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IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts - Politics (4) - Nairaland

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Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by MEGA4BILLION(m): 3:13pm On Jan 04, 2018
In case you don't understand, what Lai actually mean is that national unity is by force.

1 Like

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Opoki(m): 3:13pm On Jan 04, 2018
This administration is a general collosal mistake by all of us. Myself inclusive, why would you hate and wage a war on a sector that provides more succor to the nation this much! Imagine prescribing ipob a terror group while Fulani crazyherdsmen keep killing, maiming and terrorizing people at will.

Ah! O ka mi Lara, it pains me.

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by kernel505: 3:17pm On Jan 04, 2018
jagorinho:

now this is where i am going, i agree that what lai is saying is nonsense to say the least but we have at least two people from the west consistently giving this administration a tough time in terms of opposition ( ffk and fayose) but i have never seen a serving politician or a notable person from the east voicing against the current administration consistently like ffk and fayose are doing, all they know is jumping from one party to the other.....it is funny that the real cowards call others cowards

Wait... After killing Nnamdi Kalu, which had the support of West, what ease do you want? We aren't brothers, mind your region.

3 Likes

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by kernel505: 3:17pm On Jan 04, 2018
jagorinho:

now this is where i am going, i agree that what lai is saying is nonsense to say the least but we have at least two people from the west consistently giving this administration a tough time in terms of opposition ( ffk and fayose) but i have never seen a serving politician or a notable person from the east voicing against the current administration consistently like ffk and fayose are doing, all they know is jumping from one party to the other.....it is funny that the real cowards call others cowards

Wait... After killing Nnamdi Kalu, which had the support of West, what ease do you want? We aren't brothers, mind your region.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by jflower06(m): 3:17pm On Jan 04, 2018
GREAT NAIRALANDERS!!!! TIME TO STOP WASTING TIME ON WHAT YOU AND I BELIEVE IS NOT RIGHT.. WHY CAN'T WE STAGE A PROTEST??

1 Like

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by calaway: 3:17pm On Jan 04, 2018
billyG:
Lai!u are wrong on dis one,fkk hav u ever visit those trouble spots condole with d victims & made donations,it seem u pray dis killing continues so u can use it to yur party political advantage.

You thinking is inhuman and uneducated..... He is condemning it yet u think otherwise. It is the person who is not condemning what is happening that does not want it yo stop till his mission is complete jihadist like you.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Amarisa(f): 3:19pm On Jan 04, 2018
Hmm..how did we get to this point?...
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by newoffer: 3:19pm On Jan 04, 2018
Thinking other tribes are stupid ba, I just wish this country well
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Nobody: 3:22pm On Jan 04, 2018
horsepower101:
Finally confirmed what I and so many igbos have been saying. There is no Nigeria without igbos.

This is beyond proven at this point. It has even gotten insane that they will label you a terrorist before they do so to natural born killers.

When a fellow human being feel their future is hopeless without you around, then you have everything GOD DAMN right to beat your chest

When a fellow human being that hates you panic and have sleepless nights at the thought of you leaving, then you have every right to beat your chest.

When your land was destroyed by those same people and left to rotten, yet you managed to rebuild and surpass them, them you have every GOD given right to pound your chest


OBASANJO'S BBC HARDTALK: WHY IGBOS ARE ANGRY WITH NIGERIA: Response

My friends who are not from the East of Nigeria where Igbos come from often ask me why there is so much anger in the East and among Igbos. Some wonder why, despite the famed Igbo” wealth’ and enterprise all over Nigeria, the people still complain that Nigeria is unfair to them. Some insinuate that the anger comes from the loss of the 2015 election by Jonathan who the Igbos heavily backed.


And why is it that the current generation of Igbos are so angry as to contemplate carrying arms against the country? With lots following Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB with his secessionist message. Those not following Kanu may despise his antics and rhetoric but are sympathetic to his underlying message. And what is that message? That Igbos don’t feel wanted in Nigeria. That decades of official marginalization and discrimination should be stopped or they should be allowed to take their chances in a new nation.

First, for those who think this is all about Jonathan and Buhari. It is not. Igbos were disappointed that Jonathan did not win. But those whose candidates lose elections lick their wounds. It is allowed. It happens when your candidate loses election. Why did the Igbos invest so much emotions in Jonathan, a non-Igbo from Ijaw? It was more because of the fear of their experience in the past 50 years. Nigeria has placed an embargo on any Igbo man becoming Nigerian president and Igbos understand this.


