If Jonathan were Igbo
By ORI MARTINS

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

For more than four decades, the Nigerian oligarchy and its subjects have been strutting on, as if the Igbo nation does not exist. Of course, we do not need the powers of a clairvoyant to let us know that Ndigbo are a conquered people. This is not the issue at hand. What I am talking about here presents a pungent and poignant question which borders on fair play, equity, justice and political correctness or lack of it in the Nigerian context.



For good or bad measure, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), sensationally and predictably elected President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the April 2011 presidential election. The PDP would have based its choice of Jonathan rather than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on two cardinal points namely: There is a military saying that it is not good to drag a commander, a general for that matter, to a battlefront and leave him bare, without back up troops.

This simply means that it would not have been in the best interest of the party and indeed Nigeria, if PDP had abandoned President Jonathan in the middle of the road and left him to his own fate in the primaries which brought him as the presidential candidate. In other words, Jonathan did not cause his predecessor’s death, thus the anger and frustration of his departure cannot be visited on him. Simply put, PDP said it is not good for the party to have disgraced a seating president out of office because of an infinitesimal nomenclature called zoning.

Secondly, since democracy encourages individual aspiration and ambition, and whereupon Jonathan indicated his interest to contest the 2011 presidential election, political loyalty demands that all party faithful should rally round the President or be accused of anti- party activity.

To make my stand clear, I was one of those who had expected President Jonathan to have completed Musa Yar’ adua’s tenure and leave. But Jonathan had other ideas. Supported by almost all the intimidating arrowheads and forces in PDP, he declared his interest to continue in office against the party’s zoning principle which was enshrined in its constitution . This is where I have questions for Nigeria, for I am convinced that the story would have been otherwise if Jonathan had been Igbo.

If he were Igbo, the Nigerian state would have rallied against him, reminding him that he was an ungrateful fellow. He would have been labeled an usurper, a greedy man who wants to destabilize Nigeria because of his personal interests. Nigeria is always at peace whenever the Igbo is disillusioned. This is an incontrovertible fact, if you consider the following factors.

After the January 15, 1966 coup, Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi emerged as the Head of State and Commander - in- Chief of the Armed Forces. Ironsi could only last for six months as he was maliciously overthrown in a bloody coup that also consumed about 162 army officers of Igbo stock. The plot to oust Ironsi was gradual but steady. To make his ouster very easy, all sorts of lies were leveled against him, even from those who knew that he was too patriotic to carry out a dastardly act like a coup.

Ironsi was a martyr who died for sins he never committed just because he was Igbo. On the day of the January 15, 1966 coup, all accounts from the principal actors indicate that he had no hand in the mutiny that ended the First Republic abruptly. Rather, he did his best to foil the coup and that accounted for why the coup was largely inconclusive. Instead of commending him, the army turned against Ironsi, sabotaged, abducted and eventually assassinated him in a most wicked way. Sadly, the unitary system of government which Ironsi adopted to govern via the much vilified Decree 34 was the same means successive military rulers in Nigeria adopted in another name.

Yet Ironsi died for it and is almost forgotten. Since 1966 till date, Nigeria has seen so many coups but none was as cruel as that which swept Ironsi under. Look at this account from Chuks Iloegbunam’s IRONSIDE ‘ The Supreme Commander General Ironsi, asked Major Danjuma, ‘ ‘ what do you want’’. Major Danjuma replied: ‘You are under arrest. You organized the killing of our brother officers in January and you have nothing to bring the so-called dissident elements to justice because you were part and parcel of the whole thing’. You see, Igbo is always unwanted as you can glean from this account.

Although, Ironsi was the first and so far the only head of government with executive power the Igbo has produced, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe ( Zik) was a ceremonial president and he got the same treatment that was meted out on Ironsi in another fashion. In 1951, Zik, in his bid to prove his true nationalism and to confirm he was a shrewd politician, worked hard with his NCNC to win most of the seats in the Western House of Assembly. It was an unprecedented feat and a victory never expected. But before anybody could say Jack Robinson, the Western NCNC members who were elected to the House cross carpeted and declared for AG, just to deny Zik victory. Zik was furious and felt betrayed.

