EzeUche:

And you all don't? 

All I am hearing is Awolowo this and Awolowo that. But the only people who are saying this is you Yoruba. You will NEVER catch a northerner, or an Igbo saying such a thing.

He was simply was a tribal demagogue, nothing more and nothing less.

Nigeria's other regional Prime Minister, the demagogic, U.S.-educated Nnamdi ["Zik"] Azikiwe of the Ibo tribe to the east, lives under a cloud as a result of a financial scandal in his administration.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894174,00.html

He was simply was a tribal demagogue, nothing more and nothing less

nulldev:

Here is a quote unedited from Awos Biography written prior to independence on he's rivalry with Zik which should shed a lot more light on the politics of the time and put it in its proper context:

An article written by Zik himself, published on the front page of the Pilot, and entitled: "'Football Iliad, 1940 Edition'", shocked many people. It was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. A football team composed of students of the Christ the King's College, Onitsha, came to Lagos to play a 'Win the War' football match against St Gregory's College. The CKC team from Onitsha defeated St Gregory's team by 5 goals to 4. To the ordinary man in the street, let alone the highly sophisticated elements, there was nothing extraordinary or unusual in one school or college defeating another in a game of soccer. But not so with Dr Azikiwe. He saw in the sporting exploits and triumph of the team from Onitsha the inherent superiority of the easterners over their opponents, and he went to very great pains to establish this fact, by means of careful choice of words and emphasis. These extracts from the article are relevant: And then to think of the great combination of the Spartan heroes who crossed the lordly Niger, journeyed through the good earth of Benin, hurried across the domains of the Oshemawe of Ondo, of the Atanla of Owo, of the Owa of Ilesha, of the Oni of Ife, of the Alake of Abeokuta in their invasion of these islands!
Who, but heroes of mighty brawn and exceptionally developed brain would have dared to make this invasion and to succeed in carrying to their River Niger home, the Golden Fleece of InterCollegiate Soccer Championship of the Eastern and Western Provinces?
Yet they came to Lagos, they saw the irresistible defence put up by their opponents, and they conquered impressively, convincingly, and were graceful even in victory!
Could their achievement be paralleled?
Would it not be better for me to leave the answer to the laps of the gods?

On 24 August 1940, however, the same CKC team played in Ibadan against the Olubadan XI in another 'Win the War' match. The CKC were beaten 3-2 by the Olubadan XI which were an undiluted Yoruba team. Apart from sending the news to the Daily service myself, I also saw to it that it was wired to the Pilot. It was after there had been clamours in the Daily service, in form of letters to the editor, that the news of this Ibadan match was published some two weeks later in the Pilot. Even then, it was a small item on the back page, and it was explained in it that the CKC team were already tired and that some of them were in fact limping, before they went into the field against Olubadan XI. This was of course untrue.
I said before that the CKC episode was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. One or two more instances will be given. By the time the Pilot had published for a year, an important feature of the paper had become manifest. The Igbos in particular were given inordinate publicity on the pages of the paper. Perhaps this was as it should be. The Igbo had never had a share in newspaper publicity before the advent of the Pilot. But equally so, no Yoruba man of the class of the Igbos publicised in the Pilot ever had a share of publicity in any paper either. In those days one had to be an outstanding politician, a big shot in society, or a well-connected person, for one's name to appear in the Nigerian Daily Times, Nigerian Daily Telegraph andLagos Daily News. Of course if you had a friend working in the news or composing section of a paper, no matter who you were, you might be slipped in. Names of people like myself appeared in the papers simply because we were agitators or free-lance journalists. All the same, it was generally agreed that the Igbos needed all the boosting they could get.But Dr Azikiwe went about it in a manner which disgusted those of us who were used to describing citizens of Nigeria as Nigerians or Africans, and regarding their achievements as reflecting credit on Nigeria, indeed Africa, as a whole. The following are typical of the titles of front page news items and of editorial articles in the Pilot.