Jonathan was the next best thing. Other parts of Nigeria have supported their sons to the presidency. Some have bombed Nigeria into submission to get their sons to Aso Rock. Igbos have little capacity to blackmail Nigeria to the presidency. They chose Jonathan as their “Igbo”. But that’s not to say that they are angry enough because he lost to contemplate going to war on his behalf. Jonathan was not really the model of a President the Igbo would go to war for. And even his Ijaw people have accepted his loss. So?

Igbo anger has been building up in Nigeria since the 70s. As kids, people made choices in other parts of Nigeria school years based on the narrative of the Igbo place in Nigeria. They knew about the glass ceiling against Igbos.


After the civil war, despite the “No winner, no vanquished” program, Nigeria placed glass ceilings and no-go areas for Igbos. The war reconstruction program was observed more in the breach. There was the “abandoned” property program that was introduced to drive a wedge between components of the former South-East Nigeria. While the country was too embarrassed to put the discrimination program down in an official gazette, it was there for anyone who cared to look. It was evident in the Igbo police officer who stayed in one position while less qualifies juniors progressed to become his bosses. It was evident when no Igbo qualified to become the Inspector General of Police, or lead any division in the armed forces. It was there when "sensitive" or "lucrative" positions were shared in Nigeria and Igbos were conspicuously absent.


It was there when Igbos were only fit enough to be made Minister of Information until Obasanjo administration came to power. And even recently, it was there when Buhari appointed 47 people to man the critical roles in his government and no one from the South east was there.


Any time there is a federal appointment in Nigeria, its usually the east that is left to shout. It was there from Buhari first term as a Military Junta to his second coming and any other time in-between.

The Igbo elite called it marginalization. Other Nigerians countered by saying no part of Nigeria was getting enough. Marginalization was universal. But they forgot something. The Igbo cry of marginalization was official policy. It was expected. It was programmed. And occasionally, key government officials let it slip that Igbos should not complain. After all, they fought a war with Nigeria. Talk about No Victor, No Vanquished. There was a Victor alright. And they were reminded of that at every turn. Every appointment. Every national project was propagated with the glass ceiling in mind to contain the Igbos.


How can any nation grow when the leaders are mandated to keep a viable component of her resources subjugated and useless because of fear and insecurity? Nigeria was only pretending. Igbos were licking their wounds and complaining and the rest of Nigeria were too busy to notice.

Go to the South-East today. Since the 70s and the oil boom. Nigeria has invested in commercial industries across the country. None has been sited in the South east. None. Refineries, Steel Plants, Cement Firms. Any Industry.


The South East was systematically de-industrialized. Even when it was the best location for any industry, there was always a reason why it should not be sited there. What this means was that any Igbo man that wanted to work in a commercial federal establishment had to leave the east. Add this to the indigenization policy of the early 70s that pushed the Igbos out of private companies. It meant that international companies also avoided expansion into the south east. The Nigerian Breweries, the Dunlop and other such firms sited their plants outside the East and only set up distribution centers to sell in the region.


This is one of the main reasons the exodus of Igbos from the zone accelerated after the war and continues to this day despite the hostility they face in certain parts of Nigeria. And why most Igbos became traders and commercial business men. Access to organized work either in the government, government commercial institutions and even commercial institutions were limited. This concerted government plan worked so well that the even Igbos began to hate themselves and hate to invest in their zone till this day.


The only industrial enterprise in the east are built by easterners; Nnewi, Aba, Onitsha. These are Igbo indigenous industrial cities. The plan was to frustrate them from investing in their zone or force them to move the industry to North or West where it can be taken from them after getting them to transfer the technology.


This has been the practice since the end of the war.
In addition to this, the Federal Government has systematically made it difficult for Easterners to do commercial business even in the East. The Federal Roads in the East are some of the worst in Nigeria. The Eastern Sea ports have been made ineffective. It was a war to get the Enugu Airport upgraded to an International Airport. The former Finance Minister shed tears on the day the first International Flight landed in Enugu. Yes, Okonjo Iwealla cried! Recently, it was only the South East that was conspicuously missing in the New Railway Plan of the Federal Government. Nigeria has 6 regions and one was missing in a national railway plan while nobody cares.


Incidentally, Igbos who reside in the east are the most itinerant in the country and would benefit most from a national transport plan. Even our President Buhari changed the plan to include his village but a major zone of the country was not included.


