@ houvest, thanks for the post

I think that should be titled "The Lamentations of an Igbo Native" as ndu_chucks said.

houvest:

Reading through Physics posts really get me confused. The Igbo delegates pushed for a 6 Gzone federation as against the earlier lopsided 4 zone structure and Physics says it tantamounts to dumping the eastern minorities. Some Northern elements view it as tantamount to breaking their Northern Unity and by extention hegemony. Becomrich sees it as a wayo move in other to cheat others. Ndigbo what will you ever do to please the Nation? If you had fought against the 6 zone thing, they will say you do not want to give your minority neigbhours breathing space but to continue lording it over them. The Northern minorities would have said you are not good Christians since you want the muslims to keep them in servitude or that you are not good allies to work against their autonomy. Why such an albatross being borne by a people? The 4 rash and brash Igbo majors with their single Yoruba accomplice of 66 thought they were freeing the Nation of corruption and tyranny but they were seen as the perpetrators of an Igbo agenda that was crafted at Government house, Independence Layout Enugu probably by the Igbo State Union for perpetual Igbo domination. Why did they not let the Corruption and Tyranny consume the Nation? Zik for fear of a North/South divide sacrificed his ambition to be PM for a ceremonial role under Balewa instead of banding together with Awo a fellow Southerner and being the PM and he has been represented at best as naive and silly and lacking in knowledge of the powerlessness of a President and at worst as over-ambitious (Just cant reconcile this) and probably bidding his time to kill Balewa and take over by sending his 'cousin' to execute a coup.
After the genocide of 66 and Ndigbo wanted to take their destiny in their hands since the FG could no longer protect them, they were branded rebels and a scorched earth war policy executed against them. And the property they left when they ran away for their lives were branded Abandoned and shared among their neigbours who majority of them fought on their side in the war. Individual Igbos through sheer hardwork and industry pull themselves up by their boothstraps and start feeding well are looked on as ritualistic, proud, domineering and with plans to take over their neigbhourhood and quickly government policies are introduced to curb them and at other times outright killings are perpetrated against them and their property inherited by their murderers and nothing happens. When they complain, they are said to be whining.
I could go on and on mentioning NCNC Nationalistic move in the then western Nigeria seen as plans to rule one region by another forgetting that then Enugu had a hausa Mayor and an Efik/Ibibio premier; Biafra's move to Lagos as an invasion of the West and Midwest instead of their own war strategy to defeat the Nigerian Army even if faulty etc.

A hidden agenda is read into every Igbo move and it makes me to ask whether Nigeria really wants the Igbos or not. The present move by Ohaneze to support Jonathan is already being viewed as a secret agenda by Igbos to dominate the SS not minding the fact that the same move is being stoutly resisted by a lot of Igbo intelligentia.

I do not say that the Igbos have been perfect in all of their actions but I am presenting the Igbo albatross to non Igbos. So PHYSICS, What do you suggest for Ndigbo to have done about the 6gzone structure and now about GEJ that will satisfy you and all Nigerians. Do they just do nothing? Or move to another Country to express their restless spirit?

@Pilele
Bros, you are a very very knowledgable guy. Impressive!

ndu_chucks:


houvest,  I am very tempted to name your epistle as “The Lamentations of an Igbo Native”. The answer to your question lies in this Igbo idiom: Ana eji anya eke azu di n'ime ofe (the eyes are used to divide the meat in the soup, when eating communually). I’m sure you get the point.   Gaskiya tafi kwabo

You miss d point chucks.  When the communal eaters view one of them with suspicion, you need a Constitution to specify how the fish( not meat, sorry) will be shared else they can gang up against him and deprive him of his share in the name of a hidden agenda by him or any other slogan. Their must be mutual trust between the eaters for the fish to be sincerely shared eqaully.

SapeleGuy:

The above coupled with the title 'How Igbo created the South South' is nothing short of arrogant. Please learn from the mistakes of the past.

@ SapeleGuy, how do you want it to be titled? Reading meaning into everything and calling everything one does arrogant, domineering, is what I don't understand. It is this your attitude that has frustrated the Igbos, nothing is seen as being frank.