1. ' Ibo Young Man to Sail to U.K.' is the heading of a frontpage story and picture on September 23, 1938. The young man is Mr Jaja Wachuku, now Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives.
2. '14th West African Student, 10th Nigerian, 8th Ibo in U.S.A.' Another front-page story on January 28, 1939. The 8th Ibo is Mr Nwafor Orizu, now Senator in Nigeria's Upper House.
3. 'Ibo Medical Student Passes Exam In First Class Honours.' Yet another front page story, on June 26, 1940, of the brilliant success of Dr S. O. Egwuatu.
4. Editorials:
i. ' A Model Union' ( August 8, 1938) in praise of the Ibibio State Union.
ii. 'One Year Ago' ( August 18, 1938) celebrating the first anniversary of the call to the Bar of the first Ibo lawyer, in the person of Mr Justice Louis Mbanefo, now Chief Justice of the Eastern Region High Court.
iii. 'The Ibo Are Coming' ( December 31, 1938) -- The very title is sufficiently indicative of the contents.

These are but a few examples of the publicity given to Igbos as a group. But as against these, the achievements of Yorubas and, in particular, the academic laurels of their scholars received, if at all, inconspicuous notice in the Pilot. When an Igbo did or was about to do something praiseworthy, he was invariably given a two-column headline and report in the Pilot, and was always described by his ethnic origin in the headlines. But when the Ph.D. degree of London University, indeed of any university for that matter, was conferred on the first Nigerian ever, the historic news was given a small singlecolumn space in the Pilot, and the headline read: 'Nigerian Economist Passes Ph.D. London.' The scholar concerned was Dr Fadipe, a Yoruba. As late as 1945, two Nigerian law students of Cambridge University, one Yoruba and one Igbo, passed the Law Tripos Examination. The Yoruba passed with second class honours (upper division), and the Igbo also passed with second class honours but in the lower division. The latter got front page publicity in the Pilot, but the former got a small space given to him on the back page a few days after the report of his Igbo colleague had appeared. As for outstanding Yoruba public men, they were all of them daubed as 'imperialist stooges' and ' Uncle Toms'.

nulldev:

Nigeria did not exist? your special

nulldev:

Nigeria did not exist? your special

Dede1:


The incessant acts of chest besting by Yoruba peeps about their imaginary academic superiority and inconsequential political encomiums lavished on anything Yoruba did not start at the advent of Internet.

I guess Azikiwe tried to contrarily elucidate the erroneous tales of greatness of Yoruba ethnic group that was being propagated by erratic politicians and frustrated juju musicians of that era.

Is there any better way to sarcastically debunk such conjectural and nonsensical claims of greatness than citing superior academic achievements of the kids from the eastern region of the Protectorates including the trashing of St. Gregory College, Lagos soccer team by the visiting team of Christ the King College, Onitsha?

The bolded part is another crap meant to deceive undiscerning onlooker. When the aforementioned article was written, there was no real estate called Nigeria. Pilot could not have committed such journalistic blunder to caption a headline with “Nigerian”.

What the author of above posted article purposefully omitted was West African Pilot ran full page obituary of Dr. Nathanial Akinremi Fadipe for four consecutive editions when he suddenly died in 1944.

babapupa:


As asserted by Time magazine, Zik was a tribalist and demagogue. The article was not written by a Yoruba man, not by a Nigerian, but by an independent writer and body thousands of miles away from the shores of Nigeria.

Like I said before, when they talk about African leaders, they mention and acknowledge Awolowo while Zik gets labeled a tribal leader and a corrupt demagogue.


And regardless of your meaningless regurgitation and spin, the pilot article solidly confirmed the Time magazines demagogue assertions and contentions, write on point.

Pleas go find some other BS to peddle,

Ibime:

Dede1 is an amusing fellow. . . . always enjoy reading his write-ups cos its packed with witty humour.

Dede1:


Bros. you known as well as I do that truth is witty.

SEFAGO:

Thank God they did not tell you to make any of the banners for the world cup. You would have misspelled every country's name. Anyhow let us thank God, for our founding fathers today when Argenti[b]na sees the might of Nigeria[/b].

SEFAGO:

haha, word. I agree enyeama is carrying the whole team in his head. see why we dont want you guys to leave

SEFAGO:

Thank God they did not tell you to make any of the banners for the world cup. You would have misspelled every country's name. Anyhow let us thank God, for our founding fathers today when Argentina sees the might of Nigeria.

Dede1:

You are known on this forum as a wily slowpoke. I am of the view your blind obstinacy due to tribal pressure does not permeate to other human endeavors. The moronic gauge of the author of the alleged article published by Time Magazine is beyond the pale of comprehension.

