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Nigeria cannot be funding and campaigning for self-determination of both Palestinian and Western Sahara hoping that Israel and Morocco will be cooking Indomie and egg for them

By Festus Walter .

When the street Orchins won election, APC, PMB, and Nigeria Muslims were busy gallivanting around the world, in UN general assembly meeting, calling supporting, promoting and funding the creation of free state of Palestinian, and western Sahara, without consulting anybody, Even Nigerian ASUU president DR Isa Fagae and others were busy organizing campaign for free western Sahara state, forgotten that they have the worst case in their back yard(Biafra state) ohhh! They thought that after promoting, campaigning and funding the independence Palestinian and Western Sahara, Israel and Morocco will clap for them and prepare indomie and egg for them.

They too are now funding, supporting, sponsoring, campaigning calling for self-determination of both Palestinian Western Sahara and Biafra, they said Biafra case too should be treated equal. The UN, AU, ECOWAS treaties that Nigeria is a signatory to allow self-determination through referendum. When ECOWAS court want to use that to rule in favour of Nnamdi Kalu, Nigeria threatened to evict and stop funding ECOWAS, Morocco decided to leave North America and apply for ECOWAS member so he can accommodate and fund ECOWAS with Israel if Nigeria government do otherwise.

ECOWAS cannot abandoned their treaties because of Nigeria, Nigeria accepted to release Nnamdi Kalu to avoid ECOWAS doing that by ruling in favour of Nnamdi Kalu and IPOB, but vow never to allow referendum. Why do you think Morocco's application to join ECOWAS was accepted by ECOWAS head of state last two week? Why do you think all ECOWAS countries are supporting Biafra except president Baro of the Gambia, why do you think Israeli prime minister visited ECOWAS head of state in their last meeting. Why do you thing Nigeria and the Gambia boycotted the meeting for the first time since the history of ECOWAS. OBJ went there on his own to beg.

Why do you thing OBJ advised fg to beg agitators at Yaradua center. Look ignorance of APC and PMB, their unpreparedness to power, and injustice in Nigeria is what is destroying Nigeria today not Nnamdi Kalu or IPOB. The UN general assembly meeting is on August, what do we expect? A declaration of self-determination and referendum for Palestinian, Western Sahara, Catalonia, and Biafra, or maintaining status quo till next 5 yrs? There is a pressure on Nigeria from Islamic world led by Saudi, Palestinian people, western Sahara people to let Biafra go so they too can have freedom. Even Turkish is mounting pressure.

So you can see there is little of what Nigeria government, police, army can do about this matter now, that why they can no longer keep Nnamdi Kalu on detention, he cannot be rearrested again, IPOB members can no longer be arrested, soldiers are no longer shooting. The only solution now is meeting, meeting,meeting,and meeting, consulting, consulting consulting, begging begging begging and begging, and that is what osinbanjo is doing, but I think he should listen to OBJ and call Nnamdi Kalu and beg him, talk to him.

Ask him what he want because with PMB 97% and 5% statement on Aljazeera interview and his loop sided appointment and hatred to Biafrans by some Nigeria, are making the Osinbanjo move impossible. Look, education, and exposure is so important in choosing a leader, see the big problem PMB created for Nigeria, and he is not here to quench it. When OBJ advised to ignore Nnamdi Kalu and his radio Biafra the way he ignored sharia law, PMB threatened to crush him. The same way he threatened to crush militant. What is coming is bigger than Nigeria.

Now you know why Nnamdi Kalu is still talking tough. Now you know why Israel RABBI have to sign his bail, if anything happened to him, we are in UN AU Morocco and Israel mess . our attitude on Facebook is not helping the matter, today Osinbanjo is having a meeting with media editors . Nigerians, this may be the end.

so ..

The PARABLE of the COUNTRY... NIGERIA

And when the war ended, the victors sat down to share the spoils. One region got the oil wells and the other region got the foreign companies.

The vanquished region got two sets of gifts. While some got £20 each, others got to keep the houses in their own part of the vanquished region belongings to those who got £20.

After six years, those who got £20 started to build multi-storey houses in their part of the vanquished region. One town in the region cornered the pharmaceutical industry, another transportation and automotive spare parts, another town took the electronics and electrical market, yet another took the textiles market and another the building materials market. Now the vanquished control all these markets in the entire continental sub-region and beyond. God indeed blessed his own people and they prospered.

Those who got oil wells and the foreign companies accused those who lost their houses and got £20 of being ritualists. As for those who got the houses belonging to those who got £20, one protested vehemently and was hanged by those who got the oil wells, as most of the oil wells are in that region of the vanquished who got the houses belonging to the vanquished6 who got £20.

Those who got the oil wells also got to keep power and government, inviting those who got the foreign companies to share the privileges and appurtenances thereof from time to time. They shared the revenue from the oil wells to the exclusion of those who got £20 and those who got the houses belonging to those who got £20.

Because the victors got the government and power, they also created all forms of schemes and devices to enrich themselves and slow the growth and development of the vanquished. They even made these schemes provisions in the constitution.

