₦airaland Forum

Good decision

Convinced that the level of indiscipline, loss of treasured social values, and immoral acts in the society are caused by the takeover of missionary schools by government, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has not only returned 1,040 primary schools to the various missions that owned them, he has also doled out N6 billion to enable such missions run and operate them.

It was an act that electrified all stakeholders in the state. Many of them who spoke at the event not only commended the governor for the courage to return the schools to their owners, they also expressed hope that the missions would be able to restore the values and discipline for which such schools were known in those days.

The N6 billion will, however, be distributed to the affected churches over the next 15 months based on the number of schools owned by each church group.

Addressing a large crowd of education stakeholders, elders of the state and the general public on the occasion which held at the Women’s Development Centre in Awka, the state capital, Obi said the handover was necessitated by the level of moral decadence in society owing to what he described as the forceful takeover of mission schools by the government in 1970.

“The collapse of education in Anambra State is directly connected with the takeover of schools owned by the missionaries, churches and voluntary organisations in 1970. That singular exercise signalled the disappearance of morality and the building of character from our school system. This can no longer be allowed,” Obi stated.

He said that after consulting with stakeholders, he had decided to return all primary and secondary schools taken from the missionaries back to them and expressed the hope that government’s gesture would be reciprocated by the churches so that the school system would be returned to its glorious days.

The N6 billion will be shared among the Catholic, Anglican and remaining government schools in four instalments. In the first instalment, the Catholic Church, which owns a lion’s share of 453 schools, will receive over N762 million, while its Anglican counterpart will receive over N498 million. The remaining public schools not taken from the churches will share about N489 million out of a total of N1.75 billion.

The second and third instalments will gulp N1.25 billion each, while the fourth and last instalment will cost the government N1.75 billion.

According to the governor, who assured them that the money was already available and in the bank, the money would be released to the churches after they must have submitted their work plans within 30 days.

The work plans are expected to contain curriculum that should embrace steps and strategies that will gradually recover the social sanity among pupils. Such vices like cultism, sexual immorality, kidnapping, armed robbery, brazen roguery and such other malaises plaguing today’s societies, especially in Anambra State, are some of the vices that the returned schools will have to battle on how to exterminate them.

But the worry, however, remains on not only how the schools will achieve the feat, but also what will happen to the moral value of schools not under the control of the missions. But Obi believes that the moral re-armament can be triggered off by the mission schools in the state.

“Let us all resolve today to be positive change agents especially now that we have a government that is ready and willing to work with individuals that can complement the efforts of government for the good of society. What we have done today may not be popular but it is the right decision and we will continue to take the right decisions,” Obi maintained.

In his speech, the Minister of State for Education, Nyeso Wike, praised the action of Obi, describing it as capable of turning around education in the state and bringing back lost moral values, just as he urged other states to emulate the Anambra example.
The secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Ahmed Modibo Mohammed, who said he was a product of mission schools, also praised Obi’s action and assured him of UBEC’s continued support and pointed out that states were free to use UBEC’s money any way they wanted and that the commission was bound to give support.

“The handover of schools by the Anambra State government is a step in the right direction and one that will boost education in the state,” Mohamed said.

Responding on behalf of Catholic bishops, the Archbishop of Onitsha metropolitan province, Valerian Okeke, in an emotion-laden voice, assured Obi that his action of handing back schools to their owners was one of the most popular decisions ever taken in the state.

In his words, “You have written your name in gold and you have wiped the tears of our people. You have rectified the anomalies of the civil war and rectified the fault of past leaders. With this action, the church has forgiven them for forcefully taking our schools.”

In his speech on behalf of the Anglican Bishops, the Archbishop of the Niger province and Bishop of Aguata Diocese, Most Reverend Christian Efobi, said the governor’s action showed that when the righteous mounted the throne, the people rejoiced and assured him that they would continually pray for the governor.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, also hailed the handover of the schools to their previous owners and thanked the state legislature for supporting it. He noted that it had been possible because APGA was the dominant party in the house, thus giving the executive arm the needed cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Anambra State government has set up a committee to look into the disputed schools whose handover has been delayed. The committee will be chaired by a retired chief judge of the state, Godwin Ononiba.


THIS-DAY

So does that mean than more states will be giving to SE at list 2 more state.

Orlu would be one of the new states




The Imo State government has commenced the demolition of structures within ten metres radius of the main roads in Orlu local government.

Governor Rochas Okorocha told stakeholders in the area while explaining the essence of the demolition that Orlu would be one of the new states to be created by the federal government.

He added that the criteria for becoming a new state included the presence of good roads and other facilities.

Okorocha said the Orlu local government would be the capital territory of the new state if created, adding that “he is committed to making the ambition realisable.”

The governor promised to create a double lane out major roads in Orlu main town to entice the federal government during its consideration of state creation.

