News story inserted 21st August 1998

[size=18pt]15th October 2001 - BBC News
Nitel launches GSM amid storm[/size]
State-run telecoms company Nitel has launched Nigeria's third GSM mobile phone network amid claims that it is hindering its competitors in the market.

"We have just launched the network. We are looking at providing services for an initial 5,000 people," said Nitel spokesman Abdulhamid Umar.
Nitel was out-manoeuvred by rival operators MTN and Econet in August when they began offering digital GSM services.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with more than 110 million people, has only one phone line for every 250 people, one of the lowest service levels on the continent.

No service
Debt-laden and loss-making Nitel is responsible for the seamless interconnectivity of the rival MTN and Econet networks.

Nitel currently provides a 5,000 simultaneous call capacity for each of the private operators but the rivals have signed up about 120,000 subscribers since they launched in August.

"We do not have problems with our networks because it is easy to call through both networks," Econet's marketing director Darlington Mandivenga said last week.

"But the problem is with Nitel. They promised that by now the expansion would be completed but nothing appears to have been done."

But Nitel denies it is using its dominant position to hinder its rivals and has pledged to connect 120,000 lines by December.

"The congestion also affects us too. But we are assuring them the problem will soon be over," a Nitel spokesman told Nigeria's Guardian newspaper.

In July, under emergency government measures to improve Nitel's operations, Ericsson was awarded a $139m order to roll out GSM services by December, with additional contracts going to France's Alcatel and Germany's Siemens.

Nitel's woes

Nitel has blamed the late launch of its GSM service and technical difficulties on "bureaucratic delays" but is optimistic it will survive.

"We have the cutting edge (over its competitors) because we know the Nigerian market better and we have facilities across the country, which makes it easier and faster for us to expand," Mr Umar said.

Nitel, which is due to be privatised in November, says it will extend GSM services to the commercial capital Lagos and the south-eastern cities of Enugu and Port Harcourt by December.

The company's existing 40,000 analogue mobile subscribers have been offered preferential treatment if they applied for the GSM service.

Nitel, which still has a monopoly over the national fixed-line network, will maintained the existing analogue network for those who did not upgrade, Mr Umar said.

The three operators paid $285m each for GSM licences.

News Story inserted 30 November 1975

[size=18pt]27 October 2001  - wsws.org
Obasanjos sends troops to Zaki Biam in Benue State hundreds of unarmed villagers  massacred as town is completely destroyed[/size]
This week hundreds of villagers in Nigeria have been massacred by the army. In four ethnic-Tiv villages in Benue, soldiers rounded up and killed over 200 unarmed civilians. Zaki Biam, a town of about 20,000 people, was completely destroyed.

According to eyewitnesses, the military team came in eight armoured cars. They came to Anyiin first where they were said to have summoned all the villagers to Gbeji public square, claiming that they had an urgent message for them.

As soon as the villagers were gathered, the troops asked all the women and children to leave and then opened fire on the men, killing 100. At another village, the village head, a blind old man who is uncle to the former army chief, General Victor Malu, was killed alongside his wife. Their bodies were burnt inside the house.

A BBC correspondent in Nigeria, Dan Isaacs, reported from Zaki Biam that “they have destroyed every single building. Everything is burned out—walls are still standing but everything has been gutted. They came in and shelled buildings. They shot buildings with rocket propelled grenades—there are bullet holes all around.”

A local television crew visited Zaki Biam shortly after the massacre, and filmed graphic pictures of around 100 charred bodies lying in the streets. There is compelling evidence that people in other villages were rounded up, shot and their bodies subsequently set alight.

Tens of thousands of Tiv villagers have fled into the bush to escape the army crackdown. A Benue official in charge of resettling displaced people told Reuters, “We can’t account for the displaced,  The people fleeing have no access to food, water or medicine.” He said that up to 60,000 displaced people streaming in from Taraba had been registered even before this week’s killings.

The killings were reprisals for the deaths of 19 soldiers who had been abducted and killed in the same district two weeks ago. They had been sent to quell violence between two local tribes, the Tivs and Jukuns, and the army blames Tiv militias for their deaths.

A press release by Amnesty International said, “It appears that the attack by the troops was an act of revenge which went on for three days. There was no imminent danger to the life of soldiers who took part in this military operation. It can only be described as a killing spree.”