However, the vanquished who got only £20 still continued to prosper, producing many billionaires, authors, artists, scientists, sportspeople, distinguished professors, erudite jurists, medical professionals, lawyers and stubborn agitators. Whatsoever those who got £20 touched prospered. Like the Hebrews in Egypt, the vanquished are like the Army of Locusts.

Now, those who got £20 want to leave the country. Even the agitation has prospered in its vehemence. But those who got the oil wells and the foreign companies are opposing them.

Remember that the victors have the oil wells and the foreign companies. The victors also got the government and power. The vanquished got only £20 and lost their houses.

Now, what does the victors want? Probably human blood. They drank from over 2 million bodies of the vanquished before the war ended, and they have been drinking periodically even since. They recently drank from over 150 of the vanquished.

And that is the Parable of a Country.


Chris Chibyke

I have told this story before on this space and am repeating it. In 2005 as the Group Political Editor of Thisday Newspaper I had the privilege of interviewing late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the undisputed Biafra hero at his home in Enugu.

After the interview, I was already at his exit gate when he called me back and dropped this message: “My friend, your newspaper is very powerful, they listen to you people, use it to tell Nigerian authorities to make haste to address Igbo problems, the war weary generations are giving way for the younger ones who did not witness the war and would not understand why they should take it.”

That Ojukwu prophecy was 12 years ago; Nnamdi Kanu and the bulk of his IPOB group were born after the war. On May 30th they gave directive for every Igbo including the war generation people to stay indoors and it was obeyed.


IKE ABONYI



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Biafra backlash and Ndigbo assets
“It is our considered view that rather than Igbo continuing to hold the whole country to ransom, they should be allowed to go their own way” –Arewa Youth quotes

The May 30th sit-at-home directive by Biafra agitators surely has changed the conversation. Nigerians who took the Biafra issue lightly have since adjusted themselves after the success recorded at the sit-at-home order by the two main Biafra agitators, IPOB and MASSOB in memory of over a million of their kit and kins who died in the 30-month brutal civil war between 1967 to 1970. Nigerians are suddenly realising that the noise could yield a melody and are preparing for the dance.

In fact panicky northern youths have opened the dance floor. The feeling of Nigerians could be gauged in their reactions on the Facebook and other social media platforms that the issue has been trending.

“This Biafra thing is serious, the thing don pass joke” was the summation of a Nigerian resident in Abuja. “See how they have changed the narration, nobody remembers the sick President or the acting President, everything now is on Biafra.”

One man in his Facebook contribution to the Biafra talk even went spiritual counselling Nigerian leaders not to overlook the spiritual dimension to the Biafra issue. “If I were Nigeria leaders,” he said, “I would pick a lesson from the Gamaliel advice in the bible about Jesus and his followers, to monitor them cautiously and not help in promoting them by going to attack them. If they are backed by God nobody would be able to stop them, but if not they would fizzle off like so many other agitators in the past.”

If God is with them he said you may even find yourself fighting God without knowing. He drew the public attention to the curious happening of security agencies fighting and killing themselves the same day they were mobilising to stop Biafra agitation (Navy and Police clash on Tuesday in Calabar, Cross River State).

The young analyst who probably is spiritdriven surely drew his inference from the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 5 in the Holy Book authored by St Luke: “And when they had brought the apostles, they set them before the council.

And the high priest asked them, saying; we commanded you, that you should not teach in this name: and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the blood of this man upon us. But Peter answering, said: We ought to obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.

“And we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to all that obey him. When they had heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they thought to put them to death.

But one in the council rising up, a Pharisee, by name Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, respected by all the people, commanded the men to be put forth a little while. “And he said to them; Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves, what you are about to do with these men.

For before these days rose up Theodas, affirming himself to be some body, whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined; who was slain: and all who believed him, were dispersed, and brought to nothing.

“After this man rose up Judas, of Galilee, in the days of the enrolling, and drew away the people after him: he also perished: and all who adhered to him, were dispersed. “And now, therefore, I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel, or this work be of men, it will come to nothing: But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God. And they agreed with him.”

If only Nigeria leaders and their security apparatchik would pick something from Gamaliel counsel as it relates to these Biafra agitators. But perhaps the most intriguing of all the reactions to the success recorded by the sit at home order is the fight over what happens to Ndigbo assets scattered all over Nigeria if they decide to go. Some said they know a lot of their property and they would immediately take it over, others reasoned that Ndigbo would not leave those properties to go anywhere that they are already stuck.

Some striking messages came out of this. One, that Nigerians acknowledge that Ndigbo more than any ethnic group in the country have helped to build this nation by giving infrastructural facelift to all the cities in the country.

Two, that Ndigbo have foolishly or unwisely developed other cities more than they have done in Igboland. One outstanding question begging for an answer from Ndigbo is asked by one Facebook lady: Where in any Igbo city can there be found any structure owned by Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani or Tiv or Igala etc.?

The very conspicuous thing from all these is that for the first time since the end of the civil war 47 years ago, Nigerians are beginning to think of Biafra as a reality even as they left some remarkable food for thought for Ndigbo as it relates to their observance of the ‘aku rue uno principle’ (wealth should reach home).

The aku rue uno concept is known in Igboland but has actually not been strongly followed hence the pointing of owned property outside Biafra land as a possible inhibition to the realisation of Biafra.