When you go to the east, despite the lack of federal presence, the presence of police all over the east tells a story. They mount road blocks and make it difficult to have commercial activities to run smoothly. Recently, Customs has joined. And lastly the army. It is an occupied territory. They extort money. They intimidate them by all means. They have recently started shooting and killing them.


Nigeria has made the east unlivable. They sponsor dubious governors, senators, and political leaders that take orders from the caliphate - Purposely, Carefully.

In conversations, people often accuse the east of being clannish or tribalistic. That is far from the truth. No group assimilate or blend in more than the Igbos. They claim Igbos are welcome in all parts of Nigeria, but outsiders cannot come to the East. The question is: why would anyone come to the east? To do what? There is no business to do in the east. Nigeria has ensured that. Why would someone from the South West of Nigeria go to the East to invest? No one would prevent them. But it hardly makes commercial sense. Nigeria has ensured that.


Those from the North are there in droves. Igbos love to celebrate with cows. And the cattlemen go there to sell their cattle. No one molests them. In the villages in the East, these northerners live unmolested. But those are the only people who can find commercial reason to be there!


So those who wonder why Igbos are angry, wonder no more. While most would not dare carry arms against Nigeria, don’t under estimate the level of disconnection and anger especially among the younger generation who feel hopeless and in prisoned for something they did not do.


Nigeria is made of nations that came together to form the country. No nation will like to remain in perpetual servitude or slavery. Igbos were at the forefront in the fight for Nigerian independence against Britain. If they did not allow Britain to subjugate them, they surely will not allow any local power or they may strike at the slightest opportunity at other pseudo dominating power over them.


That Nnamdi Kanu’s supporters starred down army tanks with sticks is a sign that the next generation will be ready to fight bare hands if necessary to stop Nigeria treating the Igbo nation as second-class citizens. There will be fiercer and angrier Kanus in the immediate future if Nigeria does not officially stop the “vanquished “program against the Igbos who fought the civil war.


You cannot preach *unity* and *indivisibility* of the country on TV and all your actions point to discrimination against the components of the country. It is hypocrisy. It is as dangerous as it is foolhardy.


Let those who preach unity walk the talk and stop open discrimination of their countrymen.


History has shown that you cannot decree peace. You cannot decree unity. You cannot force any group to belong to a country by force, it may work for a time. But never sustainable.



Nigeria has a lot to look forward to as a united country. It also has enough for the regions and nations that make up the country. Our diversity is a blessing. Our failure to reach our potential is caused mostly by the internal contradictions and the inability to build a fair country that can bring out the best out of her component regions.



Those who shout most about loving Nigeria today are mostly those its current unfair structure favor. But Nigeria will continue being as strong as its weakest link. And the weak links are all there to see. The East is one of the weakest links. Until it stops being a weak link, Nigeria cannot truly make progress.


The Republican News
www.twitter.com/RNNetwork1

Forwarded as Received.

11 Likes 3 Shares

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by zinaunreal(m): 3:26pm On Jan 04, 2018
ITS TIME FOR APC TO LEAVE
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by BanevsJoker(m): 3:26pm On Jan 04, 2018
Opoki:
This administration is a general collosal mistake by all of us. Myself inclusive, why would you hate and wage a war on a sector that provides more succor to the nation this much! Imagine prescribing ipob a terror group while Fulani crazyherdsmen keep killing, maiming and terrorizing people at will.

Ah! O ka mi Lara, it pains me.
Na lie, I wasn't part of your mistake. I kept telling Sai Barbarians, but they had already been zombified. You guys are actually lucky, I expected it to be much worse than it is today. NOW YOU CAN EAT YOUR CHANGE AND HAVE IT.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Juliusdking(m): 3:28pm On Jan 04, 2018
Dis lai Muhammad of a thing e mumu don dey too much
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Sheyman95(m): 3:34pm On Jan 04, 2018
The evil these Fulani Herdsmen commit surprises the devil himself. And the kind of lies the FG dish to Nigerians terrifies Satan.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by iAmucheemma(m): 3:35pm On Jan 04, 2018
What did the IPOB do that makes FG fear them this much?
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by SouthEastFacts: 3:39pm On Jan 04, 2018
degamemaster:
You couldn't catch the sarcasm in his statement.
Sorry about that.