@ PhysicsQED,

Whether you call it dumping or not, what do you do when you're being pulled down at every opportunity by your supposed neighbours?
I commend them for that move and will always be grateful to them. It can also be termed "the liberation of the Igbos from the shackles of the southerners".

@OP

If this article was not written by a human being, I would not have struggled to cast away the unfounded conjectures abound. Also if the so-called south-south did not defy the amalgam of cardinal intellect as thought by physical geography, I would have been worried sick. Anybody who has iota of sense pertaining to directional references as presented by geography should know that the nomenclatural south-south is a product of individuals and accepted by same trolls who are either delusional or sold on the patronages of dirty politics. If Cross River State which comprises Ogoja province and Edo State are lumped into the so-called south-south which has been partially accepted into Nigerian political lexicon, one does not need to wonder why Nigeria is lagging seriously behind in any human endeavor.

Credit should be given to the original post which highlighted the period of agitation for Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) state in the 60s which has no bearing on the present day south-south. The reference of Mgbako Igbo pre-conference summit in Enugu in 1994 is not only laughable but questionable. I can recall that issue of abandon property in Port Harcourt, River States was reverberating in the psychic of any Igbo person and remains a thorny issue too. I could not fathom why certain principal actors against such a draconian and spiteful decree against Ndigbo would champion a course of political relevance to certain group of people who are beneficiaries of such draconian government action.

It is funny to know that the same folks who seemed to be twisted out of human form about PDP zoning clause in its constitution are the same people basking in the early morning sunshine about creation of meaningless south-south zone. The whole saga of the so-called geopolitical zones and the uproar created by the uncovering of zoning formula by PDP begs for logical deduction.

I had to inform the original poster that I am not a disciple of any fortunate Igbo peeps and careless of what they do with their spare times.

Beaf, I hail - the feeling is mutual.

Obiagu- please man up! take a leaf from Dede1's book.

OnlyTruth this may be a bit outside the present discuss, but I just want to say it

I've been with many SS folks, I know how they think. I schooled in their region, I know how they view us.
What I fear could happen to my people is being used by these folks that scorn us, I mean falling for GEJ's bullsh-t.

The earlier we take a stand and force them to rethink the better. Mark my words, if an Igbo runs for president and gets 30% of vote from the SS, then that person is Christ himself.

I will follow every step Ekwueme takes from now on on this issue because it has become apparent to me he really understands what's going on between us and the SS.

houvest:

Reading through Physics posts really get me confused. The Igbo delegates pushed for a 6 Gzone federation as against the earlier lopside 4 zone structure and Physics says it tantamounts to dumping the eastern minorities.

I'm not getting this. Did I not already clarify? If this article is accurate, they (Igbo) realigned a group (Eastern minorities) which, to their continual frustration, would not be aligned with themselves, to another group (Midwestern minorities) that the Eastern minorities are actually less similar to and which they were not previously allied with. Now to me this seems like a clear case of dumping a potential ally because they fail to ally with you and instead ally with your enemies. How is the word "dumping" here being construed to be mean some sort of behavior they should be faulted for or something? If something is causing you problems, you dump it, there's nothing wrong with one's character or anything for doing so. The removal of a liability is part of the motivation for the six zone structure, the other is greater spread of power and weakening the Northern power block. You seem to interpret only the part where more power was given to the Eastern minorities as what occurred, when the very article explaining the move disagrees strongly with that and also says it was a gambit to stop Northerners from having a pawn against Igbos. If I had said that they "removed a potential weapon against Igbos from the Northern arsenal" instead of "dumped a liability" would you have somehow have been happier and not gone on this pathetic rant even though those two statements are completely equivalent? If this whole thing is about the use of the word "dumped" then this argument really is not worth my time.

So PHYSICS, What do you suggest for Ndigbo to have done about the 6gzone structure  and now about GEJ that will satisfy you and all Nigerians. Do they just do nothing? Or move to another Country to express their restless spirit?

This may perhaps be some sort of comprehension problem because on the very first page, and on my very first post I called the Igbo politicians who created the South South enlightened and put in bold the part of the article that said "It is working, and Nigeria will be the better for it in the long run." Now how would you interpret that? As me not liking the 6 zones idea?  Nonsense. I have no problem with the idea  but there is often a difference between a good idea and what obtains in real life when an idea is applied.