Military officials acknowledged Thursday that troops were deployed with instructions to disarm ethnic militias and arrest those responsible for the death of the 19 soldiers, but claimed that the troops were under strict instructions not to shoot unless fired upon. A spokesman for the Nigerian army, Colonel Felix Chukwuma, denied that troops had killed any villagers, in spite of the evidence and eyewitness reports.

President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the troops into the area, directing security agents to track down those behind the killing of 19 military personnel. He said the motive of the killers was sinister and aimed at destabilising the country. The massacres of villagers began on the same day.

Obasanjo, fearful of international criticism, has ordered the army to halt all military activity in the area. But Army Chief of Staff General Alexander Ogomudia said the crackdown would continue until Tiv militiamen blamed for the killing of the 19 soldiers were apprehended. He denied the army was on a revenge mission or taking sides in the conflict between the Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups.

The events are reminiscent of a massacre that took place in the town of Odi in the Bayelsa state region of the Niger Delta two years ago. Then the army moved in, destroying the town and massacring hundreds of people, in response to the killing of 12 policemen the previous month.

Militants of the Tivs and Jukuns have been fighting sporadically since the early 1990s and before in Benue and neighbouring Taraba states. The dispute is partly due to the fact that the state borders (which have only existed in their present form since 1996) cut across the traditional movement of those involved in farming.

The method of agricultural production—slash and burn—means that farmers must constantly move to cultivate new areas. In the recent period pressure on the land has increased because of a shifting of Tiv people from the north, partly because of the desertification of the land there and to escape from strict Muslim Sharia law. Sharia had existed for a long time in northern Nigeria, but was not strictly implemented until last year. This has made non-Muslim ethnic minorities fearful of religious domination.

During its sixty years of colonial rule, Britain controlled the population by fomenting regional and ethnic divisions. When the country gained independence in 1960, the tensions didn’t ease. Throughout the whole period of Nigeria’s independence, ethnic conflicts and tensions have threatened to tear the country apart. They have invariably been put down by brutal military action.

Obsanjano became president in 1999 in rigged elections. He replaced the military dictatorship that had ruled Nigeria since the 1960s. This was largely at the behest of the IMF and World Bank, which called for “transparent government”, to open up the country to direct investment by the transnational corporations.

Since then, despite the country’s huge oil wealth, the conditions faced by the people of Nigeria have deteriorated. There has been a rapid growth of desperate poverty and unemployment in the cities and severe impoverishment in the rural areas.

In an attempt to prop up his rule, Obsanjano has paid out some of the oil revenue to local elites. He has divided the regions into smaller and smaller units, thus giving financial benefits to leaders of the smaller ethnic groups like the Tiv and the Jukuns in the Benue area. There is little doubt that inter-ethnic conflicts have been stoked up by these elites in an attempt to get their hands on more government funds.

The Tiv Progressive Movement sent a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo, signed by the movement’s president, General Wanteregh Paul Unongo, saying of the Tiv-Jukun conflict, “, this war will be vicious, bloody and will be fought with such a ferocity that it may produce consequences worse than, or at least similar to, the horrible spectacles seen in disasters of Bosnia, the Democratic republic of Congo and even Rwanda.”

From the other side of the divide, the Aku Uka of Wukari, the traditional ruler of the Jukun, Dr. Shekarau Angyu Masa-Ibi Kuvyo II, is on record as saying that the root of the crisis in an alleged expansionist tendency on the part of the Tiv, saying, “They (the Tiv) came here to farm; we allowed them, gave them chieftaincy titles,  Now that their population has increased, they believe they are many enough to colonise us.”

The massacres sparked violent outbreaks in the Benue state capital, Makurdi, where angry Tiv students from two universities rampaged through the streets Wednesday, armed with sticks, knives and iron bars. Red Cross workers said they counted 10 bodies the next day on the streets of Makurdi, where calm was restored after soldiers enforced a curfew.

The war being waged in Afganistan by the United States and Britain has emboldened Nigeria’s ruling elite to take tough measures to quell opposition. The members of the House of Representatives have called on the federal government to take decisive military action, citing the operation of government troops in 1999 in razing the Delta town of Odi to the ground, which left dozens of civilians dead, as the example the authorities should follow.