He, however, pleaded with the victims of the demolition to be patient and promised to make alternative arrangements for them.

NEXT

THE self-acclaimed chief spokesman of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, popularly known in media circles as Usman Al-Zawahiri, has been nabbed by the Department of State Security Service (SSS), just as he opened up on those backing the sect.

Fielding questions from newsmen at the SSS headquarters in Abuja, on Monday, Umar named former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, the late Ambassador Sheidu Pinda and serving Senator Ali Ndume, both of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the real brains behind the group in Borno State.

Umar, who spoke through an interpreter, explained that members of the group had a good working relationship with former Governor Sheriff, of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) until he fell out with the group after sacking a member of the group from his cabinet, a commissioner, who was later murdered.

According to him, “Usman Al-Zawahiri is not my real name; it was given to me to portray me as an extremist and as well to conceal my true identity. We were political thugs to former Governor Sheriff until the relationship went sour. We switched over to the late Ambassador Pinda, who promised me N10 million to work for his political party, the PDP, in Borno State during the last elections.

“Unfortunately, Ambassador Pinda died on his way to make the part payment of N5million and Senator Ali Ndume took over from where the late ambassador stopped.”

Umar, who described himself as a student under the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, claimed that Senator Ndume “scripted and relayed” to him all threat text messages he sent to prominent Nigerians.

Those prominent Nigerians, according to him, included former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Justice Sabo Adamu and other judges of the Election Petitions Tribunal in Borno State; Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa State; Babangida Aliyu of Niger State; Ambassador Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Director-General of President Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation and Senator Sanusi Dagash, former Works and Housing Minister, among others.

He said that the threat messages were being sent to former President Olusegun Obasanjo based on the belief that he had sympathy for the former and present governors of Borno State, while same messages were sent to Senator Dagash when it became clear to them that he was allegedly going to sabotage the electoral victory of the PDP in Borno State despite the fact that he was a member of the party.

He revealed that the text messages of the group, which forced the Borno State Election Petitions Tribunal to be relocated from Maiduguri to Abuja as well as those sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, were meant to compel him (AGF) to influence the judgment of the tribunal against the government in Borno State.

He said that the same Senator Ndume, who was a member of the Presidential Committee on the Security in the North-East, promised to supply the telephone numbers of the members of the security committee to the group for necessary action before he was eventually picked up by security operatives.

When questioned about the grievances of the group, Mallam Umar hinged them on what he described as “failed promises and lack of political will on the part of the government to fulfill its numerous promises.”

TRIBUNE

kettykin:
those ignorant people who out of their insecurit and tribal inferiority complex believe and affirm that come what may , that nigeria will never breakup will need to take a course called perestroika of the defunct soviet union.
I wonder how on earth some can beleive nigeria will stick together with all the killings and tribalism and planlessness, if soviet union broke up then no country is too big or sophisticated to break up

don't mind this day dreamers now in Nigeria people die every-week from tribal killings,and is turning to normal thing in Nigeria they will say ohh them berom people and Fulani don start to kill themselves again? or boko haram i hear say they bomb church yesterday and the thing is most of this people don't know how deep things have gone  in that fake country,if you notice don't really border to prove anything for them cos u are wasting your precious time.
Leave them in their delusion self,i think some are waiting for boko haram to hit Lagos that's when you will see them shirting in their pants  begging for separation all Na mouth no liver i know these people like back of my hand a green snake in the green grass.

Aboki other countries are fighting to keep their local currency strong cos world economy crisis is a serious thing look at European countries voting their leaders out,cos as things stands now western world are all looking for leaders that think fast and accurate.
Things are now going on a new dimension real thinkers are finding solutions to better their economy,and look at you talking trash from you gworo mouth,i can see what you are facing is too much for you to handle,i think you are one of the victims of the youth of fanaticism

manchy7531:
Bro for information,you only need to come to Nnewi to know how much the Igbos are preparing.last week i was in Nnewi,an some of the guys i met there where telling thingsssssssssssss!!!
they told me that there is no weapon that you can call that has not yet been secretly produced and some military generals know.also that right now, they have weapons that can fight Nigeria to a stand still for 5yrs minimum without international help.they also told me that it will be Igbo/ND against our enemy of progress, he said most of the ND militants that we hear many are Igbos(rivers,delta,imo&abia) and Ijaw(mainly Bayelsa & delta) and that the ibibios, efik, calabar don't really have militants as such.

they also said most of the ijaw militants are loyal to their igbos cos they know they can't fight without the Igbos couple with the fact that many of them have igbo origin/parent(father or mother) and of course the igbo technological gift(cos right now the igbos are already producing weapons secretly).
This is to tell all those saying that the ijaw will not join forces with the igbo in the eventual break out of war.  The ijaws and the Igbos are already secretly planing for their freedom and with GOD on our side,it will come to pass this time because the mistakes of 1966 will be noted.

