₦airaland Forum

chi-baby:
@agaba123

T@meD0:
@ agaba123, how now agaba? long time, u dey hibernate for nairaland? i wish i could comment on the movie but i haven't seen the whole thing and yes i do remember seeing a preview of it and those girls with big bele--lol! i still know the code for ya email addy o--ekun fun ra ra e. have a good one. Peace!

Bank scam: 2 directors, 4 top officials to refund N17bn
Lanre Adewole, Abuja
Thursday, February 19, 2009

According to him, “I know that they are reporting this morning as part of the administrative bail granted them, but I don’t have the details of the matter now.”


The commission had also got a remand order from a Chief Magistrate’s court sitting in Life Camp, Abuja, to keep the suspects till today.


It was, however gathered that before the expiration of the remand order, the suspects and the commission reached an agreement on the refund of the money involved in the alleged scam, which the suspects were said to have started paying back.

Kx:
Since he claimed to have bn quoted out of context,
it should dawn on him dat he has been recalled into context

A whole ambassador can make sensitive statements,wonders shall never end

Austincrow:
Recall: Correspondence with Maduekwe Distorted, Says Rotimi
By Bunmi Oni, 02.19.2009

Add To Favorites
Print This Article
Post Comment

Recalled Nigeria Ambassador to the United States, Brig. Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), has said the account given by Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe of the correspondence between him and the minister where he allegedly referred to Maduekwe as a tribalist is inaccurate.
He also said the reference to the defeat of Biafra in the correspondence was completely out of context.
Rotimi reacted for the first time on the altercation between him and the minister, for which President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua approved his recall home, in a statement he posted on the website.
The ambassador said he had no intention to cast any aspersion on any ethnic community in Nigeria, having worked and continue to work for the unity of the country.
President Yar’Adua had approved Rotimi’s recall for “gross insubordination.”
Rotimi’s recall had stemmed from his running disagreement with Maduekwe over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he allegedly called the minister a tribalist.
He also reportedly boasted: “I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant -General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army.”
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran War, had formally complained to the President in a memo attaching Rotimi’s letter.
Maduekwe had in the letter to the President stated: “This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
“This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
“The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal.”
Three days ago, the amabassador was given 44 days, around end of March, to return to Nigeria.
Rotimi’s statement entitled, “Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi Statement” read: “I wish to acknowledge receipt of the message of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs conveying the directive of His Excellency the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umar Musa YarAdua, (GCFR) recalling me as his principal representative in the United States of America. I will dutifully comply with this order.
“However, I wish to also seize this opportunity to correct some misconception and distortion attributed to the Honorable Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe by the media.
“The little snippet of information released to the press stating that in the exchange of correspondence between us, I called him a tribalist is inaccurate. In addition, the reference to the defeat of "Biafra" was completely taken out of context.
“Moreover, I would like to assure all patriotic Nigerians that I have no intention to cast any aspersion on any ethnic community in Nigeria. I have always believed in and worked for and will continue to work for the unity of Nigeria even when I am not in the public service.
“I have had the privilege and honor to serve under distinguished and gallant senior officers of different ethnic backgrounds in my service to the Nigerian Army. In addition, the God Almighty has blessed me with children whose mother is half Igbo and half Yoruba.
“Finally, let me state with all my heart that this distortion is deeply regretted and I honestly apologize to anyone who has felt slighted in any form.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=136112

Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi, from his station in Washington, toys with historical sore points
The Horizon By Kayode Komolafe, Email:kayodekomolafe@thisdayonline.com, 02.18.2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

It is pertinent for the nation’s collective psyche to view the recall of Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi from his station in Washington beyond a diplomatic routine. He has been asked to return home latest in 43 days time. But should that be the end of the matter ? We do not think so because of what Rotimi’s missteps could do to national sensibility.

Rotimi reportedly told the Foreign Minister, Chief Ojo Madueke, that "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army that thoroughly defeated your rag-tag Biafran army". The ambassador accused the minister of ethnic chauvinism. Indeed, Rotimi was making reference to the tragic civil war that was fought for 30 months with the Nigerian federal forces and the forces of the defunct Republic of Biafra as the “enemies” on both sides. The Republic of Biafra was declared in the old Eastern Region in which the Igbo were the major ethic group. Rotimi, a Yoruba and a graduate of the University of London, retired from the Nigerian army as a Brigadier –General. He was military governor of the old Western State comprising today’s Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states. Madueke is Igbo and a lawyer and a politician, who incidentally was in the Biafran army as a young man.