[size=18pt]19 November, 2001  - BBC News
Miss Nigeria Agbani Darego is crowned Miss World[/size]

Nigerians have welcomed the crowning of Agbani Darego as black Africa's first Miss World, greeting her victory as a happy diversion from recent bad news.

Ms Darego, an 18-year-old computer science student, scooped the title from among more than 90 contestants on Friday.
News of her victory dominated Nigeria's newspapers over the weekend, pushing out stories of spiralling ethnic and religious violence.

The competition allowed the audience to vote online this year for the first time, and Nigerians were reported to have flocked to cyber cafes to take part.

Organisers said more than one billion viewers around the world were expected to have watched the show.

Feelgood factor

"Things have been so bad lately, it takes your mind off of things, it's a great distraction," Lagos doctor Patrick Nwagbogu told the Reuters news agency.

Organisers of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant also said Ms Darego's victory would create opportunities for women in Nigeria.
Even the government is looking to join the party with planned receptions for the new Miss World to be hosted by the First Lady and two governors.

Zerelda Lee - Miss Aruba - took the prize for first runner up and Juliet-Jane Horne of Scotland won second runner up.

Ms Darego said after the contest that when she looked in the mirror she saw a young girl who wanted to be a computer scientist as well as a super model.

"I am so, so happy. It's a wonderful feeling and it's indescribable,  I know back home they were all watching out for me and I am happy I made them proud," she said.

No protests

Ms Darego is the fourth African to win the Miss World contest, normally dominated by winners from Europe, the Americas and India.

White South Africans won the pageant in 1958 and 1974, and an Arab Egyptian was victorious in 1954.

The Miss World pageant has since the 1970s been the target of protest by feminists who regarded it as degrading to women.

But it now presents itself as socially conscious and raises money for children's causes. There were said to be no protests this year.

GenBuhari, I salute u o

You have really tried on this thread, Thanks a lot/ this thread sums up Nigeria political history

^ Thanks

I am learning as much from it as everbody else

News story inserted 29th November 1991

[size=18pt]28 November 2001 - BBC News
Obasanjo admits to cholera crisis after months of denial claims 700 lives[/size]

An outbreak of cholera in northern Nigeria has now led to the loss of at least 700 lives.

The commissioner for health in Kano, Nigeria's most populous state, says at least 600 have died in the city and the surrounding area.

It follows a statement earlier this week by authorities in neighbouring Jigawa State that 100 people have died of cholera there.

The figures, which are dramatically higher than in previous official statements, confirm earlier fears expressed by hospital staff in Kano that an epidemic of crisis proportions has broken out in the area.

Only now is the true severity of the outbreak being admitted by the government in Kano.

Earlier reports of an epidemic in which many hundreds had died were dismissed out of hand by the Kano health commissioner, Dr Mansur Kabir.

But now Dr Kabir has confirmed to journalists that the situation is far worse than he had previously revealed.


Taking action

Medical teams from the World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund, Unicef, are now on the ground along with French medical volunteers, Medicins Sans Frontieres.

They are all working with the Kano State authorities to bring the situation under control by treating the sick and decontaminating polluted water supplies.

Serious questions remain, however, as to why it took so long for the state authorities to admit the severity of the outbreak.


The warning signs were very apparent.

Hospital records clearly indicated the scale of the problem, with the first cases reported at least four months ago.

Even when the number of cases began to rise dramatically three weeks ago, the authorities continued to issue statements saying that only a handful of people had died.

Now the state authorities are being forced to face up to what has become a major epidemic and there is no sign yet that it is being brought under control.

News story inserted 23rd January 1965

[size=18pt]18 December, 2001, 11:37 GMT
Obasanjo failed to act on warning signs of looming religious violence in Jos that claimed 1,000 lives[/size]

An international human rights organisation has said the Nigerian authorities could have prevented mass killings during religious clashes in September in central Nigeria but failed to react to warning signals.
The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, quoting eyewitness accounts in its 25 page report, said that up to 1,000 people were killed in a week of fighting between Muslims and Christians in the town of Jos.

The official figure put the number of dead below 100.
Human Rights Watch said both Muslims and Christians were to blame for the violence.

But the report said the authorities ignored several warnings from religious and other non-governmental bodies.

Signals

"Government authorities and security forces failed to take action that could have saved hundreds of lives," Human Rights Watch said.

"The Nigerian Government can't just sit back and watch this happen," said HRW official Peter Takirambudde in the report.