It also exposes how imprudent Ndigbo have been in the eyes of the rest of the country. But that notwithstanding, the May 30th directive has other striking messages that should not be ignored by any objective analytical mind.

The bulk of these Igbo assets are owned by the businessmen who decided on May 30 not to make money that day in memory of their kith and kins who died fighting for their freedom. That they rejected monies that would have been made in Aba, Onitsha, Nnewi, Owerri, Enugu etc. to remember those they probably didn’t know should send some signals to the World that even the so-called property is nothing for their freedom.

After all in the past, soon after the civil war, all Igbo millions were reduced to £20 each but within a decade they were able to catch up with the rest of the country. Like the Facebook contributor, Nigeria should stop being mechanical in their view on this Biafra matter and look at it from spiritual point. As Gamaliel advised the leaders of Israel, if this Biafra thing is refusing to die, it could have some divine dimension that if continuously ignored might be at the peril of the country.

I have told this story before on this space and am repeating it. In 2005 as the Group Political Editor of Thisday Newspaper I had the privilege of interviewing late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the undisputed Biafra hero at his home in Enugu.

After the interview, I was already at his exit gate when he called me back and dropped this message: “My friend, your newspaper is very powerful, they listen to you people, use it to tell Nigerian authorities to make haste to address Igbo problems, the war weary generations are giving way for the younger ones who did not witness the war and would not understand why they should take it.”

That Ojukwu prophecy was 12 years ago; Nnamdi Kanu and the bulk of his IPOB group were born after the war. On May 30th they gave directive for every Igbo including the war generation people to stay indoors and it was obeyed.

They did not use force, but the populace bought into their message even when political and security authorities stood against it. But even with all these signs nobody is yet seriously thinking of addressing the issue. The Attorney General says Nigeria cannot be restructured that the status quo is okay.

Yes the status is okay for him from North-West with 92 members in the House of Representatives as against South-East 43. Why not when two states Kano and Jigawa members in the House of Representatives are more than members from all the five South Eastern states.

It is an agreed truth that in a democracy majority can swim their way through, but it is also true as captured by Martin Luther King Jr that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” God bless Help us.

https://newtelegraphonline.com/2017/06/biafra-backlash-ndigbo-assets/

The Igbos are under siege in their country

By Mike Ozekhome

I am shocked that the Igbos are not speaking up at the apparent siege laid on their land by uniformed person of different categories. They range from Army, Navy, Police, Civil Defence, Customs, FRSC, etc. My journey had taken me by road from Isele-Mkpitime, where I had gone to pay tribute to a Nigerian icon, Chief (Dr) P.K.C. Isagba, the Odogwu of Isele-Mkpitime. He was one of the first Nigerians to believe in my ability as a young fledgling lawyer. I had been handling his cases whilst at Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers. When I left as Deputy Head to set up my practice in January 1986, Chief f Isagba personally went to Chief Gani Fawehinmi, to allow him move his files to me, to continue handling his cases; a request the amiable and selfless Gani granted immediately. So, Chief Isagba became my first major client as a tottering practising lawyer, trying to find my groggy feet. He became my bossom friend and elder brother.

My journey from Isele-Mkpitime, through Asaba, to Port-Harcourt, told me clearly that the entire Igbo land is locked down in a physical, psychological and mental siege, reminiscent of a civil war time.

When the Civil War ended January 15, 1970, the then military ruler, General “Jack” Yakubu Gowon, who became Head of State, at 31 and a bachelor, proclaimed the three Rs: “Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation”, which heralded his policy of “No Victor, No Vanquished”. This was after the unfortunate failure of the 4th-5th January, 1967, of the “Aburi Accord”, that would have prevented the bloody war in which over 2 million civilians and 100, 000 military combatants were killed. Or, was it an historical mistake that these people who had already manufactured “Ogbunigwe” (series of weapons, that included detonation mines, IED, and rocket propelled missiles), with which they prosecuted the Nigeria – Biafra war between 1967 and 1970, were prevented from leaving Nigeria? Perhaps, we would today have had a Japan, Singapore or South Korea lying side by side a sprawling “giant of Africa” on clay legs.

These policies were meant to quickly heal the gaping wounds of the gruesome blood-letting, forget the horrors and evils of the fratricidal war and quickly reintegrate the Igbos into the society.

But, have these hardworking, gregarious “Jews” of Nigeria been reconciled, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the mainstream of the Nigerian society? I doubt it. Simple proof: show me any Igbo man in today’s all powerful cabal kitchen cabinet of PMB’s Government. My journey from Isele-Mkpitime, Delta State, through Asaba, Onitsha, Oba, Oraifite, Okija, Ihiala, Mgbidi, Awomama, Owerri, Aba to Port-Harcourt, was a strangulating reminder that the Igbos, inspite of their unquantifiable contributions to the commerce, industry and innovations that drive the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy and give it oxygen, are nearly a conquered people. The check-points along the above stretch of road are nauseating and asphyxiating, as the security agencies, including para-military ones out-do each other to harass, torment, search, intimidate and extort money from travelers.