It does not occur to you the author of the conjectural crap foolishly drew blank on the chronicle order of events in the amalgamated Protectorates. Anyway had your miserable life depended on sniffing out the literary blunders committed on the aforementioned Time Magazine’s article, your poor parents would have been grieving for loss of a child.

nulldev:

The 'Awo stole 1951 election' story is a fabrication that I see repeated (quite often) not only on this thread but all over this forum, as I said under one of the many threads that this was parroted on, read the article below on NVS which analysed the 51 elections with candidate names and party affiliations.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/rebutting-ralph-uwechues-lie.html

For those allergic to reading, the long and short is this:

The total tally for the 1951 poll in the 80-member Western Regional Assembly was as follows: Action Group 38; Independent/AG 15; NCNC 24; Independent/NCNC 3. Three members of the NCNC who had been elected to the House changed party allegiance that day ahead of the House of Representatives vote. They were: Chief SY Kesington-Momoh, JG Ako, and Awodi Orisaremi, from Urhobo and Kukuruku Divisions.

Pray tell, how those that 'introduce tribalism into Nigeria'

Bear in mind the following

1. Egbe Omo oduduwa was formed years after the Ibo state union was formed with Zik as president.
2. The Nigerian youth movement of which Awo and Zik were members was dissolved as a result of the fallout of an election in 1941 between Samuel Akinsanya (supported by Zik) and Ernest Ikoli supported by Awo. Ikoli won said election and Zik's accusation at the time? That it was an Eko conspiracy against Ijebus! never mind that Awo was Ijebu.

Here is a quote unedited from Awos Biography written prior to independence on he's rivalry with Zik which should shed a lot more light on the politics of the time and put it in its proper context:

An article written by Zik himself, published on the front page of the Pilot, and entitled: "'Football Iliad, 1940 Edition'", shocked many people. It was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. A football team composed of students of the Christ the King's College, Onitsha, came to Lagos to play a 'Win the War' football match against St Gregory's College. The CKC team from Onitsha defeated St Gregory's team by 5 goals to 4. To the ordinary man in the street, let alone the highly sophisticated elements, there was nothing extraordinary or unusual in one school or college defeating another in a game of soccer. But not so with Dr Azikiwe. He saw in the sporting exploits and triumph of the team from Onitsha the inherent superiority of the easterners over their opponents, and he went to very great pains to establish this fact, by means of careful choice of words and emphasis. These extracts from the article are relevant: And then to think of the great combination of the Spartan heroes who crossed the lordly Niger, journeyed through the good earth of Benin, hurried across the domains of the Oshemawe of Ondo, of the Atanla of Owo, of the Owa of Ilesha, of the Oni of Ife, of the Alake of Abeokuta in their invasion of these islands!
Who, but heroes of mighty brawn and exceptionally developed brain would have dared to make this invasion and to succeed in carrying to their River Niger home, the Golden Fleece of InterCollegiate Soccer Championship of the Eastern and Western Provinces?
Yet they came to Lagos, they saw the irresistible defence put up by their opponents, and they conquered impressively, convincingly, and were graceful even in victory!
Could their achievement be paralleled?
Would it not be better for me to leave the answer to the laps of the gods?

On 24 August 1940, however, the same CKC team played in Ibadan against the Olubadan XI in another 'Win the War' match. The CKC were beaten 3-2 by the Olubadan XI which were an undiluted Yoruba team. Apart from sending the news to the Daily service myself, I also saw to it that it was wired to the Pilot. It was after there had been clamours in the Daily service, in form of letters to the editor, that the news of this Ibadan match was published some two weeks later in the Pilot. Even then, it was a small item on the back page, and it was explained in it that the CKC team were already tired and that some of them were in fact limping, before they went into the field against Olubadan XI. This was of course untrue.
I said before that the CKC episode was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. One or two more instances will be given. By the time the Pilot had published for a year, an important feature of the paper had become manifest. The Igbos in particular were given inordinate publicity on the pages of the paper. Perhaps this was as it should be. The Igbo had never had a share in newspaper publicity before the advent of the Pilot. But equally so, no Yoruba man of the class of the Igbos publicised in the Pilot ever had a share of publicity in any paper either. In those days one had to be an outstanding politician, a big shot in society, or a well-connected person, for one's name to appear in the Nigerian Daily Times, Nigerian Daily Telegraph andLagos Daily News. Of course if you had a friend working in the news or composing section of a paper, no matter who you were, you might be slipped in. Names of people like myself appeared in the papers simply because we were agitators or free-lance journalists. All the same, it was generally agreed that the Igbos needed all the boosting they could get.But Dr Azikiwe went about it in a manner which disgusted those of us who were used to describing citizens of Nigeria as Nigerians or Africans, and regarding their achievements as reflecting credit on Nigeria, indeed Africa, as a whole. The following are typical of the titles of front page news items and of editorial articles in the Pilot.