"It has a responsibility to maintain peace. There were clear signals that trouble was brewing in Jos but these signals were ignored."

The Nigerian authorities regularly play down casualty figures from religious and ethnic clashes to try to prevent reprisal killings.

President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the army to restore order after police were overwhelmed by the spreading riots.

Tension

The population of Jos is overwhelmingly Christian, but there is a sizeable Muslim community.

Fulanis and Hausas - two of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups - make up a large proportion of the Muslims.

Relations between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria have been tense since the introduction of the Sharia Islamic law in 12 states.

In February 2000, more than 2,000 people were killed in religious unrest in Kaduna, and some 450 more Nigerians died in reprisals in the south-east of the country.


On Tuesday, Gombe became the 13th state to adopt Sharia, when Governor Abubakar Hashidu signed the bill into law.

As elsewhere, he sought to reassure non-Muslims by saying they would still be subject to customary or civil law and only Muslims would be tried under Sharia.

News story inserted 18th January 1981

Subscribing

Thanks Keemie, you are welcome

[size=18pt]24 December, 2001 - BBC News
Obasanjo deploys troops after Justice Minister Bola Ige was shot dead in a suspected political assassination.[/size]

President Olusegun Obasanjo has sent troops to restore order in south-western Nigeria, after Justice Minister Bola Ige was shot dead late on Sunday evening.
The decision was announced after the president held an emergency meeting with the chiefs of the army, navy, air-force and police, along with his cabinet.

Mr Ige was shot dead at his home in the south-western city of Ibadan.

He had been enmeshed in political turmoil in the south-western Osun state which polarised his Alliance for Democracy party.

Last week, a long-running feud between Osun state Governor Bisi Akande and his deputy, Iyiola Omisore, led to the death of a state legislator.

Nothing stolen

Mr Ige, 71, backed Mr Akande, who had been deputy governor when Mr Ige was governor of Oyo state.

Bola Ige himself was recently attacked by a mob in the town of Ile-Ife, where many politicians are reported to have gone into hiding.

"The culture of violence in politics must be brought to an end throughout the country, and particularly now in the south-west," said a statement from the presidency.

Gunmen burst in to Mr Ige's residence at 2200 local time and forced his wife, Judge Tinuke Ige, to leave their bedroom, the Associated Press news agency reported, quoting one of Mr Ige's relatives.

He was then shot once in the chest, AP said.

Mr Ige was pronounced dead on arrival at Oluyoro Catholic Hospital.

None of the other people in Mr Ige's home were harmed and nothing was stolen, an army official told Reuters news agency.

Security guards had been just given permission to leave for a dinner break, said the official.

News story inserted 16th January 1998

[size=18pt]2nd January 2002 - BBC News
Obasanjo again massively hikes fuel prices - and calls it "subsidy removal" or de-regulation to attract investment, experts maintain that that Obasanjo is being deceitful as Fuel was not subsidised[/size]

The main trade union movement Nigeria has called on the government to reverse increases in fuel price that were announced on Tuesday.
The Nigeria Labour Congress said in a statement that the new prices showed a lack of concern for public welfare, and predicted they would lead to higher inflation.

Petrol, diesel and kerosene are to rise by between 18 and 29%.

In June 2000, the labour congress led a nationwide strike which forced the government to abandon an attempt to sharply increase fuel prices but after prolonged negotiations a smaller rise was agreed.

This time, the NLC has not threatened any strike action.


Commercial vehicles were queuing up outside petrol stations on Wednesday before the prices went up, reports AP news agency.

Inefficient

Some buses and taxis have already increased their fares to take account of the new petrol prices.

Commuter Paul Tom told AP that his usual fare of 60 naira (50 to 98 cents) had gone up to 100 naira.

Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil producers but suffers from periodic petrol shortages due to inefficient distribution.

News story inserted 14th August 1984

[size=18pt]28th January 2002  - BBC News
Lagos army munitions dump explosions leave approx 1,000 people  dead[/size]

At least 600 people are now known to have been killed as a result of huge explosions at an army munitions dump in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos.
Many of the dead are children and babies who drowned in a canal as thousands of terrified residents fled the Isolo district near the scene of the blasts on Sunday.

Bodies have also been found inside the military compound housing the depot. Others died as artillery shells ripped through densely populated suburbs.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has visited the scene and ordered a full military inquiry into what caused the explosions.