Earlier journeys by road (I travel a lot on professional duties), had shown me the same siege through countless roadblocks: Enugu, through the Ugwogo Nike-Opi-Nsukka Road; Amansea in Awka-Ugwuoba Oji River; Nnewi, Alor, Ekwulobia, Amesi, Ugar, Umuchu; Okigwe, Awgu and Ituku Ozalla, Umuahia and Isiala-Ngwa, on Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. On the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene highway, you have exasperating road blocks at Michael Okpara University junction; Isingwu-Nkweogwu junction of the Isuikwuato-Uzuakoli-Ajayi-Igbere road; and the 14 Brigade Army barracks junction at the Ohafia-Arochukwu highway.

As you are crossing one check point, a mere look ahead of you, of less than half a kilometer, will reveal another barricade. It is all so frustrating. There is no war, or security breach. South East is not North East where Boko Haram still calls the shots (forget about Government’s pet words of “we have degraded Boko Haram”; Boko Haram is still very potent, controlling large areas, killing and maiming people on a daily basis. Their representative said that much at the 2nd May, 2017, Re-Union meeting of the 2014 National Conference delegates at Daar Communications Centre, Abuja, where I delivered the keynote address).

Yet, in this Boko Haram-ravaged region, you would not find this armada of security, treating the entire geo-political zone made up of five states (the least in Nigeria; some others have seven states), like a conquered territory.

It is only the recent suit by my good friend, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, (six of us founded the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) – the first human rights body in Nigeria-on 15th October, 1987), over ''marginalisation of the South East region”, that has perhaps brought to the front burner, these disturbing tons of injustice. That is why no one can ignore them.


The Igbos are under siege in their country

By Mike Ozekhome

https://newtelegraphonline.com/tag/the-igbos-are-under-siege-in-their-country/

This is info-graphic of FGN on breakdown of disbursement to local government by geopolitical zone. These are the reasons. Restructure is a most for some people while no-go- area for others

http://oilrevenueng.org/themes/

What a nation ! When people called the nation all kinds of names, don't blame them. Is almost half year no budget,when people want to leave the so called nation, don't blame them

Common to pass ordinary budget is a herculean task

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, on Monday, relaunched the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade, in Abuja, saying in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping, and other forms of social vices, the role of the Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized. President Muhammadu Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari Announcing the development on the occasion of the National and State Commanders meeting of the Community Support Brigade, CSB, also known as WAI, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said the President Buhari administration has declared the intention to relaunch the Brigade for better performance, as well as to bring its activities to the fore. Speaking at the meeting, Abari said: “It’s great pleasure that I have the opportunity to meet with the leadership of WAI, for the first time since my assumption of office about two months ago. This meeting is meant to discuss the repositioning of the WAI Brigade in the current dispensation of change. “I’m not only delighted with this gathering, but excited with you all for keeping faith and working tirelessly to contribute your quota to nation building as volunteers who are not being paid for over 3 decades. So, I salute your patriotic efforts, indeed, Nigeria salutes your patriotism.” The NOA DG, stated that, “in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping and other forms of social vices, the role of the WAI Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized. It is in this regard that I call on you to encourage your members across the country to redouble their vigilance in the local governments, wards and their various villages, so that we can contribute our quota towards building a secure society.” Abari recalled that the WAI Brigade was a brain-child of President Buhari, who as Military Head of State in 1983 established the Brigade, to instill discipline among Nigerians, as well as fight endemic corruption. “The ills and woes that bedeviled the nation at that time are still very much with us today. That is why, when the National Orientation Agency, NOA, was established in 1983, the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade was automatically drafted to be part and parcel of the Agency to fight against indiscipline, disorderly behaviour in public and private places, disobedience to traffic rules and regulations, disrespect for constituted authorities, filthy environment, bribery, corruption and other social vices,” he said. The NOA boss disclosed that “The present administration has declared its intention to re-launch the Brigade for better performance and bring its activities to the fore. You as ambassadors of the Agency, must, in your respective communities, local government areas, and states contribute your quota to make the change mantra of this administration a reality. Whenever and whereever you see something, you must say something to save our nation from decline.”

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/buhari-relaunches-war-indicipline-brigade/

Almost two years after the celebrated launching of Ogoni cleanup by Nigeria Government ,

but so far only 1% of necessary funds are available.

Our investigations found that extensive visible pollution still remains at 4 oil spill sites identified

Amnesty International.






https://twitter.com/AmnestyNigeria

Balarabe Musa, Junaid Mohammed, Gen. Williams, Tsav, Yerima accuse Ag. President of cornering federal jobs for kinsmen, cronies

He’s done no wrong- Prof Akintola

By musa jibril, tunde thomas and VINCENT KALU

For a government that has been dubbed lethargic in its first two years, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in the last few months was a kick to life, and has brought a modicum of calm to the raging storm of citizen opposition to the APC government. His actions and words appear to have given a human face to the Buhari government otherwise considered by a recession-traumatised citizenry to be insensitive to their suffering and strong-arming the opposition with its war on corruption. While it may not have influenced the public opinion of the APC government, Osinbajo’s visibility, no doubt, mellowed public hostility against the government.

However, in a country of byzantine political ecosystem, and climate of vexing power politics, it is not farfetched for Osinbajo’s recent visibility to be misconstrued as subtly Machiavellian. In the past weeks, there had been grumblings, veiled as passing opinions and with vitriolic undertone.