It is little surprise that since the report of the unfortunate statement made by Rotimi another civil war had virtually broken out on the internet in the various discussion forums on Nigerian affairs. As it is typical of any Nigerian affair, quite a number of Igbo elements in the Diaspora have angrily been taking up issues with their Yoruba compatriots, some of whom illogically think they have reasons to rational Rotimi’s grave statement. Incidentally, quite a number of these internet warriors (as Professor Pat Utomi referred to them sometime ago), are so immature and uniformed about the Nigerian history and reality. For instance, the arguments assumed an absurd level when in trying to prove that Rotimi’s faux pax is in the pattern of the Yoruba perfidy against the Igbo, a contributor wrote that Obafemi Awolowo allegedly collected some money from Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa during the civil war to plot against the Igbo. Meanwhile the civil war broke out in 1967 and Bello and Balewa were killed in another tragic circumstance on January 15, 1966 at a time Awolowo was in Calabar prison. The manner of the discussion of the issues by some young Nigerians is another indication of the levity with which the history of the nation is being treated.

The matter is made worse when those who are expected to show leadership choose to talk or act without any historical sense of purpose as Gen Rotimi has done. Rotimi’s irresponsible statement ought to be severely deprecated; but the response to him should be mature while putting the issues in the correct historical perspective. Every nation has sore points of its history. The civil war is one of the sore points of the Nigerian history. A man who has risen to the posts of a general in the army, governor of a huge state and ambassador in Washington ought to view that historical conjuncture with a greater sobriety. The civil war should not be an issue for any one to gloat about even in a fit of anger. In any case, is it not said that when even others are loosing their heads, a man with a diplomatic brief ought to keep his own? There can never be any justification for the reckless statement made by Rotimi who is expected to act diplomatically even in a war situation. Here was a man representing Nigeria in a very important mission harbouring so much darkness in his heart against his fellow countrymen. As ambassador, this gentleman’s job is to protect the interest of all Nigerians resident in the United States, a good number of who are of Igbo extraction. How does he now convince those Nigerians of Igbo origin in the United States that he ever had their interest at heart in the spirit of his oath of office? How could this septuagenarian be so insensitive to the mood of his nation as its representative in a foreign land ? A symbol of the nation’s sovereignty in another land is boasting of vanquishing fellow Nigerians in a tragic war ! It is simply unpardonable.

With his impeccable background, Rotimi ought to have a better grasp of the issues involved in the war and the progress Nigeria has since made towards national integration. As a retired officer of the Nigerian army Rotimi ought to remember that his Commander-in-Chief during the war, General Yakubu Gowon, made a “no victor, no vanquished declaration” as the first step in peace building. The nation then embarked on a triple programme of “reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation”. As Head of State and Commander-in-Chief Gowon made it clear even at the height of hostilities, that the war was that of unity and not a war of conquest. Thank God, Gowon did not have the sort of dark mind of his junior colleague, Rotimi. Otherwise, the course of history could have been different. Pray, what is the basis of this resurgent swagger of Rotimi about the war? And to serve which purpose? Why should he take pleasure in rubbing salt into injuries? One account of the war put it that over a million lives were lost on both sides during the crisis. While nation-building remains a work in progress for Nigeria, no one can deny some visible achievements in national integration. Nine years after the sounds of guns went silent, an Igbo, Alex Ekwueme, was elected the Vice-President of the Federal Republic. Since the war, officers of Igbo origin have since risen to the ranks of Generals of the same Nigerian army about which Rotimi is boasting. In fewer than 20 years after the war, Major-General Ike Nwachukwu, an Igbo, was the General Officer Commanding the 1st Mechanised Division. Another Igbo, Admiral Allison Madueke has commanded the Navy. There have been officers of the armed forces of Igbo extraction in charge of important commands. That is how far the story of integration has gone. War-torn countries have been advised to learn from the exemplary post-war integration and reconciliation in Nigeria. Why is Rotimi’s mentality still trapped in the sordid past? Who will liberate him from this prison of history that his mind has put him? Let no one rationalise that his behaviour was due to his military background. Nwachukwu, cited above, showed as foreign minister that a soldier could be a fine diplomat with an urbane demeanour. In any case, there is nothing that justifies a soldier making unpolished statements.

All told, Rotimi has not only cast aspersion on the person and office of Madueke because he is Igbo, he has indeed egregiously assaulted the nation’s collective sensibility. As the ambassador in Washington, he has every right to protest on matters relating to his assignment, but he certainly has no right to toy with the nation’s historical sore points. That is why whenever he returns home he must be made to apologise publicly to a nation whose assignment he has so badly handled. At his age, we hope no one would dare give him another diplomatic assignment, so it is pointless advising him on how to control his temperament in the future.

waterworks:
ah ah lol! dis happened to me!

spikedcylinder:
This has become Igbo Vs Yoruba now?