Stampede

The force of the blasts in the Ikeja area near the airport shook buildings and shattered windows in the city centre, 15 kilometres (nine miles) away. Most of the fires were finally extinguished early on Monday morning.

Click here for a map of the area

An army spokesman told the BBC that the blaze had started in a market next to the munitions dump.

Nick Braley, who was less than a mile away from the barracks, told BBC News Online that shells could be seen exploding in the sky. The noise was like thunder, he said.

Another eyewitness, who gave his name as Phil, said he was at his parents' house when he saw a "mighty mushroom plume", which was followed by "an ear-shattering blast that set off car alarms on the usually quiet street".

"This barrage continued for hours as people, pet dogs and other animals ran helter-skelter without a definite direction," he said.

Canal of death

The barracks are in the middle of a crowded residential area, with one of the city's busiest transport interchanges just outside the gates.

Thousands fled in panic from the army quarters and nearby residential areas as shells exploded across the city.

The BBC's Dan Isaacs says that in the chaos and confusion people fled for what they believed to be the safety of a banana plantation, but then slipped down into a swampy canal.

As they struggled for their lives more people surged down into the water.

Nigerian barracks are like towns in themselves. Soldiers live there with their wives and families and traders often set up stalls inside.

Unexploded shells

Hospitals in the area say they are overwhelmed by the disaster.

A senior nurse at the Isolo General Hospital said they had received 152 bodies during the morning. "Most of them are children. The youngest of them is four," said Titilayo Akinogun.

"More bodies have been taken to other hospitals," she said.

Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu is reported to have arrived at the scene to supervise the rescue effort.

Our correspondent says the market was gutted, a nearby church completely destroyed and a hospital damaged. A school also took a direct hit.

Unexploded shells are still lying on the streets.

News story inserted 26th August 1965.

[size=18pt]16 January 2002 - ITN News
Unions launch general strike over fuel price rises[/size]

Nigeria's collective trade union body has launched a nationwide general strike, after failing to reach a compromise in a dispute with the government over a recent rise in the price of fuel.
The government declared the strike illegal, saying the Nigerian Labour Congress, or NLC, had not given the required 21 days' advance written notice of the strike action.

The NLC rejected this charge and said the strike would continue until the government backed down and cancelled the 18% increase in fuel prices.
The BBC's Dan Isaacs in Lagos says the big question now is how well the strike will be heeded in the coming days.

The government has implored what it describes as all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians to go about their normal business, but this is almost certainly a forlorn hope, our correspondent says.

With no public transport running, simply getting to work is a challenge, and even the most patriotic Nigerian may find it easier just to stay at home.

Power competition

The real test for both sides will come over the next few days, our correspondent says.

Union leaders will be hoping that they can keep up the pressure by maintaining a united front.

The government will be aiming to drive a wedge between those unions fully behind the strike - generally representing the lowest paid workers - and the white-collar, more affluent unions whose members may be less concerned about the recent fuel price rises.

Mindful of the last general strike in Nigeria in mid-2000, when the government backed down over fuel prices, there is talk of a stronger determination on the part of President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration not to be seen to be weak this time.

Security tightened

The government tightened security throughout the country ahead of the strike, the Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, told reporters on Tuesday.

"Definite steps have been taken and will be reinforced to ensure the safety of lives and property," he said, speaking after an emergency meeting attended by the national police chief, the vice president and most of Nigeria's 36 state governors.

The governors discussed ways to prevent destabilisation in Africa's most populous country, where more than 10,000 people have been killed in communal unrest since return to civil rule in May 1999.
Federal government secretary Ufot Ekaette warned that security forces had been ordered to deal "appropriately" with potential lawbreakers.

"Security agencies have been directed to ensure unimpeded access to offices and work places," Mr Ekaette said.

"Acts of intimidation and harassment including the barricading of gates, locking up of offices and preventing workers from carrying out their lawful duties will be appropriately dealt with," he said.

News story inserted  14th March 1984

[size=18pt]1st February, 2002 -BBC News
Obasanjo calls police strike 'a mutiny'[/size]

Nigeria's government has declared a strike by lower ranking police officers a mutiny and ordered the national army in to calm sensitive areas.

The industrial action is over such issues as non-payment of back pay and allowances.