The thing is that you don't even know or understand what my particular problem was with the South South zone idea but are here talking  about "what should Ndigbo do to satisfy me and all Nigerians." In reality other Nigerians are fine with it, except for a few Igbos stuck in the 1960s. I'm not exactly fine with it though I don't hate it but I never even stated it explicitly in this thread what my problem was. If you haven't realized it already, part of, but not the whole of my problem with the South South idea is the unresolved baggage between Ijaw and Igbo from their disputes leaking into every discussion or mention of the entire South South vis-a-vis Igbos and how this actually seems to increase political contention and conflict between the whole South South and South East (Igbos) even though that is not the purpose of the South South idea. This is why I laughed at the thought of it reducing conflict between the former Eastern minorities and the Igbos. It may reduce conflict and contention in the sense of Northerners not being able to use them against the Igbos, but in other areas it seems to increase it where it hadn't existed. A good example is this ludicrous character called Edwin Clarke, an individual that might be quite obscure and useless to an Ibibio as much as to an Edo, discriminating against Igbos (Odili) on behalf of the entire minority South South, and then all Igbos becoming more opposed to the whole South South. That's just annoying, for one thing. If this trend continues to repeat itself, I don't see what the use of this South South thing will be to myself in the future as somebody who isn't Ijaw! Imagine if a Yoruba from one of the small Yoruba communities (Olukumi) in Delta state or an Igbo from there were to be in the same position as Odili was and some jobless old man would just emerge out of nowhere and just declare that person unfit to represent regional interests because of his ethnicity even if he were a better or more justifiable candidate for the region (it turns out Odili was more corrupt than Jonathan is alleged to be, so that's not a good example of this though). What's the point of isolating one's self from every group in the South and allying only with the North?

But for the record there are far more Igbo people on this Nairaland forum complaining about the existence of this "South South" and its political legitimacy than there are actual Southern minorities. You could at least admit that if you were honest. So the very 6 zone structure they suggested resulted in South South sticking but the zones they suggested for the North not sticking, but the most complaints about the idea of South South are from Igbos, so don't tell me, as a Southern minority, that I need to say "what Ndigbo should have done about the 6zone structure" because you need to direct that question to the Igbos who complain about it.

And emotional appeals aren't going to do much in a discussion with me, so I don't care for the rest of that stuff you wrote as it has nothing to do with me, those aren't my perceptions and have nothing to do with my views and I actually find it rather repulsive that you would even make some large general rant and conflate people who think there is a hidden agenda in every Igbo move with my statements on here.  I don't express blind sympathy for people who seem oblivious to facts and want to distort everything just to whine. The fact is that the Igbo author about this article on Igbo intelligentsia creating the South South clearly stated that Igbo politicians had two motivations for creating the South South. I mentioned both of them. You only mentioned one ("pushed for a 6 Gzone federation as against the earlier lopside 4 zone structure" and then got annoyed or felt I was blaming the Igbos for something which I wasn't blaming them for when I mentioned the other motivation. That's just dishonest. Now if you think the other motivation alleged by the author is false, state that and construct an argument of how it is false and don't go after me for believing his argument.

With regard to this other motivation, Dapobear mentioned "moving out a fifth column" on the very first page of this thread, why didn't you mention him, or is that because you might actually think that is not exactly the same thing as "dumping a liability/burden"? It is in fact the exact same statement. If this sudden rant is about the wording used then I won't even bother arguing this if it's brought up in subsequent posts. Whether you call it "removing a fifth column" or "removing a weapon against Igbos in the Northerners' arsenal" or you call it "dumping a liability" should not make the action or strategy be seen more positively or less positively or in anyway negatively based on the wording used when nothing negative about the action itself is even being conveyed, whichever of these ways one chooses to word it.

Obiagu1:

OnlyTruth this may be a bit outside the present discuss, but I just want to say it

I've been with many SS folks, I know how they think. I schooled in their region, I know how they view us.
What I fear could happen to my people is being used by these folks that scorn us, I mean falling for GEJ's bullsh-t.

The earlier we take a stand and force them to rethink the better. Mark my words, if an Igbo runs for president and gets 30% of vote from the SS, then that person is Christ himself.