Also don't forget that the igbos are everywhere in Nigeria and can disguise very well which will make them be able to gather intelligence easily(which they already have especially in the north(jos and kaduna)it will be very easy for them to infiltrate the ijaw militants,blend with them,speak there language with them,created divisions among them if they want to.(this is a comment from one of them''the igbos already have intelligence if you don't know''

We only have to wait for 2015 first cos America that predicted the break up of Nigeria by 2015 knows what they must have seen and for your information America and Israel are solidly behind the eastern Nigeria region.There are rumors that the Chinese want to open a consulate in Anambra,if that is true then,that will tell you that some foreign nations already know where Nigeria is heading to and they are already taking measure so as not to loose their investments, but our leaders are still blinded by our oil,they have failed to read the handwriting on the wall.
I laugh at you yoruba cowards,you better ignore the igbos are face your own problems.if the Igbos feel Nigeria(Islam/haus-fulani) is their problem and they must cut away from them to feel free and be progressive then let them be or don't you the yorubas want your own progressive nation?will you intentionally not want somebody not to progress?is that what you yorubas stand for?

Things like this meant to be secrets you know? it is true but is not something we talk in a public forum.
ammunition factories have now spread to P.H we are getting ready, not to go to war but defend ourselves.
i said earlier on one thread that we calm down cos of Jonathan but we are getting ready secrecy,

good development they are getting there.

More like suicide bombers are better off dead than living like almajiri in his state/Nigeria,

THE radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram appears bent on carrying out some future attacks on Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sources said in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to the source, the group had decided to change the design of the outlook of its operativesfrom the usually heavily bearded, Arab-looking folks to the clean-shaven Western-looking young men, who could easily escape the psychological tests of security operatives.



Sources confirmed that some security agencies had already uncovered the new agenda of the sect, with the recent arrest of some eight recruits, who fall within the description.
It was confirmed that the Boko Haram, with advice and tactical training from the Al-Quaeda in Islamic Magreb and Al-Quaeda in Arabian Penninsula, had decided to change its usual style by recruiting underaged and undergraduates, who could be used in intelligence gathering and also help to penetrate some high-capacity targets.

Sources confirmed that the arrest of eight of such recruits recently exposed the sect’s plot.

“The Boko Haram sect is really bent on carrying out some dastardly operations, especially in Abuja. Their targets are the high-profile persons, who could easily get them news headlines. Right now, they are changing their outlook from the Arab dressing pattern with heavy beards to the clean shaven European styles,” a source confirmed, adding that the arrest of eight recruits recently gave the security agencies the lead.

The source further confirmed that the Federal Government was already in possession of details of some planned operations, following the interrogation of the arrested persons.
It was confirmed that four of the suspects were arrested in Maiduguri, two in Minna, Niger State and two in Yobe.

“The distinct mode of operation here is that these people are educated. Some of them are undergraduates, whose ages range from 14 to 16. There are also some minors among those arrested and the style is believed to be catch them young,” the source further stated.

It was also confirmed that the red alert issued by the United States of America recently was not totally out of order but that the Nigerian authorities were unhappy that the alert was made public despite the fact that measures had been taken to forestall the planned acts.

“The alert has been there for months and if you check things out, the security agencies have taken steps to protect the major hotels long before the alerts came. It came as an embarrassment to Nigeria because the government felt it had done what it needed to do to protect life and property, especially within the Federal Capital,” another source said.

Meanwhile, officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, on Thursday, intercepted a cache of abandoned arms and ammunition in the strong room of the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Limited (NAHCO).

According to the Customs Area Comptroller of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, Michael Adewole, the inventory of the abandoned arms and ammunition include six double-barrel guns, one single-barrel, one pump action, one Uzzi, two magazines, one Barretta pistol as well as one Becheverria pistol.

The comptroller listed the ammunition to include 20 pieces of 5.56 mm calibre, 19 cartridges, 500 pieces of blank armour and a sealed box of cartridges.

He listed the servicing accessories to include four pieces of pull trough, two brushes, oil rifle bag as well as a sling colt belt.

The customs officials were able to impound the weapons following a tip-off they got that some unidentified persons abandoned the arms at the strongroom of NAHCO.
Adewole said that the customs decided to carry out the exercise as part of its mandate at improving security around the airport.

He, however, said customs had commenced investigations with a view to ascertaining the identities of those behind the importation of the weapons.

The arms have been taken to the customs warehouse to enable the police to carry out their investigations.


TRIBUNE

that is very nice!!!!

PointB:
@topic,

Sanusi Lamido Sanusu, Central bank governor again is relevant here. He has shown us the nature of things in his bigoted way. So we are are all at alert and watching how things unfold.