You people are sick in the head.

**osisi:
Nigerians and some useless culture.
what's the big deal about a handshake?
The same Nigerians will have no problems treating women and children like trash and frown at a common handshake?
A universal sign of friendship.
We need help.

The Samanja at our US mission
With Steve Nwosu ( steve@sunnewsonline.com )
Wednesday, February 18, 2009


I had set out today with a view to x-raying the persona of a certain Gen. Oluwole Rotimi and the Samanja comedy going on at our mission in Washington, the United States, but I have instead decided to let the dead bury themselves, especially when I read of an impending attack on Jos by some Talebans.

I had, instead decided to spare a word for this much violated Tin City, the Plateau State capital, and the peace of the graveyard that seems to exist there at this moment. I thought all was well until when I read of an impending invasion and the mushrooming of all manner of extremists.

Yes, in our desperation to give a religious coloration to what initially seemed a political face-off, we have gone out to tell the world that there was a religious war going on in Jos.

Although the proposal had failed to sell, we have not stopped trying. In the process, we have now given the wrong signal to all manner of enemies of the country who now see an invasion of Jos as the only way to right a wrong that was never really committed.

To them, that wrong can only be righted by the annihilation of the opposite party – in this case, the Christians. They seem to forget that the Ogbomoso people, for instance, who paid a heavy price for the mayhem are both Christians and Muslims, and that any further annihilation of either group would cause them even more

Truth is: If Muslims are annihilated, it does not solve the Jos problem. If Christians are annihilated, the problem would persist. If the Hausa/Fulani are imposed on Jos, Plateau will not know peace. Likewise if the Berom insist on suppressing the Hausa/Fulani, they’d be taking the proverbial ant-infested gay home, and therefore, must be prepared for lizard visitors. It is a complex situation that can never be solved by warring.

There just has to be a middle of the road settlement in all of this. If the council election was rigged, then the tribunals should upturn it. Canceling it at this point would be a rude reminder of June 12. If a minority desires to rule, it must enter into alliance with the majority, or a part of it. No cry of marginalization without a broad-based realignment can ever make a minority leader over the majority.

If the statutes confirm that the governor, and not the president, should set up panel to probe the crisis in a state, then that is what our law says. It is no victory for the governor to gloat about. And it is not a personal loss of the president that must be avenged. It has not diminished the profile of the president – especially a president who had made mistakes in the past and reversed himself.

But I suspect that Yar’Adua has since moved on, while some people who have other vested and selfish interest in Plateau don’t want to let go. They want to, allegedly on behalf of the president, take their pound of flesh – with some blood – from Jang.

Our minds are still fresh with what happened during the Dariye years. We know of how so many interests outside of Jos wanted him out, how the president that should have put his feet down against it suddenly capitulated – because of his own third term ambition, and how Plateau still did not know peace ever after.
We are back on the same track again and we are making the same mistakes all over again.

And that is why, I think, we should revisit the recent comment of, I think it was, the French ambassador to the country who recently warned of the dire consequences of mishandling the aftermath of the recent mayhem that engulfed that otherwise peaceful town.

The envoy was speaking against the backdrop of the impeachment of the Speaker of the state house of assembly and the alleged plot to impeach the governor thereafter.
Of course, Abuja has denied any such plot, but every finger remains pointed in the direction of the president’s men as orchestrating a plot to unseat Jang. Now, the presidency does not always mean Yar’Adua. It could mean a mob of jobbers with affinity to the presidency which commits all manner of abomination in the name of the president.

Of course, that is not to say that Gov Jang should not be kicked out simply because he governor of Plateau. If he commits impeachable offences, he sure should go. What is curious, however, is that all is coming now that the governor is seen as having ‘confronted’ the president on a purely constitutional issue, and is therefore, being made to pay for the effrontery with his office.

But before I digressed off point, I had wanted to commit today’s article to honour the Samanja we posted to the United states to represent our interest in George Bush’s – now Barack Obama’s, country.
I am talking of an ambassador who has suddenly forgotten that he is sub-ordinate to the external affairs minister.

I am talking about an envoy who, weighed down by an overdose of military superiority and junta hangover, has forgotten that the jackboots have since returned to the barracks and that those who must play in the new dispensation must play according to established protocol and democracy dictates
Now, Chief Ojo Maduekwe is not one of those politicians I like a great deal. And it is not just because of his ‘idiotic’ statement in the build up to the 2003 presidential election or the way he comported himself in the politics of his native Abia State.