1 Like

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by ehissi(m): 3:40pm On Jan 04, 2018
If the Sai Baba people have their way in 2019, I see civil war baked and delivered in 2021........... angry

They don't want progress of any kind, Haba manan........ angry
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by SouthEastFacts: 3:43pm On Jan 04, 2018
iAmucheemma:
What did the IPOB do that makes FG fear them this much?
Your head is there.

This shows the gross insensitivity of the government. How can a govt Spokeperson make that statement after the massacre in the Benue.

Benue have a choice to make in 2019. Vote out the Fulani herdsmen or vote in further massacre. That is if they will be alive to then.

I am not comfortable with His Excellency's attitude towards the Herdsmen.

1 Like

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Nobody: 3:43pm On Jan 04, 2018
jerryunit48:
You guys keep saying sheeet about this man but he is actually making sense


making sense bah,, killings happening in local environment... a community and everyone is shouting buhari .... what happened to the state Governors or they just there to embezzle state funds ..who is more closer to the people ..what are the governora doing to upgrade security for there people ... house is burning in ur area you come online be shouting buhari.
when militants tried to mess with lagos n ogun ..ddnt we all see how our competent governors took the matter into there own hands ... was ambode crying buhari on TV.
i dnnt care wat FFk think am not gullible neither am i supporting or here 2 justify the herdsmen killing ... but for Godsake herdsmen is even a collective name for cattle breeders not some registered crime organisation ... the bad eggs have no known course,,face or agitation
we all see herdsmen around,,go to stadium why cannt we attack them,,buhari is dnnt their to stop us .
i wish these bad eggs have a face,,,a name to start with ,,ipod was tag terror group not until kanu gave it a course,,branding nd agitation ...my point remains you can only fight a force you can single out .. the governors are @ d best position to stop the endless menace.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:44pm On Jan 04, 2018
billyG:
Lai!u are wrong on dis one,fkk hav u ever visit those trouble spots condole with d victims & made donations,it seem u pray dis killing continues so u can use it to yur party political advantage.
Shut your filthy thumb!!
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:45pm On Jan 04, 2018
Fukafuka:
grin
Fooooooooooooooool
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by 9japride(m): 3:46pm On Jan 04, 2018
Unity that exist on oil alone. I pity all niger deltans who can't fish or farm due to oil exploration. Sorry eh when things finally red u'll have no one to blame. Greedy politicians and citizens collecting peanuts presently are the ones not helping their matter
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:47pm On Jan 04, 2018
Yubee40:
Haba. When did FFK become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)?
Shut your trap and face the message!
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:49pm On Jan 04, 2018
valentineuwakwe:
i no get wetin talk now....even the IPOB and FULANI HERDSMEN which one better pass...abeg papa God help this country!
Zombie
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Speakoutnaija1: 3:49pm On Jan 04, 2018
HMIC is right, FFK is unserious human being
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Sleezwizz: 3:50pm On Jan 04, 2018
jerryunit48:
You guys keep saying sheeet about this man but he is actually making sense

On this particular issue he is right...
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:50pm On Jan 04, 2018
wizod:
I've just seen d side effect of drug addiction. Plz call a spade n not a working tool.
Zombie
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:51pm On Jan 04, 2018
oluwaahmed:
In as much as I didn't support iPob wahala we all know dey didn't massacre villages or rip of babies from foetus just to kill Dem. These leaders are a disappointment to the black nation. Fulani herdsmen(boko Haram reloaded) dat have wasted many lives of soldiers.
There is something wrong somewhere in this country
Go ahead and support one Nigeria. ewu
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by thunderbabs: 3:51pm On Jan 04, 2018
You can all see why buhari should not try to seek re-election again..... Him nd all d old mutulas with slow RAM in their brains... Hp u can all hear wht smbody's father is saying
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by YoungDaNaval(m): 3:53pm On Jan 04, 2018
potterdon:
Finally everybody is on this thread is an Ipob yoot/ miscreants grin grin am so happy for our new members.
Nobi small thing ooh! Even zombies them dey avoid the thread

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Konze70: 3:54pm On Jan 04, 2018
Lai mohamed is as dirty and useless as a menstrual pad . Curse be opon him and his family m

1 Like 1 Share

Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by Guyman02: 3:55pm On Jan 04, 2018
jerryunit48:
You guys keep saying sheeet about this man but he is actually making sense