By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

[url]http://elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=57%3Asanusi-lamido-sanusi&id=868%3Ayorubas-are-the-problem-with-nigeria-by-sanusi-lamido-sanusi&Itemid=65[/url]

In sum, the Yoruba political leadership, as mentioned by Balarabe Musa, has shown itself over the years to be incapable of rising above narrow tribal interests and reciprocating goodwill from other sections of the country by treating other groups with respect. Practically every crisis in Nigeria since independence has its roots in this attitude.

i. The Yoruba elite and area-boy politics;
ii. Igbo marginalisation and the responsible limits of retribution; and
iii. The Yoruba Factor and "Area-boy" Politics.

See also The Adulteress' Diary by Lamido Sanusi

My views on the Yoruba political leadership have been thoroughly articulated in some of my writings, prime among which was " Afenifere: Syllabus of Errors" published by This Day (The Sunday Newspaper) on Sept 27, 1998. There was also an earlier publication in the weekly Trust entitled " The Igbo, the Yoruba and History"  (Aug. 21, 1998).
[b]In sum, the Yoruba political leadership, as mentioned by Balarabe Musa, has shown itself over the years to be incapable of rising above narrow tribal interests and reciprocating goodwill from other sections of the country by treating other groups with respect. Practically every crisis in Nigeria since independence has its roots in this attitude.
The Yoruba elite were the first, in 1962, to attempt a violent overthrow of an elected government in this country. In 1966, it was the violence in the West which provided an avenue for the putsch of 15th January. After Chief Awolowo lost to Shagari in 1983 elections, it was the discontent and bad publicity in the South-West which led to the Buhari intervention.
When Buhari jailed UPN governors like Ige and Onabanjo, the South-Western press castigated that good government and provided the right mood for IBB to take over power. As soon as IBB cleared UPN governors of charges against them in a politically motivated retrial, he became the darling of the South-West. When IBB annulled the primaries in which Adamu Ciroma and Shehu Yar Adua emerged as presidential candidates in the NRC and SDP, he was hailed by the South-West. When the same man annulled the June 12, 1993 elections in which Abiola was the front-runner, the South-West now became defenders of democracy.

When it seemed Sani Abacha was sympathetic to Abiola, the South-West supported his take-over. He was in fact invited by a prominent NADECO member to take over in a published letter shortly before the event. Even though Abiola had won the elections in the North, the North was blamed for its annulment. When Abdulsalam Abubakar started his transition, the Yoruba political leadership through NADECO presented a memorandum on a Government of National Unity that showed complete disrespect for the intelligence and liberties of other Nigerians.
[/b]

Subsequently, they formed a tribal party which failed to meet minimum requirements for registration, but was registered all the same to avoid the violence that was bound to follow non-registration, given the area-boy mentality of South-West politicians. Having rejected an Obasanjo candidacy and challenged the election as a fraud in court, we now find a leading member of the AD in the government, a daughter of an Afenifere leader as Minister of State, and Awolowo´s daughter as Ambassador, all appointed by a man who won the election through fraud.

Meanwhile, nothing has been negotiated for the children of Abiola, the focus of Yoruba political activity. In return for these favours, the AD solidly voted for Evan Enwerem as Senate President. This is a man who participated in the two-million- man March for Abacha´s self-succession. He also is reputed to have hosted a meeting of governors during IBB´s transition, demanding that June 12 elections should never be de-annulled and threatening that the East would go to war if this was done. When Ibrahim Salisu Buhari was accused of swearing to a false affidavit, the Yoruba political elite correctly took up the gauntlet for his resignation.

When an AD governor, Bola Tinubu, swears to a false affidavit that he attended an Ivy League University which he did not attend, we hear excuses.

For so many years, the Yoruba have inundated this country with stories of being marginalised and of a civil service dominated by northerners through quota system. The Federal Character Commission has recently released a report which shows that the  South-West accounts for 27.8% of civil servants in the range GL08 to GL14 and a full 29.5% of GL 15 and above. One zone out of six zones controls a full 30% of the civil service leaving the other five zones to share the remaining 70%. We find the same story in the economy, in academia, in parastatals.

Yet in spite of being so dominant, the Yoruba complained and complained of marginalization. Of recent, in recognition of the trauma which hit the South-West after June 12, the rest of the country forced everyone out of the race to ensure that a South-Westerner emerged, often against the best advice of political activists.

Instead of leading a path of reconciliation and strong appreciation, the Yoruba have embarked on short-sighted triumphalism, threatening other "nationalities" that they ( who after all lost the election) will protect Obasanjo ( who was forced on them). No less a person than Bola Ige has made such utterances.

To further show that they were in charge, they led a cult into the Hausa area of Sagamu, murdered a Hausa woman and nothing happened. In the violence that followed, they killed several Hausa residents, with Yoruba leaders like Segun Osoba, reminding Nigerians of the need to respect the culture of their host communities.  This would have continued were it not for the people of Kano who showed that they could also create their own Oro who would only be appeased through the shedding of innocent Yoruba blood.