We all know that between 1979 and 1983, Zik contested the presidency on the platform of the now defunct NPP. That he lost the election is not our concern here. Our interest is that the then South –South states of Rivers (which had Bayelsa State where Jonathan comes from) and Cross River (today’s Akwa Ibom State was a part of Cross River then) rejected Zik and whatever he represented. Don’t forget that both Melford Okilo of Rivers and Clement Isong of Cross River led their people to Shagari’s NPN rather than Zik’s NPP. You can see the frustration of the Igbo.

In the wake of the 1966 disturbances, it is on record that three principal Igbo army officers played heroic roles to quench the January 15 coup and they succeeded 80 per cent. They were, Ironsi, Alexander Madiebo and Odumegwu Ojukwu. Ironsi foiled the coup in Lagos; Madiebo stopped it in Kaduna while Ojukwu put it off in Kano. Yet the coup was regarded as Igbo oriented, no matter. Six months later, in July 1966, the rampaging Northern forces attempted to take over the government by force. And they got their desire.

They succeeded in the North, Lagos and West, but Ojukwu not only opposed it but he also stopped it in the East. In the process, Ironsi had fallen and became a victim alongside his host, Col, Adekunle Fajuyi. As a disciplined and professional soldier, Ojukwu demanded that due process should be followed and insisted that the army should not name any Head of State until the whereabouts of the Supreme Commander had been ascertained, maintaining that Yakubu Gowon was the most qualified to rule even if Ironsi was missing. For his insistence on due process, Ojukwu was labeled ‘ a rebel, warlord and a troublemaker’. Overnight all the coup plotters became national heroes that ended up ruling the country at different occasions, allocating oil blocs to themselves while Ojukwu was demonized, castigated and battled to stand still.

One of the brightest brains the Igbo nation has produced was the late Dr M.I. Opkara, the former Premier of what used to be Eastern Nigeria, present day South-East and the former Eastern minorities.

The lies the then Eastern minorities now South -South have always told against Okpara was that he built Igbo land without bringing any development to their own region. The insinuation here is that Okpara never minded the present day South- south in the discharge of his duties. But it is not true. It is all lies. It is an extension of the discrimination against Igbo elite. The truth is that Opkara was quite fair in his duty post as the Premier. According to Chris Offodile, Okpara’s biographer, the late Premier was one of the most detribalized administrators Nigeria has ever produced given how he touched all spheres of the former Eastern Region during his reign . Offodile wrote: ‘ Okpara was responsible for setting up many farm estates such as the COLARO Estate and the QUA FALLS Estate both in the former Cross River State.

The Trans Amadi Layout was one of the biggest projects that Okpara built in Port Harcourt at the cost of three million pounds. He also set up the Michelin Factory and the Glass Factory also in Port Harcourt as well as the five million pound cement factory located in Calabar. In regard to hotel industry, his government built the Hotels Presidential in Port Harcourt (and Enugu). Okpara also built the Obudu Cattle Ranch and Hotel Complex in Cross River State. He had started the Ahoda\ Mbiama Road (in present day Rivers and Bayelsa states) project before the civil war broke out. He worked closely with Chief I.U. Apkabio (from present day Akwa Ibom) and Dr S.E. Imoke (from present day Cross River) both today have their sons as governors of their respective states.’ Despite these well documented feats, Okpara is not even remembered but maligned and dismissed as a failure and tribalist because he is of Igbo extraction.