When at last it came, the hail of criticisms––harshly accusing him of consolidating his power base ahead of the 2019 election––was a viral online polemic by a Dr. Ismaila Farouk.

The opening paragraph of the diatribe accused the Acting President for ‘tactical’ nepotism and cronyism that has seen key strategic cabinet positions filled by people linked to him.

“Contrary to the widely held belief that Vice President Osinbajo, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and a Professor of Law is above board, a forensic analysis of his activities since he assumed office reveals that the VP has consistently abused his office, negating the principles of Federal Character and has systematically favored members of the Redeemed Church and his Yoruba tribe.”

It particularly knocked Osinbajo for the appointment of Dr Okey Enelamah as Minister for Trade and Investment––noting that the latter was his Deputy and later successor at the RCCG, Banana Island, Lagos. The Vice President was also indicted for the appointment of “his RCCG Brother” Alex Okoh as DG of the Bureau of Public Enterprise.

The long and short of it was that the VP is surreptitiously embedding his lackeys in positions of authority in violation of the principle of Federal Character, in key institutions like INEC and NNPC to the Non-Career Ambassadors and critical Regulatory Agencies.

According to the statement, “While Nigerians were trying to come to terms with the shock of Pastor Enelamah’s nomination, VP Osinbajo took a step further in his nepotistic disposition in the setting up of his office and selection of personal staff. First, he chose his former colleague at the University of Lagos Ade Ipaye who was also his Special Adviser while he was Attorney General of Lagos to serve as his Chief of Staff. Unsurprisingly, Ade Ipaye hails from Ogun State, the VP’s State of origin. He went on to relocate Laolu Akande, an indigene of Ogun State who was hibernating in New York to serve as his Media Adviser. For his Chief Economic Adviser, he appointed Ambassador Dipeolu also of Yoruba extraction. The VP didn’t stop there, of his 10 Principal Officers in his office, 9 are from his Yoruba ethnic group. In his quest to perpetuate his ilk in government, the VP has capitalised on the magnanimity of President Buhari’s implicit confidence in him to plant his Yoruba and RCCG brethren in key agencies of government.”

Senior Special Assistant, Media to the Acting President, Laolu Akande, declined to comment. There are nonetheless others who spoke against the storm precipitated by Farouk. One of such rebuttals online by an anonymous called it “a bunch of deliberate and wicked lies against a man of God who has come to support and serve,” citing the tirade as “an abortive attempt to disparage the truly beloved, humble VP.”

…Eminent Nigerians speak

Eminent Nigerians wade into the smoldering controversy, giving their constructive and weighed opinions.

According to Abubakar Tsav, former commissioner of police, Lagos state “Osinbajo has been very active as Acting President working very hard, with zeal, dedication and utmost efficiency and this is commendable. However, the recent appointments he has been making alarm me. Those appointments are very narrow and sectional. Those appointments will create division and sow seeds of ethnic discord.

How can Osinbajo appoint more than 80 per cent of his personal staff from South-West? Not only that, names of Yoruba also feature prominently on the list of appointments he made into parastatals. Again, most of these appointees are Christians. This is unacceptable. Osinbajo should realise that he is now a national figure.

“Although Osinbajo is humane, but he should be more liberal, and try to be pan-Nigerian in whatever he is doing . With the public outcry against him on this issue, I think he should do the needful. He should realise that what he has done on this appointments issue is not good for his own image, for the interests of the country, and it is also inimical to the growth and development of democracy in this country.”

On his part, Ola Ishola-Williams, a retired army general said

“Osinbajo really disappointed me. Look at the way the lady that used to be at PENCOM was removed. The lady was removed when she has not completed her tenure. She was unceremoniously removed.

Even at that, what I had expected was that the replacement for her should have been somebody from her geo-political zone, but that didn’t’ happen, Osinbajo now appointed a Yoruba to fill the post. That is bad.

Politicians should be careful, they should be sensitive to the feelings of others. It is very sad that Osinbajo is following the footstep of Buhari on issues relating to appointments. He should not copy Buhari at all, because this is how Buhari also concentrated all appointments in the North, and also favour Muslims in government appointments. Osinbajo should revert those appointments and follow due process. I even believe that some of these appointments should be given to professionals. Professionals should be recruited to run these parastatals instead of appointing politicians who are given the positions not based on merit.”


http://sunnewsonline.com/alleged-tribalism-nepotism-north-knocks-osinbajo/

Full screenshot of nairalanders viewing Biafrans sit at home protest

Check yours and hit the like button

On Biafra Remembrance Day we ask pro-secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu if the call for secession is growing louder.

Umuahia, Nigeria - Nnamdi Kanu waves his hand and puffs in frustration: "Nothing seems to be working in Nigeria. There is pain and hardship everywhere. What we're fighting [for] is not self-determination for the sake of it. It's because Nigeria is not functioning and can never function."

The leader of a group demanding the secession of southeastern Nigeria is speaking exclusively to Al Jazeera in the parlour of his father's home in the southeastern city of Umuahia.

It's the first time he has spoken to an international media outlet since he was granted bail on health grounds last month. His bail conditions prohibit him from being in a crowd of more than 10 people, leaving the country and giving media interviews.