It is his own Yoruba Muslim brothers and sisters that attack him for saying the truth against the Govt. They feel that Buhari must be defended at all cost no matter what he does.
Re: IPOB Is A Threat To Unity, Herdsmen Is Not, Lai Mohammed Tells BBC - FFK Reacts by goestohell: 4:00pm On Jan 04, 2018
misterme:



OBASANJO'S BBC HARDTALK: WHY IGBOS ARE ANGRY WITH NIGERIA: Response

My friends who are not from the East of Nigeria where Igbos come from often ask me why there is so much anger in the East and among Igbos. Some wonder why, despite the famed Igbo” wealth’ and enterprise all over Nigeria, the people still complain that Nigeria is unfair to them. Some insinuate that the anger comes from the loss of the 2015 election by Jonathan who the Igbos heavily backed.


And why is it that the current generation of Igbos are so angry as to contemplate carrying arms against the country? With lots following Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB with his secessionist message. Those not following Kanu may despise his antics and rhetoric but are sympathetic to his underlying message. And what is that message? That Igbos don’t feel wanted in Nigeria. That decades of official marginalization and discrimination should be stopped or they should be allowed to take their chances in a new nation.

First, for those who think this is all about Jonathan and Buhari. It is not. Igbos were disappointed that Jonathan did not win. But those whose candidates lose elections lick their wounds. It is allowed. It happens when your candidate loses election. Why did the Igbos invest so much emotions in Jonathan, a non-Igbo from Ijaw? It was more because of the fear of their experience in the past 50 years. Nigeria has placed an embargo on any Igbo man becoming Nigerian president and Igbos understand this.


Jonathan was the next best thing. Other parts of Nigeria have supported their sons to the presidency. Some have bombed Nigeria into submission to get their sons to Aso Rock. Igbos have little capacity to blackmail Nigeria to the presidency. They chose Jonathan as their “Igbo”. But that’s not to say that they are angry enough because he lost to contemplate going to war on his behalf. Jonathan was not really the model of a President the Igbo would go to war for. And even his Ijaw people have accepted his loss. So?

Igbo anger has been building up in Nigeria since the 70s. As kids, people made choices in other parts of Nigeria school years based on the narrative of the Igbo place in Nigeria. They knew about the glass ceiling against Igbos.


After the civil war, despite the “No winner, no vanquished” program, Nigeria placed glass ceilings and no-go areas for Igbos. The war reconstruction program was observed more in the breach. There was the “abandoned” property program that was introduced to drive a wedge between components of the former South-East Nigeria. While the country was too embarrassed to put the discrimination program down in an official gazette, it was there for anyone who cared to look. It was evident in the Igbo police officer who stayed in one position while less qualifies juniors progressed to become his bosses. It was evident when no Igbo qualified to become the Inspector General of Police, or lead any division in the armed forces. It was there when "sensitive" or "lucrative" positions were shared in Nigeria and Igbos were conspicuously absent.


It was there when Igbos were only fit enough to be made Minister of Information until Obasanjo administration came to power. And even recently, it was there when Buhari appointed 47 people to man the critical roles in his government and no one from the South east was there.


Any time there is a federal appointment in Nigeria, its usually the east that is left to shout. It was there from Buhari first term as a Military Junta to his second coming and any other time in-between.

The Igbo elite called it marginalization. Other Nigerians countered by saying no part of Nigeria was getting enough. Marginalization was universal. But they forgot something. The Igbo cry of marginalization was official policy. It was expected. It was programmed. And occasionally, key government officials let it slip that Igbos should not complain. After all, they fought a war with Nigeria. Talk about No Victor, No Vanquished. There was a Victor alright. And they were reminded of that at every turn. Every appointment. Every national project was propagated with the glass ceiling in mind to contain the Igbos.


How can any nation grow when the leaders are mandated to keep a viable component of her resources subjugated and useless because of fear and insecurity? Nigeria was only pretending. Igbos were licking their wounds and complaining and the rest of Nigeria were too busy to notice.

Go to the South-East today. Since the 70s and the oil boom. Nigeria has invested in commercial industries across the country. None has been sited in the South east. None. Refineries, Steel Plants, Cement Firms. Any Industry.


The South East was systematically de-industrialized. Even when it was the best location for any industry, there was always a reason why it should not be sited there. What this means was that any Igbo man that wanted to work in a commercial federal establishment had to leave the east. Add this to the indigenization policy of the early 70s that pushed the Igbos out of private companies. It meant that international companies also avoided expansion into the south east. The Nigerian Breweries, the Dunlop and other such firms sited their plants outside the East and only set up distribution centers to sell in the region.


