apart-biafra-50-years-after-601eb501e377

Nice One.. But the children of the rising sun won't listen cos they have a blocked hear...

Another Emeka has refused to go to his village cos he can speak Yoruba fluently and also building a home for himself here.. They wont consider millions of the emekas and chidiebere and nneka who have successfully settled fully in other regions before they start their agitations many of their women have been successfully married to other regions and if there is a war today where would they go. Will they be accepted back by their family or remarried to another igbo man. What also will become the fate of these married away people in their respective homes seeing their husband families and tribes being sluttered by their kinsmen.. Let's promote love above hatred..
During soccer we forget our ethnic background. Ahmed musa from the north will score against Argentina and their likes and every part of the nation will jubilate and celebrate the goal not minding where he comes from.

Sunday oliseh scored against Spain and it was all jubilation. Same with Mikel obi and rasheedi Yekini...

Let our leaders promote luv and not hatred..

No more war..

Let peace rain in the world....

Nice One.. But the children of the rising sun won't listen cos they have a blocked hear...

Another Emeka has refused to go to his village cos he can speak Yoruba fluently and also building a home for himself here.. They wont consider millions of the emekas and chidiebere and nneka who have successfully settled fully in other regions before they start their agitations many of their women have been successfully married to other regions and if there is a war today where would they go. Will they be accepted back by their family or remarried to another ogbonge man. What also befell the fates of this married away people in their respective homes seeing their husband families and tribes being sluttered by their kinsmen.. Let's promote love above hatred..
During soccer we forget our ethnic background. Ahmed musa from the north will score against Argentina and their likes and every part of the nation will jubilate and celebrate the goal not minding where he comes from.

Sunday oliseh scored against Spain and it was all jubilation. Same with Mikel obi and rasheedi Yekini...

Let our leaders promote luv and not hatred..

No more war..

Let peace rain in the world....

My new name is

Adeniyi chukwudi garuba...

Hate me or like me I dnt care all I care for is to unite will both my enemy's and friends...