What of Dr Alex Ekwueme? He was victim of grand conspiracy. In the Second Republic, Ekwueme was the deputy to President Shehu Shagari. This was in 1979, and both men ran the government of the day in the first tenure on the platform of NPN. When NPN was returned to power in 1983, expectation was rife that at the expiration of their tenure in 1987, the NPN would then give the presidential ticket to Ekwueme. This was a perfect plan and would have worked wonders for Nigeria, but it was not to be. Ekwueme must not rule. To stop this from happening, the military struck and overthrew the Shagari administration with Ekwueme as the heaviest casualty. Really, the 1983 coup was meant to stop Ekwueme from ruling Nigeria because he is from the South-East. Again in 1998\99, despite leading the G34 that fought dictator Gen Sani Abacha to submission, and later transformed into PDP, Ekwueme was dragged to Jos in the PDP convention and disgraced as he lost to Olusegun Obasanjo in the primaries for the presidential elections. Of course, he lost again in 2003 in Abuja.

The case of Ebutu Ukiwe was even more pathetic. A published report put it this way: ‘ Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe became the first Chief of General Staff in General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime. It was a tragic mistake. In months, Ukiwe was sacked and retired. But he had done no violent action. He had not plundered the treasury. His hands did not drip of human blood. A reporter had asked about Nigeria’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic countries (OIC) which was contrived by Babangida, and Ukiwe replied that the matter had never come up in the deliberations of the Armed Force Ruling Council(AFRC). And for this he was fired!’

What of the misfortune that befell Rear Admiral Alison Amechina Madueke ? ‘He was the first Chief of Naval Staff in Gen Sani Abacha’s regime and the first Igbo to be a service chief since Ironsi in 1965. Another terrible mistake had been made. In months, Madueke was sacked and retired. His offence was that he had advocated during Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) meeting that MKO Abiola, Yoruba, should be released from detention and engaged in dialogue.’

Unarguably, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the immediate past Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, brought so many gainful changes to the apex bank and he got both national and international awards to that effect. Almost all the Nigerian newspapers celebrated him and gave him awards upon awards. But today, he is out of favour with nearly all the same media that celebrated him to the high heavens. The answer is very simple: Soludo is Igbo. He is now the most vilified public servant in Nigeria and that is what we are complaining about.

Remember also that the Savannah Bank, owned by former governor, Jim Nwobodo was closed down and its license revoked when it was glaring that the bank was healthy for operations. In the same vein, Orji Uzor Kalu’s Slok Air was axed and booted out of operations for no just cause, just as Sir Victor Ikwuemesi’s Sosoliso Airlines was closed down and ordered out of the skies. Ditto Mr C.M. Ibeto’s Cement Group which was embargoed out of production and circulation. We can go on and on.

With the above examples, it is clear that Jonathan would not have got the PDP ticket, given the same circumstances that played itself out in recent memory, if he were Igbo. Do not tell me that we are the cause because it is a matter for another day.

Martins is a staff of The Sun Publishing Limited 08060205494

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/feb/23/505.html

Tot he said he wuz?    

Dehn uswan bi olly disi gramah?

Oh well. . .time would tell it all.
If he is truly an Igbo man, Ibori rots in jail.
Na h-only 'em get tha' kain mind.
'When moni dey for graaaand. . .broda head don turn "ishi-ewu" for h-inside pot-ioh!

This is the reason why I keep saying that Igbos should become hardened tribalist and not give a 4k about anyone who does not give a 4k about them. Nigerians hate the Igbo and the must in return hate Nigerians even more with exception of their neighbors but at the same time must demand respect. The only thing that will save us is when we harden ourselves in the way we treat others. Whether we perform magic for Nigeria we will still be hated and envied hence we should in fact do all those things we are accused of doing. I mean its better to be hated for something u are doing not what u are not doing. Rather than try to fix economy of Nigeria Okonjo and Soludo should have helped tank and destroy it completely hell after all all Nigerians will feel the pinch. We should view the Nigerian state the way Jews view Arabs. No love but pure contempt. Igbo must strive to destroy that cesspit till they Nigerians start begging us to freaking declare our own nationhood. We must frustrate that nation economically the way the Ijaw are doing by blowing up oil pipelines. If it means going back to re-invent the Ogbunigwe bomb then so be it. Let Nigerians regret ever having us as a part of their entity not the other way round.