I say all this, to support Balarabe Musa´s statement, that the greatest problem to nation-building in Nigeria are the Yoruba Bourgeoisie. I say this also to underscore my point that until they change this attitude, no conference can solve the problems of Nigeria. We cannot move forward if the leadership of one of the largest ethnic groups continues to operate, not like statesmen, but like common area boys.

iii.The Igbo Factor and the Reasonable Limits of Retribution.

The Igbo people of Nigeria have made a mark in the history of this nation. They led the first successful military coup which eliminated the Military and Political leaders of other regions while letting off Igbo leaders. Nwafor Orizu, then Senate President, in consultation with President Azikiwe, subverted the constitution and handed over power to Aguiyi-Ironsi.  Subsequent developments, including attempts at humiliating other peoples, led to the counter-coup and later the civil war. The Igbos themselves must acknowledge that they have a large part of the blame for shattering the unity of this country.

Having said that, this nation must realise that Igbos have more than paid for their foolishness. They have been defeated in war, rendered paupers by monetary policy fiat, their properties declared abandoned and confiscated, kept out of strategic public sector appointments and deprived of public services. The rest of the country forced them to remain in Nigeria and has continued to deny them equity.

The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep the Igbo out of the scheme of things. In the recent transition when the Igbo solidly supported the PDP in the hope of an Ekwueme presidency, the North and South-West treated this as a Biafra agenda. Every rule set for the primaries, every gentleman´s agreement was set aside to ensure that Obasanjo, not Ekwueme emerged as the candidate. Things went as far as getting the Federal Government to hurriedly gazette a pardon. Now, with this government, the marginalistion of the Igbo is more complete than ever before. The Igbos have taken all these quietly because, they reason, they brought it upon themselves. But the nation is sitting on a time-bomb.

After the First World War, the victors treated Germany with the same contempt Nigeria is treating Igbos. Two decades later, there was a Second World War, far costlier than the first. Germany was again defeated, but this time, they won a more honourable peace. Our present political leaders have no sense of History. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians, are Nigerians, but suffer because of actions of earlier generations. They will soon decide that it is better to fight their own war, and may be find an honourable peace, than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity.

The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have exacted their pound of flesh from the Igbos. For one Sardauna, one Tafawa Balewa, one Akintola and one Okotie-Eboh, hundreds of thousands have died and suffered.

If this issue is not addressed immediately, no conference will solve Nigeria´s problems.


By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

bolded man i thought my yoruba people are accommodating :oWOW,

Ileke-IdI:
Honey, just pray that your lies aint true.
Because the Yorubas helped get him there and if the Yorubas dont like him anymore, he aint getting back in come 2015.

You simply suport GEJ because he's a Eastern Nigerian man, not because he has the brain or power to make Nigeria work. That there is tribalism.

no he didn't mean it that way,he meant because yorubas collectively voted for ACN, that's why they lost a lot politically.

^^^^
words cannot come out from my mouth

THEIR MUST BE SOMETHING IN THEIR FOOD.

WHY is it always yaribas that get involved in i.n.c.e.s.t? nawaoo for them,if na castrate make Federal govt start castrating as soon as possible is getting out of hand,

The Federal Government has expressed concern over the increase in population and has called on couples to imbibe child spacing methods to control it.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said this in Abuja, during the public presentation of Expanded Social Marketing Project estimated at $56.3m and a new brand of low dose oral contraceptive known as Combination 3.

The ESMPIN and the child spacing contraceptive are initiatives of a Non-Governmental Organisation, Society for Family Health.

Chukwu said, “Family planning is something I support because we need to space our children, support safe motherhood and we need to care for our children.

“Recently it was reported that Nigeria is the 6th most populated country in the world and there is an opportunity to produce a youthful population if we put certain things in place.”

The Minister also expressed the Federal Government’s appreciation to President Barack Obama of the United States for what the US has been doing to improve the health sector in Nigeria.

He said, “Our average national mortality rate is 545. You don’t need to be a prophet to realise that over 500 women do not live to see their children and it is so bad.

“But what encourages us is that people are making efforts to tackle the problem. The maternal mortality rate projection for 2011 is 487 women. But national averages are quite deceitful because you will discover that some states are hitting 1, 000 deaths.”

In his comments at the event, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terrence McCulley, said his country was committed to assisting the FG in the promotion of better health practices in Nigeria.

The Envoy said, “The aim of this project is to improve the health of women and children in Nigeria. This will be achieved by increasing the use and accessibility of child spacing methods and child health care products and services.”

PUNCH NEWSPAPER

The Federal Government says it will not be distracted by the activities of groups without well defined agenda, reaffirming commitment to transforming the country.