I will follow every step Ekwueme takes from now on on this issue because it has become apparent to me he really understands what's going on between us and the SS.

Dude, the bolded is quixotic. South South cannot be narrowed down to the place you schooled in, eg a ward in Port Harcourt etc.

I've been with many SS folks, I know how they think. I schooled in their region, I know how they view us.
What I fear could happen to my people is being used by these folks that scorn us, I mean falling for GEJ's bullsh-t.

@obiagu1

Don't blame the people of the SS region----- they know what they passed through when they were part of the eastern region, if they were treated as equals with the ibo's i don't think the distrust and hatred would abound today.

It is an unforgivable blunder for any person to cite the fact that despite inabilities of Otu Edo or Owegbe to beat Action Group, Mid-western region was created. The creation of Mid-western region was a clash of NCNC and AG. By the way, Otu Edo was also known as Benin Action Group Grand Alliance. 

Both Udo Udoma and Adaka Boro are the architects of COR and Niger Delta Republic respectively and were political losers as well as interlopers planted by political operatives outside Eastern region. Udoma’s quest for political relevance was ditched by primary school headmaster. Niger Delta Congress could not win more than one seat out of nine seats for federal constituency for Brass\Rivers. 

By the way, western Ijo was and remains minority of all minorities in the defunct Mid-Western region.

babasoty:

@obiagu1

Don't blame the people of the SS region----- they know what they passed through when they were part of the eastern region, if they were treated as equals with the ibo's i don't think the distrust and hatred would abound today.

Please do not make hay with unfounded fallacies. I would like you to expatiate on equality treatment.

babasoty:

@obiagu1

Don't blame the people of the SS region----- they know what they passed through when they were part of the eastern region, if they were treated as equals with the ibo's i don't think the distrust and hatred would abound today.

Maybe you should help yourself by reading the posts by PhysicsQED and tell me whether what Midwest suffered under the West is comparable to the one you think happened in the East. But the contempt on us seemed as if the Igbos were in control of the West then because they don't show such contempt to the Yorubas.

By the way, I schooled in the Midwest that has nothing to do with the East.

If they were treated as equals, would there be an agitation for COR state, If they were treated as equals would there be the fear of reprisals on the easterners by the SS folks after the war leading to the abandonment of their properties especially in Port-harcourt, if they were treated like equals would there be the feeling of betrayal by the SS people on the igbos during the civil war, nope my bros they weren't treated as equals, I would start expatiating on equality treatments here but if there was any I don't think what I have put forward would have taken place.

Dede1:

It is an unforgivable blunder for any person to cite the fact that despite inabilities of Otu Edo or Owegbe to beat Action Group, Mid-western region was created. The creation of Mid-western region was a clash of NCNC and AG. By the way, Otu Edo was also known as Benin Action Group Grand Alliance. 

In the election of 1960 AG won 15 of the 30 seats in the Mid Western area, so I stand by the point made earlier. Despite any clash the Mid West was a labour of love for His Royal Majesty Oba Akenzua,  Omo Osagie, Anthony Enahoro, Festus Okotie-Eboh, Jereton Mariere, Shaka Momodu, Dennis Osadebe etc etc the simple point was they united to create Mid West in the face of formidable opposition from Awolowo, the rest as they say is history.

babasoty:

If they were treated as equals, would there be an agitation for COR state, If they were treated as equals would there be the fear of reprisals on the easterners by the SS folks after the war leading to the abandonment of their properties especially in Port-harcourt, if they were treated like equals would there be the feeling of betrayal by the SS people on the igbos during the civil war, nope my bros they weren't treated as equals, I would start expatiating on equality treatments here but if there was any I don't think what I have put forward would have taken place.

Maybe you should help us by listing some of them.

SapeleGuy:

In the election of 1960 AG won 15 of the 30 seats in the Mid Western area, so I stand by the point made earlier. Despite any clash the Mid West was a labour of love for His Royal Majesty Oba Akenzua, Omo Osagie, Anthony Enahoro, Festus Okotie-Eboh, Jereton Mariere, Shaka Momodu, Dennis Osadebe etc etc the simple point was they united to create Mid West in the face of formidable opposition from Awolowo, the rest as they say is history.