i thought he was igbo elebe azikiwe

udezue:

This is the reason why I keep saying that Igbos should become hardened tribalist and not give a 4k about anyone who does not give a 4k about them. Nigerians hate the Igbo and the must in return hate Nigerians even more with exception of their neighbors but at the same time must demand respect. The only thing that will save us is when we harden ourselves in the way we treat others. Whether we perform magic for Nigeria we will still be hated and envied hence we should in fact do all those things we are accused of doing. I mean its better to be hated for something u are doing not what u are not doing. Rather than try to fix economy of Nigeria Okonjo and Soludo should have helped tank and destroy it completely hell after all all Nigerians will feel the pinch. We should view the Nigerian state the way Jews view Arabs. No love but pure contempt. Igbo must strive to destroy that cesspit till they Nigerians start begging us to freaking declare our own nationhood. We must frustrate that nation economically the way the Ijaw are doing by blowing up oil pipelines. If it means going back to re-invent the Ogbunigwe bomb then so be it. Let Nigerians regret ever having us as a part of their entity not the other way round.

lol

pure trash

my igbo brother, we are getting there do not worry

udezue:

This is the reason why I keep saying that Igbos should become hardened tribalist and not give a 4k about anyone who does not give a 4k about them. Nigerians hate the Igbo and the must in return hate Nigerians even more with exception of their neighbors but at the same time must demand respect. The only thing that will save us is when we harden ourselves in the way we treat others. Whether we perform magic for Nigeria we will still be hated and envied hence we should in fact do all those things we are accused of doing. I mean its better to be hated for something u are doing not what u are not doing. Rather than try to fix economy of Nigeria Okonjo and Soludo should have helped tank and destroy it completely hell after all all Nigerians will feel the pinch. We should view the Nigerian state the way Jews view Arabs. No love but pure contempt. Igbo must strive to destroy that cesspit till they Nigerians start begging us to freaking declare our own nationhood. We must frustrate that nation economically the way the Ijaw are doing by blowing up oil pipelines. If it means going back to re-invent the Ogbunigwe bomb then so be it. Let Nigerians regret ever having us as a part of their entity not the other way round.

calm down udezue, is not always the case.
soludo despite all the denials is genuinely acknowledged as a reformer - sanusi action are even making it more glaring, despite the mallams/aboki lead NTA lack of acknowledgement and recognition, when Atiku wanted a face of a reformer who did he call?

Ribadu, has literally begged Aunty Ngozi, asked and cajoled Ngige, they both turned it down.

Tmrw with chime actions and reform orientation he wud be the man to b solicited for in the near future, so the notion of not to work to hit back on the country isnt right, the country is for every body.

i also think there is recognition,  i think it is even more now with the advent of internet and data storage- one can easily flip back on history, achievement and archives.

When all these retardhed Biafrans want to justify treachery and start crying foul for not being supported by lesser "Igbo" stock, they have some form of nauseating selective amnesia.

Your so-called Ojukwu and co went against the 1966 coup and you still wanted them to support "Zik" and follow you to Biafra huh?

Ewu Crystal Lager Beer!

Serves y'all right. Deal with a mega dose of your own 'me-re-cine'!
So happy about the law of Karma and it's divine mechanisms of everlasting operation via redistributive justice.

"The Steadfast Love Of Our God Never Ceases. . .His Mercy Endureth Forever"!

Ojukwu should be talking?
Ha!

Blazay:

When all these retardhed Biafrans want to justify treachery and start crying foul for not being supported by lesser "Igbo" stock, they have some form of nauseating selective amnesia.

Your so-called Ojukwu and co went against the 1966 coup and you still wanted them to support "Zik" and follow you to Biafra huh?

Ewu Crystal Lager Beer!

Serves y'all right. Deal with a mega dose of your own 'me-re-cine'!
So happy about the law of Karma and it's divine mechanisms of everlasting operation via redistributive justice.