Like many of his critics, I believe he might not be the most popular politician from his constituency and might not be of huge electoral value on election day.
But unlike many of his critics, I met him for the first time in one law office somewhere inside Western House, Lagos sometime in the early ‘90s. He impressed me with his grasp of issues and command of language, even though there seemed some cockiness about his person. Thankfully, I have only watched him from afar since then.

Coming from his ‘idiotic’ background, therefore, it is almost inconceivable that anybody would want to brand him a tribalist. I could accuse Maduekwe of everything but not tribalism. That was why he could look all of us Igbo in the face and tell us that our quest for Igbo presidency in 2003 was idiotic. So, where was Gen. Oluwole Rotimi coming from? When did Ojo become so Igbo-centric that he would carry it to our foreign mission?

The painful part of the drama at the US mission is that we are yet to hear from the ambassador’s camp. Yes, followers of the developments would quickly contend that we have not heard from the minister either, but the truth remains that much of what we have read so far have been pieces of information woven together by persons with obvious sympathy to the minister. Suffice it so say, however, that the much the ambassador has put down on paper is damning enough.

We always knew that the talk about ‘no victor, no vanquished’ was just a show put up for the rest of the world. The truth remains that many of those who prosecuted the civil war on the side of the federal troops still believe that Igbos have not paid enough for losing the war.

We have always known that the talk of re-integration was only for political correctness. As for reconstruction? I left Zik’s Flat Hostel, UNN in 1991 with the auditorium levelled by federal bombs still standing there as a reminder of the lost war. That was 21 years after the war. And, by the way, if there ever was ‘reconstruction’, the South-east would not today be home to the worst roads in the country and also have the unenviable record of the least federal presence.

With the emergence of a new post-war generation in the South-east, people have tended to forget the past and forge a new beginning and move on with their lives
But we still have the likes of Oluwole scattered all over the place who continue to turn the hand of the clock backwards.

For the eight years that he was in power, Obasanjo continued to deal with the South East as a conquered people who should be contented with whatever little favours that came from the centre.
Confronted about his hatred of the Igbos, the then serving president had jokingly retorted, “they say I no like Igbo, yet Igbo women dey born for me”. Of course, even in my extended family, I have heard stories of women who were either abducted by Hot Nigerian soldiers and made to marry them at gun point, or were simply put in the family way by the soldiers and abandoned with the pregnancies.That is the love the soldiers have always had for Ndigbo.

But we cannot really blame the Generals. Rather, we should blame the system that leaves out thousands of other refined retired officers to throw up the crudest of the pack to lead us.
How, for instance, did a Rotimi end up at a mission as sensitive and important as the US mission? Who knows what else he has said about us before the people he was supposed to be selling our best values to?

What other unprinted and unprin0table things has he said before this oneWhat do the security agencies that get to screen political appointees do? Did they ask the retired officers to take a bow, simply because they are retired Generals? Espirit de corp? Do they get to see medical certificates? Dig into medical history? Did they consider brain power of a man who was adjutant-general 40 years ago to verifywhether there is still anything left there to offer Nigerians?

We have had one mad man rule over us, we have had another head a very important party, we have had some other worm up to the commanding heights of our states, economy, defence and diplomatic services, yet, we spend money rebranding Nigeria - when all what one of the mad men we have in positions of authority needs to do is utter one unguarded statement, and we are back to point-zero.

What brought the rag-tag Biafran army into diplomatic correspondences? Probably a General who won the war did not feel that he should be bossed by a ‘second class’ Biafran whom he defeated on the battlefield.
It is not just enough that the ambassador has been recalled, we need to deconstruct his mind. And after that, we need to reassess this our officer-and-gentleman tag we hang on every retired soldier.

So many leave service angry at the entire society, itching to get back at it, to deal with the rest of us. That is why they retire to their respective communities to continue to foment trouble and run around the place like blood got mixed with their brains.
I feel so pained saying this about retired officers, having myself met so many who are sane and safe to be with.

Personally, I believe that no general who ever really fought a war discusses it with so much gusto. They are usually sobered by war – even when they come out victorious. It is usually the peripheral soldiers who go about boasting about their conquest and heroics. Those who plotted the victory are usually sobered by what they know.

presido1:
asha cho kwara igba nwaa TT na ebe a ooh. Asha iwu onye ojoo ooh.
Asha chegharia (repent) na uwa na acho ikpu
Ka inwe ike iketa oke na eluigwe ka presido1.

youngies:
Ify biko hapukwa Agaba, the guy bukwa onye nuruihe. Ya tarutu ihe ugba ya achowa ihe oga nnu ma rakwa!