There was neither federal nor regional election in 1960. What 1960 election are you insinuating?

Dede1:

It is an unforgivable blunder for any person to cite the fact that despite inabilities of Otu Edo or Owegbe to beat Action Group, Mid-western region was created. The creation of Mid-western region was a clash of NCNC and AG. By the way, Otu Edo was also known as Benin Action Group Grand Alliance.  

Both Udo Udoma and Adaka Boro are the architects of COR and Niger Delta Republic respectively and were political losers as well as interlopers planted by political operatives outside Eastern region. Udoma’s quest for political relevance was ditched by primary school headmaster. Niger Delta Congress could not win more than one seat out of nine seats for federal constituency for Brass\Rivers.  

By the way, western Ijo was and remains minority of all minorities in the defunct Mid-Western region.

Don't mind them, just like DapoBear was trying to diminish the significance of the Eastern Igbos in the creation of Midwest, so is SapeleGuy trying to deny how the SS came about.

It's not surprising to me because I know them.

Obiagu1:

Maybe you should help yourself by reading the posts by PhysicsQED and tell me whether what Midwest suffered under the West is comparable to the one you think happened in the East. But the contempt on us seemed as if the Igbos were in control of the West then because they don't show such contempt to the Yorubas.

By the way, I schooled in the Midwest that has nothing to do with the East.

Can you tell us how you were despised or hated? I am now very interested, lets weigh things and see how imaginary or otherwise they are.

babasoty:

If they were treated as equals, would there be an agitation for COR state, If they were treated as equals would there be the fear of reprisals on the easterners by the SS folks after the war leading to the abandonment of their properties especially in Port-harcourt, if they were treated like equals would there be the feeling of betrayal by the SS people on the igbos during the civil war, nope my bros they weren't treated as equals, I would start expatiating on equality treatments here but if there was any I don't think what I have put forward would have taken place.

Have you heard about jealousy, lack of zeal to compete adequately, greed, misguided political priority, self-centered interest and brain washing?  The same so-called minorities were adequately represented in the government of eastern region of Nigeria from the executive perspective to other branches of the government. Were they minors or houseboys? They contested election and enjoyed the position of elected office as Ndigbo did.

I shall be all ears if you could intellectually enumerate the structure of eastern region government with reference to political appointments. Until you cite such examples, I shall advise you to decease from self-indictment of political blunder committed by few minorities in defunct eastern region of Nigeria.

The act of joining federal government of Nigeria during war and looting of properties that belonged to Ndigbo by certain minorities in eastern region must await for its reprisals and consequences.

@ physics QED.
Sorry friend if you felt misrepresented. I only presented the Igbo albatross not necesarily your views. I am not interested in winning an argument but in finding solutions. So I will not go into long -winded defence of my post since the contents are facts  in ouir history many of which have cost innocent lives not emotions as you alluded nor whines nor is it a plea for your sympathy. However you are the one that used the word 'dump'  not the original writer and no matter how you defend it, there is nothing altruistic in its connotations  especially to the 'dumped' as against your argument against the word 'compromise' in the Middlebelt thread  to which you later  expanded; eventually accomodating your opponent's usage of the word. So forgive me for taking you up on it if you insist you meant it in the positive sense but giving the history of the two sister zones it is better avoided.
No point talking about whether more Igbos speak against the 6 zone structure than minorities since there is no statistical data to back it up and in fact no one knows where each poster is from nor  the proportional repesentation of active posters from either GZone . However since you personally do not like it I ask you for your own solution. For instance would you have prefered two Southern minority zones or more or the status quo ante to remain.

deleted

People please, Faeb = Beaf. I was hit by the spambot.

Faeb:

People please, Faeb = Beaf. I was hit by the spambot.

Even inanimate objects understand that your posts are nothing but a bunch of c.rap. pele o, Rakumi

Faeb:

Can you tell us how you were despised or hated? I am now very interested, lets weigh things and see how imaginary or otherwise they are.