"The Steadfast Love Of Our God Never Ceases. . .His Mercy Endureth Forever"!

Ojukwu should be talking?
Ha!

Blaze, sincerely i dont blame u for thinking this way^ , u have, just like everybody else including some igbo, been indoctrinated by the aboki led FGN for so long.

Now, if i may ask u what do u think caused the war? can u give an articulated, non-evasive answer ?

Also i blame the igbo leaders who on their part wudnt recognise those that were killed, starved, and massacred. No monument for the dead,  No remembrance day, No museum, no nothing to spun questions, questions that genuinely need to be answered.

Till these actions are rectified and put in place Igbo wud continue to be seen as provocatuers and maligned about by non-igbos.

This Alhaji guy ticks me off. You must be one of those Hausa men that roam the streets of Aba selling cheap Gold and suya abi? Na dat be why you think say you be Igbo?

Anyway I support half of what you guys are saying. In the world, No one gives a shi shi about us. We are the forgotten giants of Nigeria, the first ones called to work the fields bur the last ones to reap the fruit. Things like thus boggle my mind. Why fellow africans will abuse others in such a way because of jealousy, greed, and supposed numeral advantage. Hausaland is a harsh-dry savannah inhabited by pastoral peoples but yet they claim to have 35million + population. I wont go into that matter for now, but if I had the might financially, I would declare an Igbo jihad against all enemies of Ndigbo. All our people would leave Lagos Kaduna Kano Ibadan and work in Enugu, Aba, Calabar, PH, Onitsha. PH would be the new Lagos. But for now my brothers and sisters we must just survive and wait. Our chance is coming and by the time our enemies realize it it would be too late.
Nigeria ga bu obodo anyi. Ndigbo mekota olu maka Owuru ndi Amannagwu wo masi ohabuike.

Tufiakwa!!! ibos are known to be hard working and determined. drunken lazy fisherman?? back to the send!!!

@odumchi, your venting is not encouraging, who re u angry at ? Yorubas ? There peeps are also finding difficult in the Nigerian equation. When a riot erupts in the north Igbo might b d easier identifiable victims but Yorubas die as well. Lad time in Jos they even suffered the more. So no need to vent anger on something I believe u don't even understand.

Neither is the common aboki man d problem. An average aboki is sincere and loving. The problem is the governance n clicks of cabal bent on indoctrinating peeps then leveraging on that to secure their now investment. And also radical Islam.

Now we hav a southerner in the person of GEJ, it cud hv been an Igbo if Igbos had had a credible young gov at that time. We had Kalu n chimarokee, U don't need me telling u their stock in trade.

Again obj had a thing for Igbo, I wudnt call it hatred but surely in the line of envy.

@ Poster.

Just relax, April is not too far.

Nigerians are going to vote in block along ethinic/tribal and religious undertones. The elites are so few that they cant make any serious impact. The sentiments of 1966 are still here and much more aound. We are simply posponing the dooms day. Nigeria has never been one and its not likely to become vey soon.

The bubble will burst one day and by then, Igbos will sit down, fold their alms and watch.

so you think Igbos have been denied power more then the Ijaw, and if this Ijaw man was an Igbo he would be better off politically?
[img]http://ikennasopensecret.files./2010/11/shell-in-the-niger-delta-007.jpg[/img]
your really implying that Ijaw land^ is treated better then

^igbo land

your mother.

@ Poster,
well, to some extents you are right , ( I am Igbo)

On Igbos,
we igbos are to a greater extents the cause of our own misfortune, we hate and betray ourselves as much as or even more than we are hated and betrayed by others, we lack internal unity and political coherency, we allow ourselves to always be used( Including against our selves ), abandoned and fooled in the end, we showcase political cheapness,timidity and sycophancy, we blab and complain of been marginalized by the federal government , yet the hundreds of billions of naira we receive as annual allocation from the federal government has nothing to show for it in igboland. we go against our long held idiom that states, a person who's house is on fire do not pursue rat, no doubt our house is on fire , but we are pursuing rat.