But when asked if he is worried that he will get in trouble with the Nigerian authorities for speaking to Al Jazeera he scoffs, "I don't care," and rolls his eyes.

"I can't go outside to call for a press conference. I can't go on Biafra Radio to broadcast. I can't allow large [groups of] people to basically congregate outside to see me … it's like asking me not to breathe," he says.

On the other side of the parlour door, dozens of people are waiting to see Kanu. A throng of young men dressed in black guard the compound. They refer to Kanu as, "our supreme leader" or "his royal highness".

Kanu left Nigeria to study economics and politics at the London Metropolitan University and started Radio Biafra, an obscure, niche, London-based radio station in 2009.

In one broadcast, Kanu said: "We have one thing in common, all of us that believe in Biafra, one thing we have in common, a pathological hatred for Nigeria. I cannot begin to put into words how much I hate Nigeria."

Over the past two years, Kanu's status has risen.

Today, he's a highly visible activist and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) organisation, and after being imprisoned in the Nigerian capital of Abuja for nearly two years on treasonable felony charges, he has now returned home.

"Kanu is my saviour," says Sopuru Amah, a senior student at one of Nigeria's oldest universities, the University of Nigeria in the southeastern city of Nsukka.

"Just like Jesus was sent to save the world, Kanu was sent by God himself to save the Igbo people."
Nigeria's ethnic politics

With an estimated population of more than 180 million, Nigeria is often called the "giant of Africa". The complexity of Nigeria's population is compounded by its ethnic diversity. Around 250 ethnic groups, each with their own languages, reside in Nigeria. With a myriad of ethnicities dotted across the landscape, three major groups tend to emerge in national dialogue due to their sheer numbers: the Yoruba, from the southwest; the Hausa-Fulani in the north and the Igbo from the southeast.

Pro-Biafrans say the federal Nigerian government is discriminating and marginalising them, the Igbo people.

"I'm not allowed to contest for the presidency of Nigeria because I'm Igbo. I'm not allowed to aspire to become the inspector general of police because I'm Igbo. I'm not allowed to become chief of army staff because I'm Igbo. What sort of stupid country is that?" Kanu asks. "Why would any idiot want me to be in that sort of country?"

In Kanu's mind, Umuahia does not exist in Nigeria. It is in Biafra and he is waiting for the world to acknowledge it.

Since the 1964 appointment of the first indigenous Nigerian as the head of the Nigerian Police Force, known as the inspector general, more than a dozen officers have held the post. Two of them have been Igbo. In a lineup of almost two-dozen chiefs of army staff, the highest-ranking military officer in the Nigerian army, two have come from southeastern Nigeria.
Perceptions of marginalisation

"The southeast feels it has been politically marginalised. There is a point to that. It has been shrunken from being one of the three major regions of the country to now being virtually a minority with the smallest number of states of the six zones in the federation," explains Nnamdi Obasi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

He says that there has only been one Igbo president and one Igbo vice president since Nigeria declared independence from the UK in 1960.

Pro-Biafrans also complain that the federal government is not funding enough infrastructure development in the region, despite a recent announcement by the federal Minister of Power, Works and Housing that road construction will be completed in the southeast.

The southeastern region of Nigeria has five states, while other regions have more.

"They certainly are at a disadvantaged position now," Obasi says. "The political configuration of the country ensures that less federal allocation gets to the southeast."

Nigeria's national economics is closely tied to its politics. Nigeria is a highly centralised federalism that relies on revenue from oil sales. Money trickles down from the central government and more money flows towards regions that have more state and local governments.

A recent poll conducted by SBM Intelligence, a local research group, found that the pro-Biafra movement is gaining popularity in the southeast and that this growth could be a reaction to the perception that the region is marginalised and economically deprived.

"So the Nigerian government has to be seen clearly as carrying the region along," Cheta Nwanze, a lead researcher at SBM Intelligence, says.

But pro-Biafrans like Amah have written off the Nigerian federal government and, in particular, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

"Buhari hates the southeast because we didn't vote for him," says Chukwudi Diru, a taxi driver with a mini Biafran flag taped to the dashboard of his 2003 car.

In his landmark 2015 election victory, Buhari garnered the least amount of votes in the southernmost and southeastern region.

Buhari commented on this during a visit to the United States shortly after his win. During an address at the United States Institute of Peace, Buhari responded to a participant in the audience who asked how he would bring development to the oil-rich Niger Delta region in the south, which has suffered decades of environmental degradation due to oil spills and oil bunkering.

"I hope you have a copy of the election results," Buhari responded to the woman. "Naturally, the constituencies that gave me 97 percent cannot, in all honesty, be treated [in the same way] on some issues with constituencies that gave me five percent. I think this is a political reality."

Buhari's soundbite has been tagged and re-posted across Nigeria's social media spaces.

"To be honest, things like the president's 97 percent and five percent comment only helped add further fuel to the fire that the southeast is being marginalised," Nwanze says.

And that fire is already burning in the southeast. On storefronts along the streets of Umuahia, photos of Nnamdi Kanu and Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, the leader of the short-lived Republic of Biafra (1967-1970) are pasted on wooden doorframes.