This is one of the main reasons the exodus of Igbos from the zone accelerated after the war and continues to this day despite the hostility they face in certain parts of Nigeria. And why most Igbos became traders and commercial business men. Access to organized work either in the government, government commercial institutions and even commercial institutions were limited. This concerted government plan worked so well that the even Igbos began to hate themselves and hate to invest in their zone till this day.


The only industrial enterprise in the east are built by easterners; Nnewi, Aba, Onitsha. These are Igbo indigenous industrial cities. The plan was to frustrate them from investing in their zone or force them to move the industry to North or West where it can be taken from them after getting them to transfer the technology.


This has been the practice since the end of the war.
In addition to this, the Federal Government has systematically made it difficult for Easterners to do commercial business even in the East. The Federal Roads in the East are some of the worst in Nigeria. The Eastern Sea ports have been made ineffective. It was a war to get the Enugu Airport upgraded to an International Airport. The former Finance Minister shed tears on the day the first International Flight landed in Enugu. Yes, Okonjo Iwealla cried! Recently, it was only the South East that was conspicuously missing in the New Railway Plan of the Federal Government. Nigeria has 6 regions and one was missing in a national railway plan while nobody cares.


Incidentally, Igbos who reside in the east are the most itinerant in the country and would benefit most from a national transport plan. Even our President Buhari changed the plan to include his village but a major zone of the country was not included.


When you go to the east, despite the lack of federal presence, the presence of police all over the east tells a story. They mount road blocks and make it difficult to have commercial activities to run smoothly. Recently, Customs has joined. And lastly the army. It is an occupied territory. They extort money. They intimidate them by all means. They have recently started shooting and killing them.


Nigeria has made the east unlivable. They sponsor dubious governors, senators, and political leaders that take orders from the caliphate - Purposely, Carefully.

In conversations, people often accuse the east of being clannish or tribalistic. That is far from the truth. No group assimilate or blend in more than the Igbos. They claim Igbos are welcome in all parts of Nigeria, but outsiders cannot come to the East. The question is: why would anyone come to the east? To do what? There is no business to do in the east. Nigeria has ensured that. Why would someone from the South West of Nigeria go to the East to invest? No one would prevent them. But it hardly makes commercial sense. Nigeria has ensured that.


Those from the North are there in droves. Igbos love to celebrate with cows. And the cattlemen go there to sell their cattle. No one molests them. In the villages in the East, these northerners live unmolested. But those are the only people who can find commercial reason to be there!


So those who wonder why Igbos are angry, wonder no more. While most would not dare carry arms against Nigeria, don’t under estimate the level of disconnection and anger especially among the younger generation who feel hopeless and in prisoned for something they did not do.


Nigeria is made of nations that came together to form the country. No nation will like to remain in perpetual servitude or slavery. Igbos were at the forefront in the fight for Nigerian independence against Britain. If they did not allow Britain to subjugate them, they surely will not allow any local power or they may strike at the slightest opportunity at other pseudo dominating power over them.


That Nnamdi Kanu’s supporters starred down army tanks with sticks is a sign that the next generation will be ready to fight bare hands if necessary to stop Nigeria treating the Igbo nation as second-class citizens. There will be fiercer and angrier Kanus in the immediate future if Nigeria does not officially stop the “vanquished “program against the Igbos who fought the civil war.


You cannot preach *unity* and *indivisibility* of the country on TV and all your actions point to discrimination against the components of the country. It is hypocrisy. It is as dangerous as it is foolhardy.


Let those who preach unity walk the talk and stop open discrimination of their countrymen.


History has shown that you cannot decree peace. You cannot decree unity. You cannot force any group to belong to a country by force, it may work for a time. But never sustainable.



Nigeria has a lot to look forward to as a united country. It also has enough for the regions and nations that make up the country. Our diversity is a blessing. Our failure to reach our potential is caused mostly by the internal contradictions and the inability to build a fair country that can bring out the best out of her component regions.



Those who shout most about loving Nigeria today are mostly those its current unfair structure favor. But Nigeria will continue being as strong as its weakest link. And the weak links are all there to see. The East is one of the weakest links. Until it stops being a weak link, Nigeria cannot truly make progress.


The Republican News
www.twitter.com/RNNetwork1

Forwarded as Received.

Long, but well worth a read.

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