This is as former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, described the rotation of political offices as undemocratic and robbing the country of the right leadership.

President Goodluck Jonathan stated this yesterday in a message to the graduation of the Senior Executive Course 33 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPPS, Kuru, Plateau State.

Represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, he said groups whose objectives are unclear and known only to themselves would not be allowed to derail the administration condemning acts of violence against innocent citizens under whatever guise.

He said government was doing everything to confront the menace, adding: “Nigeria is a peaceful place with hospitable people. Our compatriots are making their marks all over the world. I assure you that Nigeria will soon be at par with the greatest tourist attraction of the world and even the most cherished business and tourist nation in Africa”.

Speaking earlier on Friday, while chairing the graduation lecture, Tinubu said rotation of offices, especially the presidency had resulted in foisting wrong leaders on the country adding that the ‘progressives’ were seeking to take over governance of the country to take Nigeria to where it truly belongs.

”We must examine very deeply this idea of “Turn by Turn Nigeria Ltd”, when it comes to the aspiration for political offices particularly the presidency. This practice is an assault on the sovereignty of the people. Does such a policy honestly do Nigeria well or is it a boon for a select few?

”Instead of promoting harmony, it is a source of conflict and disharmony. Constitutionally, every Nigerian has a right to aspire for any office, irrespective of religion, place of origin or political preference. Mandatory rotation of positions is an affront to democracy and places us further down the road of selection rather than election.

”It exalts mediocrity and access over talent and worth. I would rather we install in an important office a decent and able man from another region than a cruel and incapable man from my own family. I say this without hesitation because I speak from the heart and an unshakable commitment to democratic tenets”, he said.

The ACN leader, who spoke on “Managing Nigeria’s Pluralism for Peace and National Development”, said the rotation of offices was fueling the indigene-settler dichotomy rather than making Nigerians see themselves as brothers and sisters.

VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

The Yoruba nation is in search of unity amid concerns that a section of the people that matter in the in quest to move the race forward is being left out

The first pan-Yoruba conference, held at Ikenne,Ogun State, on Thursday, October 6, has come and gone but the fall-out from that supposedly first-of-its-kind meeting, aimed at charting the way forward for the Yoruba race, remains an issue.

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, was conspicuously absent at the meeting which the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, convened with the matriarch of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo dynasty, Mama H.I.D. Awolowo and first elected governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, who were visibly seated on the high table.


HID Awolowoand Oba Sijuade, Ooni of Ife
Former Vice President and Chief of General Staff, Lt General Oladipo Diya; immediate past Head of Service of the Federation, Prof. Afolabi, and the two factional leaders of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun and Otunba Ganiyu Adams were also on the high table at the conference.

Though the conference held, it couild not be said to be a total success due to what people like the Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and many of the traditional rulers present blamed on the Alaafin’s absence.


Oba Adeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo
“Without the Alaafin on seat,” Adebanjo said, “nothing can be said to have been done. Before we can say this meeting is a success, no Yoruba son must be left out.”

The Alaafin, specifically reacting to a Vanguard’s report on the conference, said it was a good starting, meaning he is prepared to cooperate with the peace and unity process.

Over a year before the Ikenne meeting, the Alaafin, who praised Vanguard for what he described as its objective report of the Yoruba conference, had granted an exclusive interview, where he poured out his mind on his pains on the Yoruba problem.

He said Yoruba race would not get anywhere so long as its leadership control was placed in the hands of sitting public officers or politicians, who, he said, had always ceased to function after their tenures of office and thus disappeared.

Former Military Governor of the defunct Western Region, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo, corroborated the Alaafin’s position in an interview with Sunday Vanguard during which the President of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) said the Yoruba problem was not disunity per se but political.

The Alaafin said: “What I am saying is that the Yoruba should resuscitate its own pressure group to meet the challenges of national exigencies. To me, the institution of traditional rulership around should be an agency for uniting rather than dividing the political class, which is what the Obas are doing now.

“Do they want to say Yorubas in other political parties are not leaders in their own rights? What of other political office holders like Yoruba members of the National Assembly?”

It also disturbed the mind of the sole custodian of the customs and traditions of Oyo Empire that Yorubas were not utilizing their human resources well.

“Other nationalities make use of their retired citizens, whether in the public or private sector. But to the Yoruba, qualification for leadership is being reduced to sitting public functionaries, especially the governors. To me, selective leadership is not the solution to our problems,” he pointed out.

Agreeing to the monarch’s argument, some stakeholders, who preferred anonymity pending when the unity process will have arrived at logical conclusion, told Sunday Vanuard this a that one of the major setbacks the “Yoruba people suffer comes from their negligence of their resourceful members who were in power yesterday but are today retired but not tired.”

They said Yorubas, revered for their fine culture of using historical experiences in developing themselves and whom people hitherto gathered to watch as they progressed in terms of everything, now do things the other way round.