1. ' Ibo Young Man to Sail to U.K.' is the heading of a frontpage story and picture on September 23, 1938. The young man is Mr Jaja Wachuku, now Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives.
2. '14th West African Student, 10th Nigerian, 8th Ibo in U.S.A.' Another front-page story on January 28, 1939. The 8th Ibo is Mr Nwafor Orizu, now Senator in Nigeria's Upper House.
3. 'Ibo Medical Student Passes Exam In First Class Honours.' Yet another front page story, on June 26, 1940, of the brilliant success of Dr S. O. Egwuatu.
4. Editorials:
i. ' A Model Union' ( August 8, 1938) in praise of the Ibibio State Union.
ii. 'One Year Ago' ( August 18, 1938) celebrating the first anniversary of the call to the Bar of the first Ibo lawyer, in the person of Mr Justice Louis Mbanefo, now Chief Justice of the Eastern Region High Court.
iii. 'The Ibo Are Coming' ( December 31, 1938) -- The very title is sufficiently indicative of the contents.

These are but a few examples of the publicity given to Igbos as a group. But as against these, the achievements of Yorubas and, in particular, the academic laurels of their scholars received, if at all, inconspicuous notice in the Pilot. When an Igbo did or was about to do something praiseworthy, he was invariably given a two-column headline and report in the Pilot, and was always described by his ethnic origin in the headlines. But when the Ph.D. degree of London University, indeed of any university for that matter, was conferred on the first Nigerian ever, the historic news was given a small singlecolumn space in the Pilot, and the headline read: 'Nigerian Economist Passes Ph.D. London.' The scholar concerned was Dr Fadipe, a Yoruba. As late as 1945, two Nigerian law students of Cambridge University, one Yoruba and one Igbo, passed the Law Tripos Examination. The Yoruba passed with second class honours (upper division), and the Igbo also passed with second class honours but in the lower division. The latter got front page publicity in the Pilot, but the former got a small space given to him on the back page a few days after the report of his Igbo colleague had appeared. As for outstanding Yoruba public men, they were all of them daubed as 'imperialist stooges' and ' Uncle Toms'.

May you live in good health,

I am enlightened.
We now know why Ziik was a big failure,

seanet02:

Stop disturbing your brains ibos azikwe is no match for AWOLOWO, they are two different men, one a coward who surrenders power to the military, the other a courageous man who dare the military including that senseless rebel call ojukwu the bingo.

Tuyis:

Revisionism at work.

The most potent argument against Awolowo from some Igbo people have always been the carpet crossing episode in the Western house of Assembly, but having read all the posts on this thread and especially the blockbuster from nulldev, I have come to realise that, preventing Zik to become the premier of Western Region was the right thing to do.

Allowing him to become premier would have been tantamount to making EzeUche the governor of Oshun state!
 

seanet02:

@andreuweh, its your forefathers that are castrated. Seems you dont know we the YORUBA people very well, we silensed your rebel leader ojukwu the bingo. A single idea from our leader finished your senseless war, did i hear you said castrated maggot? Ask ojukwu the bingo ibos have fertile senses not talk of ?? Your senseless are gone the day ojukwu the bingo started that war. YORUBA holds the ace. Stop disgracing your self ojukwu the bingo.

nulldev:

@Dede1, so now the AG 'stole' independents? I taught the accusation was NCNC members mass crossing over to AG?

By the way, the Ibadan peoples party members like S. O. Lanlehin and Akinloye were original founders at the AG! Their names are on the minutes for the inaugural AG meeting.

Do not force me to doubt the validity of the Awolowo’s so-called free educational program. Granted you can be a party member today and by tomorrow you are wearing a different party identity. I shall be hard pressed to believe that IPP founders were signatories at Owo on March 21, 1951 during the formation of AG and three months later in Ibadan forming another political party. It appears like all Yoruba people are unequaled magicians.

The crux of the matter was the IPP candidates contested the election under the platform of NCNC as IPP was not registered as a national political party. There were members of SL Akintola’s UPP who contested under the platform of AG. If S. O. Lanlehin and Akinloye were original founders at the AG as you would want us to believe, what stopped them from contesting election under the platform of AG?