On Ironsi ?

If we can be objective and view things dispassionately, we will see that Ironsi died out of his own foolishness and lack of wisdom, after the January 15 1966 coup, the northerners had over a million reason to suspect and claim a foul play by the igbos or putting it in it's right sense by the igbos in the army who carried out the coup, if you know a bit about military methods and coup, you will know that they always view each other with suspicion, due to how the coup played out, even we igbos if we were to be northerners , will suspect that the region who carried out the coup and took over power wanted to dominate other parts of the nation,

A wise leader at that point should have taking action that will first protect his power, and assure the other part of the country that there is no cause for alarm, assurge the insecurity of the northerners , but nah, he did exactly the opposite of what was needed, he appointed the same northerners who harbored ill will and revenge for him in key position that will give them the chance to study and plot against him, he made himself what Machiavelli called unarmed Prophet, in this case by arming and surrounding himself with his enemies and distancing himself with his brothers, he even famously said, i do not trust the igbos,

then to add salt to the injury , he came with his decree number 34, that decree was an exercise in blunder , ego and recklessness, that was what pushed the northerners to the wall and they stroke, in the end, Agui Ironsi lost his head,

On our relationship with hausas and Yorubas,

I believe the first thing we should do here is to get to the root of the problem, no doubt we all hate each other, but let us ask ourselves, why all these hatred on us ? is it something about us ? that is are we the cause of this hatred ? is it something about our attitude ? or is it some thing about our past ? does history have hand in it ? when and how did it start ? I believe finding that out will be the ultimate road to solution, .

On Kalu, soludo, Zik,Maduke, Ukiwe, ETC.
It is all politics , pure and simple, politics is about interest, when you serve my interest things will go well, when you seize, things will go wrong, and he who has the power and money makes the rule, that is what politics is, when sanusi came on board, he intentionally tanished the legacies of his predecesor Soludo, the reason is politics, he didn't want to step into a great man's shoe, soludo made unequaled achievement in CBN, and for sanusi to seem to perform he has two options , chase away the shadows of the paste, in this case rubbish the legacies of his predecessor , secondly, air on a different direction, that is find one aspect of CBN and perfom good in that regards,

But the real problem started when the direction he aired cant progress except his predecessor's legacies was tarnished, and there is nothing he can do than to go ahead, if that means bruising soludo's legacies, so be it, that is Machiavellian politics, we all understand it, the media is simply playing along, not that no one knows the truth, every one knows sanusi is no match with soludo by any standard, soludo will sit him down and teach him Banking and economics, but this is no classroom , this is politics and one got to play the game, Not playing the game is the reason you barely know the man who succeeded Dora akunyili in nafdac, he is lost in her shadow,

The same is the case of Orji kalu and nwobodo, it is all politics, politics is about might not right, when you or your interest is pared with those who has the might, things will go well, when you stand agsinst them , things will go bad, that is the game of power.

On If Jonathan was Igbos,
If Jonathan was igbo, he would have won the PDP ticket and will go on to rule Nigeria for the next 4 or 8 years, mind you he didnt win because the northerners or southerns truly wanted him, he won because they had no other option, he used his power of imcumbecny to wrestle the ticket from them, that is just the truth, and an igbo man would have easily done the same.

In the entire saga about GEJ, I must say that one of the best kept secret factors is the GEJ’s true ethnicity.

udezue:

This is the reason why I keep saying that Igbos should become hardened tribalist and not give a 4k about anyone who does not give a 4k about them. Nigerians hate the Igbo and the must in return hate Nigerians even more with exception of their neighbors but at the same time must demand respect. The only thing that will save us is when we harden ourselves in the way we treat others. Whether we perform magic for Nigeria we will still be hated and envied hence we should in fact do all those things we are accused of doing. I mean its better to be hated for something u are doing not what u are not doing. Rather than try to fix economy of Nigeria Okonjo and Soludo should have helped tank and destroy it completely hell after all all Nigerians will feel the pinch. We should view the Nigerian state the way Jews view Arabs. No love but pure contempt. Igbo must strive to destroy that cesspit till they Nigerians start begging us to freaking declare our own nationhood. We must frustrate that nation economically the way the Ijaw are doing by blowing up oil pipelines. If it means going back to re-invent the Ogbunigwe bomb then so be it. Let Nigerians regret ever having us as a part of their entity not the other way round.