Ayo Adebanjo
“They no longer take their retired doing-well officers seriously and now they are the ones that gather to watch while those watchers of the past now take the centre stage and are moving far ahead of them.” .Asked why, they said many things were at stake and these included egocentric behaviour whereby everybody sees himself as a leader, who must not bow to the other and misinterpretation of the role of education in human resources development and society building.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that in the past, Chief Obafemi Awolowo became acceptable as Yoruba leader long after his time as premier of Western Region and that it was about that time or thereafter he was picked into the General Yakubu Gowon’s Federal Military Government as Federal Commissioner for Finance, where, seeing himself as representing the Yoruba at the Federal service, he caused his performance to beat the imagination of many people, nationally and internationally.

The Igbo, it was said, still remember Awolowo’s role in how they failed to secede into the Republic of Biafra. That was the typical Yoruba leadership being talked about and a return to that age in the race’s forward-match process, the Alaafin of Oyo said, would help in quick arrival.

“In the 1967 experience, the Obas worked assiduously in bringing all the warring political interests together, especially against the backdrop of the rancour between the Action Group and the NCNC. But what do we have today? Obas and governors alone charting a course for the Yoruba. We have to look beyond transient position holders,” said Alaafin before the October 6 Ikenne conference.

Yoruba are blessed with brilliant sons and daughters who, in the past, had played their own respective roles in the building of modern Nigeria. After retirement, the Yoruba sons and daughters are neglected by their own clan. They retired from their government services: the military, the police, civil service, but they are not tired.


Tinubu: Leader of ACN
The stakeholders charged: the Yorubas can do away with egocentric behaviour and begin to take everybody as important in moving the race forward. “If those retired people are contacted and reintegrated into the Yoruba leadership, they could brace up to contribute in a way that would lift the once-upon-a-time glorious race back on its feet.”

Findings also showed that whether Generals Diya and Olanrewaju agree or not, the reason the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, used the fathom coup of 1996 to punish them was because of their concerns for the interest of the Yoruba race . Olanrewaju single-handedly achieved the jumping from 12 to 20 local governments in Lagos, being a Lagos State prince in the army and in government during the Abacha regime. His attempt to secure further increase from the 20 local governments to 44 when the Osun State-born Brigadier-General Olagunsoye Oyinlola was Military Governor of Lagos, during the same Abacha regime, where Olanrewaju was not only minister but was also a member of the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC), was said to have been frustrated by some Yoruba stakeholders under the pretext of not wanting to do business with Abacha. But history, it is said, now proves that Ekiti State people, an integral part of the Yoruba race, now enjoy their statehood which the same Abacha regime made possible and that most of the stakeholders who refused Abacha in the case of Lagos 44 local governments now jostle for power in the state.

“Unfortunately, 15 years after their travails and years again after the Oputa Panel set up by another Yoruba man as President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had recommended that Generals Diya, Olanrewaju, late Adisa and others unjustly punished with the cooked up Diya coup should be apologised to, compensated and get their military rights restored to them, nothing has happened. Not even the sitting President Goodluck Jonathan has done anything and Yoruba keep quiet and are not talking,” an aggrieved stakeholder exclaimed, querying, “How can such unjustly penalised people raise their heads any longer for the race?”

It was, as a matter of responsibility, it was gathered that Obasanjo’s last civilian regime, failed because his own Yoruba people left him alone to it. It has been argued that the three-time head of Nigerian government made his failure by himself due to “his non-challant attitude and lack of respect for his race’s views on his administration during his reigns,” It was however said that the Yoruba race could still have been better for it should they have forgiving spirits towards themselves.

The Nigerian Civil War of between 1967 – 1970 was another area , which, the stakeholders said, could not be completely talked about without the mention of Yoruba fighters. “Where have we kept those Yoruba fighters? Where are the scorpions – Benjamen Adekunles? Where are the Alani Akinrinades? Where are the Adeyinka Adebayos? Where even are the Olusegun Obasanjos the stakeholders asked rhetorically. Yoruba are said to now need a serious overhauling of their think-tank system and have thus been advised to sieze the opportunity provided by the just instituted pan-Yoruba conference to put their acts together for the good of the people and overall interest of the race.

Confronted with questions bordering on the update on activities of the 50-man committee set up at the last Ikenne conference, Adebanjo, said that it was not possible that they would neglect a glorious task of moving an enviable race like the Yoruba forward.

“We have not neglected the process. What we want to avoid is too much talking for now and we will remain so until we have got positive results,” he said.

He went further, “We are making progress. We have met with the Alaafin of Oyo and Ooni of Ife and we have made progress from there. Now I’m just coming from the Awujale of Ijebu Land and I can assure you that effort is going on.