At the campus of Amah's university, more students are reading pro-Biafran books and followers of Kanu hold "evangelism" meetings to preach the gospel of pro-Biafra.

At crowded bus stations in town, Kanu's voice booms from loudspeakers. Many people here mark May 30 as Biafra Remembrance Day.
Lawrence Akpu, centre, fought on the Biafran side during the 1967-1970 Nigerian-Biafran War and suffered a spinal cord injury. He is part of the Disabled Biafran War Veterans group [Chika Oduah/Al Jazeera]
A bloody past

Kanu and leaders of other pro-Biafra groups have called for supporters to stay at home on May 30 to remember those who died during the 1967-1970 Nigerian-Biafran War.

This May 30 will mark 50 years since the 1967 declaration of the Republic of Biafra, by the late Ojukwu.

The declaration of the establishment of the Biafra nation, carved out of southeastern Nigeria, came after failed attempts by the Nigerian government to address the grievances expressed by southeastern Nigerians. In 1966, thousands (PDF) of Igbo civilians were killed, mainly in northern Nigeria.

The 1966 killings began after a group of young army officers - some of whom were Igbo Christians -overthrew Nigeria's democratic government and assassinated several people, including the prime minister and other Muslim northern leaders.

"They came with every dangerous thing, some with arrow, some with gun, some with cutlasses, some with iron. So anything they could handle, they handled it and began to kill Igbo people," says Lawrence Akpu, recalling the day in 1966 when he was in a market in a town in northern Nigeria where he lived with fellow Igbos. "Everybody started running up and down and from there, we left everything we had."

Akpu joined the mass exodus of Igbo people from northern Nigeria to their ancestral homeland in the southeast.

When the war started, he joined a Biafran brigade to fight Nigerian soldiers. He says he fought wearing rubber sandals and t-shirts with holes in them. During a heavy wave of shelling, a piece of shrapnel cut into his spinal cord. Today, he's in a wheelchair.

Three years of war left southeastern Nigeria in ruins. Estimates of the death toll range from one million to six million. After the Nigerian federal military government - supported by the UK - imposed blockades that made it difficult for aid groups to deliver food and relief supplies to Biafra, many children died of kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition characterised by a distended abdomen.

Igwe Christopher Ejiofor, aide-de-camp to Ojukwu throughout the war, remembers carrying nearly dead children as he helped to manage relief services.

"I can't count the number of people I picked [up] who were at the point of starvation and death," he says. "And every time I took them to the hospital, they died and I [would go] back the next day [with more children]." Igwe Ejiofor is the traditional ruler of his community in the southeastern state of Enugu.

When images of Biafran children flooded Western media, the world began to pay attention. Beatles singer-songwriter John Lennon returned his MBE order in protest at the UK's involvement in the Nigerian-Biafran War. Writer Kurt Vonnegut travelled to Biafra and wrote about the war. Steve Jobs, according to Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography of the Apple co-founder, began to question his beliefs about God after he saw a picture of two skeletal Biafran children on the infamous July 12, 1968 cover of Life magazine. In the wake of what unfolded in Biafra, doctors and journalists formed Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.
Igwe Christopher Ejiofor served as the aide-de-camp to the leader of the short-lived Republic of Biafra, Odumegwu Ojukwu [Chika Oduah/Al Jazeera]
Biafra today

The war ended in January 1970 with the surrender of the Republic of Biafra, which dissolved and was reincorporated into Nigeria. The federal government' s "no victor, no vanquished policy" was promoted to foster national unity.

But today, the pro-Biafra movement is back and louder than ever.

Dozens of pro-Biafra activists were arrested last week in cities across southeastern Nigeria.

Last year's May 30 Biafra Remembrance Day ended in what Amnesty International described as part of a "chilling crackdown" that left at least 60 peaceful pro-Biafran activists dead at the hands of Nigerian security forces. An investigation by the organisation revealed that more than 150 pro-Biafrans were killed from August 2015 to August 2016.

"The night before the rally, the security forces raided homes and a church where IPOB members were sleeping," the report reads.

Amnesty International has released a statement recommending that the Nigerian security forces not repress today's Biafra Remembrance Day activities.

Nigerian federal government officials say the country must remain united.

"They say that secession is the answer to the charges of marginalisation," said Acting President Yemi Osinbajo during a Biafra civil forum last week in Abuja. "Brothers and sisters, permit me to differ and to suggest that we're greater together than apart."

But people like Amah and Kanu no longer identify as Nigerians. They say Nigeria has failed them. They are Biafrans.

And with that Kanu stands up and goes outside to meet the people who have waited hours to see him.


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/50-years-nigeria-biafra-secessionist-movement-170529151102396.html

True

Sai baba

Yes that's what they REPUBLICAN

Good people

ok ooo

Oh God

hmmmm

Nawoo

It is hard to deal with someone who smiles and pretends to like you to your face and sticks that eight inch blade in your back when you turn around.

That is why..