You very very correct. However, Ironsi was a regrettable military interloper. It must be recall that concerted efforts by certain people such as M I Okpara gave Awolowo the second chance in life to stick it on Ndigbo.  If Awo had been sent to Nigerian prisons in Bauchi, as planed by Balewa’s government, the Kanuri cooks were meant to kick miserable life out of Awo. There was no doubt that Awo obituary would have been circulated by Nigerian dailies even before the start of civil war.

macjive01:

@odumchi, your venting is not encouraging, who re u angry at ? Yorubas ? There peeps are also finding difficult in the Nigerian equation. When a riot erupts in the north Igbo might b d easier identifiable victims but Yorubas die as well. Lad time in Jos they even suffered the more. So no need to vent anger on something I believe u don't even understand.

Neither is the common aboki man d problem. An average aboki is sincere and loving. The problem is the governance n clicks of cabal bent on indoctrinating peeps then leveraging on that to secure their now investment. And also radical Islam.

Now we hav a southerner in the person of GEJ, it cud hv been an Igbo if Igbos had had a credible young gov at that time. We had Kalu n chimarokee, U don't need me telling u their stock in trade.

Again obj had a thing for Igbo, I wudnt call it hatred but surely in the line of envy. 

good response

Another self depricating " they all hate us" drivel

@Ikengawo.That picture of Abia State University is fine.Shebi it is the most beautiful State owned university built alongside the Owerri Airport with money contributed by our fathers.Umuigbo Meka!

The writers reason is the same reason why Igbos have to deny their ethnicity to survive and gain acceptability amongst other Nigerians.

The Igbo is like an incurable viral infection.The killings,conspiracy and lies cannot shut Igbos down but will make them stronger.I personally am a nationalist just like GEJ but our difference lies in the fact that I take the bull by the horn.

Abagworo:

@Ikengawo.That picture of Abia State University is fine.Shebi it is the most beautiful State owned university built alongside the Owerri Airport with money contributed by our fathers.Umuigbo Meka!

The writers reason is the same reason why Igbos have to deny their ethnicity to survive and gain acceptability amongst other Nigerians.

The Igbo is like an incurable viral infection.The killings,conspiracy and lies cannot shut Igbos down but will make them stronger.I personally am a nationalist just like GEJ but our difference lies in the fact that I take the bull by the horn.

50% of that is caused by the Igbos themselves. Why not Igbos looking back home and try to live more in their own land.

This craze for other people's land is really annoying.

I do not think that anyone hates Igbo, it seems it's the Igbos that do not love themselves individually.

excanny:

50% of that is caused by the Igbos themselves. Why not Igbos looking back home and try to live more in their own land.

This craze for other people's land is really annoying.

I do not think that anyone hates Igbo, it seems it's the Igbos that do not love themselves individually.

@Bolded, Quoted for truth

excanny:

50% of that is caused by the Igbos themselves. Why not Igbos looking back home and try to live more in their own land.

This craze for other people's land is really annoying.
I do not think that anyone hates Igbo, it seems it's the Igbos that do not love themselves individually.

Do you mean that the attacks on igbos are caused by them living outside their homeland. what about the innocent yoruba youth corpers murdered in cold blood by killer mobs in jos last year. where they igbos? I also dont know what ''love themselves individually'' means?

In the same vein i agree with you that igbos should invest in their homeland. However what i believe drives most big igbo owned companies to establish their headquarters outside home is the fact that the east has been so neglected by the FG, that the infrastructure to support them virtually doesnt exist. I would love for companies like Innoson to establish their factories in the East.

odogwu-x:

Do you mean that the attacks on igbos are caused by them living outside their homeland. what about the innocent yoruba youth corpers murdered in cold blood by killer mobs in jos last year. where they igbos? I also dont know what ''love themselves individually'' means?