Asked if the committee had met with the governors of the six states of the Southwest, the 83-year-old lawyer, and Afenifere chieftain, said the issue of the governors was not important for now and that things would sort themselves out as time went on.



VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

Dede1:
@POST


This act of silly desperation is approaching lunatic level. Ojukwu, then military governor of eastern region of Nigeria, had no need to even have a personal phone discussion with Banjo who was either a fugitive languishing in one of the prisons in eastern region of Nigeria or had been released by Ojukwu talk less a personal letter. What an inconsiderate insult to Ojukwu? The veracity of this forged letters sucks. Ojukwu could have chosen to keep Banjo in jail for duration of the war.

Any letter written by or on behalf of Ojukwu, as the military governor of eastern region of Nigeria, must bear the coat of arms of the region and must be signed by the secretary to government of eastern region, Mr. A U Akpan.


Please peeps from eastern region of Nigeria or Biafra, I urge you not to pay any mind to this fraudulent letter purported to have been written by Ojukwu. After all, it is sourced by the same people who openly claimed Fajuiyi opted to die with Ironsi as if the coup plotters give their targets option to live or die.

The question is who are these unauthenticated users, how do they get there, and why aren’t they authenticated?

Why does the Yoruba support Independent Oduduwa Republic but oppose Biafra? Why does the Hausa-Fulani's allegiance start from Arewa Republic (Sharia-run State of northern nigeria) and end in Saudi Arabia and yet oppose Biafra? Why is Biafra's wealth expropriated and the people impoverished and oppressed without regard to their human rights?

another one

News Headline: Ethno-religious Crisis: OPC Advocates Secession. Written by Olalekan Olabulo. "The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) has called for the secession of the Yoruba race from Nigeria, following the unabated killings of the Yoruba in northern Nigeria." ---- Nigerian Tribune Newspapers. Thursday February 4, 2010.

My question now is who is their ally really? they should forget north cos is not happening is all lips service,the only time they kind of stick together is when it comes to working against eastern region,apart from that Hausa just use them.

Yoruba's are cor-words look they will never accept it,always find igbos threatening, look as Nigeria stands now they lose more in the union than any group.

awolowo quickly use biafran money for free education in the west but still their so call paddy paddy wanted to jail him for second time which lead to him committing suicide now tell me is that life?no wonder IBB treated them unfairly politically cos he have seen that they are just cor-word simple.
nothing will happen.
look at the situation in the north little wonder that they lost a lot the same people they always suck up to,and still they get the worst treatment from them.

Chief Toye Ogunsuyi, President of the Yoruba Community in Plateau State, has declared that the race lost 156 lives and property worth N2.5 billion to the ethno-religious crisis in Jos, the state capital, between 2008 and last January, many yoruba including offsprings, youth corps members and students, as well mothers and children were killed, " --- Nigerian Tribune Newspapers. Saturday February 27, 2010.

Uchek:
Why are you guys splitting hairs. All this is irrelevant. Time and history has given an incontestable verdict on who was on the side of equity and justice and inequity and injustice during the Biafran War

Gowon ( a northern minority) led a Hausa-Fulani dominated Nigerian army and northerners to massacre mostly Ibos from East and finished it up in a brutal civil war. Today his tribe and his people are experiencing the same massacre and pogroms in the hands of the same Hausa-Fulani just as the Ibos. And the beauty of the wheel of justice is that no one will be punished just as non of the perpetrators of the pogrom was punished.

Awo (and the Yorubas) the most intelligent and well-informed  Yoruba who knew that, Nigeria was a "mere geographical expression" and the war was between the Biafrans and the Hausa-Fulani to nib in the bud Hausa-Fulani Fledgling domination of Nigeria, joined the Hausas against the Ibos and reaped momentary economic and political rewards, but died a disillutioned man and conspired his tribe to slavery and misgovernance.

Saro-wiwa [/b]who saw the Hausa during the war as their liberator from Ibo domination was killed by Abacha-his civil war buddy - not an igbo man. His tribe today are not only suffering from mismanagement of Nigeria, their homeland have been permanently destroyed by oil pollution.

[b]Enahoro - the spokesman of Gowon during the war who declared that Biafran surrender was non-negotiable condition for the end of the war died an unhappy and sorrowful man. Ojukwu advocated for only 4 regions. Enahoro said NO. But during his last years alive, he advocated for Nigeria to be divided into 6 regions- 40 years after Ojukwu position.

Name them: All the folks that were against Ojukwu are all disillusioned, regretting or died frustrated with the Nigeria whom they fought for on behalf of the Hausa-fulani

The Middle-belt who fought the war for the Hausa-Fulani have been systematically wiped out in the military by the same Hausa-Fulani.

How about the Southern Minorities? Their oil blessings have become a curse.

And finally, the country unpatriotic Ojukwu sought to "destroy" is a fool at 51.

WORD