Police Affairs Minister Steven Akiga said on national television that what had begun as a minor police strike in a south-eastern state on Thursday had escalated to include other regions.

"The federal government wishes to state emphatically that we do not regard the action of the policemen concerned as a strike but mutiny, the implications of which are very grave," he said.

Mr Akiga warned that any policeman who did not return to his post would not only be sacked but also prosecuted.

The BBC's Nigeria correspondent, Dan Isaacs, says the strike is perhaps an indication of how frustrated many Nigerians are over their deteriorating living standards.

Almost three years after the military handed back power to a civilian government, our correspondent says, they have yet to see the democracy dividend.

It is increasingly common to hear ordinary Nigerians criticise this government and declare their civilian leaders to be no better than their military predecessors.

The police disruption comes less than a week after an armoury fire in the country's largest city Lagos caused the death of more than 600 people, sparking speculation of a coup.

Areas affected by the police action included Lagos, where traffic wardens joined the strike, as traffic built up in the city's already chaotic streets.

Banks were also forced to close in the northern cities of Sokoto and Jos.

News story inserted 26 June 1966

,

News story inserted 2nd July 1987

[size=18pt]11th  February 2002, BBC News
Obasanjo has  devalued Naira by approx 450% (four hundred and fifty percent) since coming to office and further devaluation is expected[/size]

The Nigerian naira fell on the official currency market, following a slide on the black market on Friday on fears that a devaluation is imminent.
The currency fell 0.6% to 114.7 against the US dollar after dropping 2.5% on the black market on Friday.

A spokesman for the central bank attributed the currency's plunge to calls from parliament for a massive devaluation to narrow the gap between official and black market rates.

With some parliamentarians saying the rate should be as low as 127 naira to the US dollar, demand for foreign currency has soared.











[size=18pt]21st February 2002 - BBC News
Obasanjo accused of  ordering closure of Savannah Bank to embezzle its money.[/size]

The board of one of Nigeria's biggest bank, which was closed down on Monday, has been accused of mismanagement by its auditor.
"The central bank gave the management and board several warnings on the ways they run the bank, but all our warnings had been disregarded," NDIC receivership and liquidation director Mohammed Ahmad told Reuters.

The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked Savannah Bank's trading licence claiming it was insolvent and put the directors under investigation.


Liquidation is a regulatory option to solve a bank's problems, but there are procedures that are supposed to be adhered to before going to that final stage

Stanley Ngwaba
Treasurer, Savannah Bank  

"I think the writing was on the wall," Busola Solanke, head of research at SecTrust in Nigeria told the BBC's World Business Report.
"The operating performance of Savannah Bank over the last few years would have sent a red signal."

The bank's management has responded by accusing the central bank of trying to protect top government officials who had debts with the bank.

No instability

The closure of Savannah, one of the top ten banks in Nigeria, comes after months of denials by authorities that Nigeria's banking sector was under strain.

But analysts say it is unlikely to destabilise the banking sector.

"The impact is not going to be as severe as its size suggests," said Ms Solanke.

"Savannah has quite a huge asset base and the regulators might have felt it was the best time to intervene before there was any more damage."

A sign on the door of its Lagos headquarters assures account holders they will not lose their money and refers them to the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), which has been appointed by the central bank as liquidator.

Conflicting reports

Savannah's Treasurer, Stanley Ngwaba claims he had no indication from the central bank about the closure.

"Liquidation is a regulatory option to solve a bank's problems, but there are procedures that are supposed to be adhered to before going to that final stage," he told Reuters.

Nigerian officials denied claims they failed to warn the management before closing the bank.

News story inserted Page 4 : 10th June 1984

@Gen Buhari, are you the only Nigerian that has not heard of Ikemba's death. At a time when Ndigbo worldwide and easterns as well as associates are mournig the fallen hero, you are here posting and replying yourself. This is shameful.

^ Lol
Guy you are too funny!

GenBuhari:

^ Lol
Guy you are too funny!

Am not funny but your attitude here shows total lack of either respect for Ojukwu, the East or you have not read the numerous stories about Ikemba's exit. Even in Ghanian, Camerounian, Gabonese, Ivorien, etc news has all been about him.
Be sensible dude.

@Ngodigha1
In all seriousness, I was a child of Biafra and I have a lot of respect for Ojukwu and wish the great man RIP