In the same vein i agree with you that igbos should invest in their homeland. However what i believe drives most big igbo owned companies to establish their headquarters outside home is the fact that the east has been so neglected by the FG, that the infrastructure to support them virtually doesnt exist. I would love for companies like Innoson to establish their factories in the East.  

I wouldn't rule that out. Out of sight is out of mind.

'love themselves individually'? lol. I kind of coined that word myself. Should have inserted it in inverted commas.

I think I mean, is there a word like 'self-love'? As in always thinking about your origin in every thing you do.

E.g

AN Igbo man would rather establish a biz in Zungeru or the most remote and undeveloped area before thinking of his own region.

Despite many attacks on them in the North they still find a way back there

^^^
Exactly my point. An Igbo man means of livelihood puts him in the way of harm as far Nigeria is concerned. It purely a gamble, which could pay off tremendously or backfire horribly.
If Igbos can look the way of agriculture, or other means of income that could keep most at home, with just a little elsewhere, that will be clever.

Igbos have a comparative advantage in oil palm. A lot of industries are looking for this commodity, even spending a lot to import it from island nations. I wonder why Igbos are not looking into things like that.

excanny:

50% of that is caused by the Igbos themselves. Why not Igbos looking back home and try to live more in their own land.

This craze for other people's land is really annoying.

I do not think that anyone hates Igbo, it seems it's the Igbos that do not love themselves individually.

rubbish , tel that to millions of africans living outside africa and millions of european livin out side europe . if u dont love urself , others do . how come the population of SE equals thjat of SW and SS apart from lagos. abeg think before typing

@DayoKanu

Commerce like economics, does not distinguish by tribe or religion.

Igbos are a nation of shop keepers and as such have to spread their tentacles. If all igbo traders stayed back in their land to trade, who will be the buyer?

and stop generating igbophobia , if someoe cant not establish buiness in any part of the country he likes then why is he part of that country, typical african mentality yet tommorrow u will go to europe and america and start shouting discrimination, and invite white men to come invest yet to find it odd for your fellow african to do the same.
continent of backward people thinking like apes. becasue a few igbo live outside igbo land therefore those of us that dont and are not thinking of are not humans even with over population in abia and anambra

The article is sadly true. Truth must be told that the Igbo have been maligned in the Nigerian scheme of things.
Fact is they must begin to come out of the cold, grasp the bull by the horns and play on the national stage; all Nigerians are equal.

IMHO, the alliance with the SS is the right way to go. Next, we must reach out to the Middle Belt and then Westwards. Way to go.

Beaf:

The article is sadly true. Truth must be told that the Igbo have been maligned in the Nigerian scheme of things.
Fact is they must begin to come out of the cold, grasp the bull by the horns and play on the national stage; all Nigerians are equal.

IMHO, the alliance with the SS is the right way to go. Next, we must reach out to the Middle Belt and then Westwards. Way to go.

honestly relying on the south south is a waste of time , those back stabbers , and the SW see everything igbo as competetion and would rather prefer to out compete . alliance should be with middle belt and north ,if you sit down with them they are willing to reason with you as long as you support them too when their time comes. thats the bitter truth, they have the number needed to win . second option is reintroducing zoning.the SE is on its own .

bermuda1:

@DayoKanu

Commerce like economics, does not distinguish by tribe or religion.

Igbos are a nation of shop keepers and as such have to spread their tentacles. If all igbo traders stayed back in their land to trade, who will be the buyer?

Basically, that's the truth.

In reality, such spreading of tentacles had always come with a difficult prize to pay- danger, envy, etc. They could change their means of livelihood gradually to that which could result in fewer Igbos venturing out.

Others aren't nations of 'shop keepers', and they haven't died off.