I don't want to narrate my personal experiences. I'll just use one incidence that happened that everyone around witnessed.
When Delta State was created and Asaba was named capital, there was so much uproar by the Urhobos, Ijaws, and Itsekiris that I had to avoid them for my own safety. Was it the insult thrown at Igbos as if we were their problem or was President Babangida an Igbo man?

One was left to wonder, are Delta Igbos not part of Delta or Asaba not in Delta State?

If it was because Asaba was a small town then and Warri a bigger town, what about the case of Awka and Onitsha? Awka was a village when it was made capital and nobody in Anambra said a thing.

Dede1:

There was neither federal nor regional election in 1960. What 1960 election are you insinuating?

I hope you will be gracious enough to apologise for this erroneous contribution or should I use your phrase 'blunder'.
The election in question was for the Western Region House of Assembly - August 8 1960.

Obiagu1:

I don't want to narrate my personal experiences. I'll just use one incidence that happened that everyone around witnessed.
When Delta State was created and Asaba was named capital, there was so much uproar by the Urhobos, Ijaws, and Itsekiris that I had to avoid them for my own safety. Was it the insult thrown at Igbos as if we were their problem or was President Babangida an Igbo man?

One was left to wonder, are Delta Igbos not part of Delta or Asaba not in Delta State?

If it was because Asaba was a small town then and Warri a bigger town, what about the case of Awka and Onitsha? Awka was a village when it was made capital and nobody in Anambra said a thing.

It is a known fact that the campaign for Delta state was a struggle by the Urhobos, Ijaws, Isoko's and Itsekiri's to an extent, while the Igbo's campaigned for Anioma state. There was dissapointment that the capital wasn't cited in Warri, but it is ridiculous to claim that you were somehow scared of an anti-Igbo reaction (except you are Miriams brother), there was no bitterness turned against any Igbo, thats just false. I have to conclude what I already know, that the so called hatred etc you feel are directed against you are all in the mind, with no basis in reality.
What would you say about those in places like Igbo market in Warri, did they pack away? Nothing changed for them and they remained welcome.

Seriously Obiagu, I cannot imagine why you think anybody hates you. All you are doing is punishing yourself and contracting your horizons. Please stop thinking like that.

ndu_chucks:

Even inanimate objects understand that your posts are nothing but a bunch of c.rap. pele o, Rakumi

I know NL has acquired your help to operate it in your spare time, hence the bizarre results. Olodo!

Obiagu1:

I don't want to narrate my personal experiences. I'll just use one incidence that happened that everyone around witnessed.
When Delta State was created and Asaba was named capital, there was so much uproar by the Urhobos, Ijaws, and Itsekiris that I had to avoid them for my own safety. Was it the insult thrown at Igbos as if we were their problem or was President Babangida an Igbo man?

One was left to wonder, are Delta Igbos not part of Delta or Asaba not in Delta State?

If it was because Asaba was a small town then and Warri a bigger town, what about the case of Awka and Onitsha? Awka was a village when it was made capital and nobody in Anambra said a thing.

Obiagu1, I told you to man up but you no hear word.

It is a known fact that the people who truncated and betrayed the creation of Anioma State were none other than Iwanyanwu and Ohaneze Ndigbo (not Isoko, Kwale, Urhobo, Itsekiri or Ijaw) for the vindictive and selfish reason that Anioma State, if created would belong to the South South geo political zone. Let anybody come here to deny this.

Faeb:

It is a known fact that the campaign for Delta state was a struggle by the Urhobos, Ijaws, Isoko's and Itsekiri's to an extent, while the Igbo's campaigned for Anioma state. There was dissapointment that the capital wasn't cited in Warri, but it is ridiculous to claim that you were somehow scared of an anti-Igbo reaction (except you are Miriams brother), there was no bitterness turned against any Igbo, thats just false. I have to conclude what I already know, that the so called hatred etc you feel are directed against you are all in the mind, with no basis in reality.
What would you say about those in places like Igbo market in Warri, did they pack away? Nothing changed for them and they remained welcome.

Seriously Obiagu, I cannot imagine why you think anybody hates you. All you are doing is punishing yourself and contracting your horizons. Please stop thinking like that.

Well, I rest my case. The way you said it appears as if I'm sick and I don't want to appear like that, I'm very objective and analytical.

@ SapeleGuy, your last post doesn't make sense.