They picked their writing scripts and the foundation of Nigeria begins to shake, they are dedicated and fearless, if you become an obstacle to Biafra restoration automatically you become their enemy. They are called Family Writers Press, they don’t forgive, expect them. A section of Family Writers Press in their first annual meeting……

Some Biafrans media Team

Ebere Okolie Wrote:

IN MY SON'S SCHOOL LOCATED AT ONE VILLAGE IN DELTA STATE WHERE I WENT FOR VISITING DAY, THEIR HOUSE MASTER TOLD ME,
MADAM PLEASE COME AND PICK YOUR WARD ON FRIDAY FOR MIDTERM BREAK...... I SAID NO WAHALA........ AS I WAS TRYING TO START MY OWN SIT AT HOME EVANGELISM, THE MAN IMMEDIATELY SAID TO ME;
MADAM THERE WILL BE NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY!!!
I CUT IN IMMEDIATELY TO KNOW WHY. I ASKED HIM .... PLEASE SIR WHY....
HE SAID..... "MONDAY IS NIGERIA DAY WHILE TUESDAY IS "BIAFRA" DAY.... WE HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY TO RESPECT THE DEAD AND WE MUST HONOUR THEM...."
I BECAME DUMBFOUNDED. LOOKING AT HIM AS THOUGH I AM SEEING HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Biafra Everywhere You Go!!!
NNAMDI KANU THANK YOU...

Copied from Emeka Gift.

The FG’s handling of Kanu’s case and its general management of the pro-Biafra movement in the South-East have proven to be strategic blunders which ended up raising the profile of both the man and his cause. Just two years ago, Nnamdi Kanu was unknown to most Nigerians. Even within South East Nigeria, some saw him as an abrasive presence on the airwaves because of his incessant spewing inciting vitriol against Nigeria and other enemies of “Biafra” on the pirate station, Radio Biafra. His arrest, detention and prosecution for treason transformed him from a somewhat marginal figure into a prisoner of conscience. It gave the pro-Biafra movement, a personality that could embody its aspirations and made Kanu, something of a living martyr.

The larger question though, is what accounts for the resurgence of pro-Biafran populism almost fifty years after the end of the civil war? Why has the idea of Biafra drawn legions of supporters notably from generations that were born after the end of the civil war? Why is the movement growing?

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is only the latest iteration of pro-Biafran mass movements dating back to 1999. That year, a little known lawyer named Ralph Unwazurike, founded the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and began a campaign for the revival of the defunct republic. In the beginning, Uwazurike and his organisation were an unknown quantity and drew little mainstream media attention. He described himself as a Gandhian pacifist whose goal was the establishment of an independent Biafran state through peaceful means. MASSOB’s activism was restricted to sensitization campaigns, radio and online propaganda and trafficking in memorabilia. It gained national attention when in 2004 and 2005 large numbers of ethnic Igbos responded to its calls for a sit-at-home civil disobedience campaign to observe ‘Biafra Day’, which paralysed commercial activities in the South-East, parts of the Niger Delta, notably Delta North and the Port Harcourt area, and even in Igbo-dominated markets elsewhere in the federation

The Federal Government reacted to MASSOB with typical disproportion. Uwazurike was arrested and jailed while scores of MASSOB members were extra-judicially killed. In the years that followed, younger elements within the broader pro-Biafra movement rebelled against Uwazurike’s leadership, dissatisfied with his enduring pacifism which they termed as cowardice in the face of unwarranted and iron-fisted brutality of the Nigerian state. In March 2014, a group calling itself the Biafran Zionist Front, BZF, attempted to invade the Enugu State Government House, an attempt that resulted in a four-hour gun battle with security forces. They were repelled.

Kanu and IPOB represent the organised expression of a more militant pro-Biafran tendency that has emerged among a younger generation which believes that Uwazurike’s gradualist engagement with the Nigerian state has failed. The popularity of Kanu’s tirades on Radio Biafra indicates a groundswell of support for this sentiment. IPOB is fuelled by other factors, chief among which are, a pervasive local sense of alienation and marginalisation usually articulated as the lack of federal programs and projects in the South-East geopolitical region. This conviction has deepened since the inception of the present administration. President Muhammadu Buhari’s Freudian slip early in his term – remarking that zones which had delivered only 5 percent of votes cast for him – widely seen as a veiled reference to the South-East – could not expect to get the same level of federal attention as zones that supplied 97 percent of his electoral bounty, confirmed suspicions that the perceived marginalisation of the South-East would intensify under his administration. The documented extra-judicial killings of pro-Biafra protesters by federal security forces and the increasing militarisation of the region, especially last year’s Operation Python Dance, have only further compounded this sense of alienation and very likely drawn even more people into the ranks of IPOB.

Kanu’s release came after calls by some South-East politicians and governors for his release. This marks a major turning point. In the past, the pro-Biafra movement had been either completely ignored by the region’s mainstream politicians or at best tolerated as an irritant expression of youthful exuberance. The growing grassroots popularity of Kanu and IPOB seems to have awakened the political elite in the region to the pro-Biafran movement’s potential as a political force. There is a nascent recognition in official circles in the zone that the pro-Biafran movement can no longer be ignored. It is a group to either be courted, co-opted or compromised.

This raises more questions about the extent of the pro-Biafran movement’s appeal. Protests have been recorded in Igbo-speaking parts of Delta State, for example, but the extent to which separatist sentiments exist elsewhere in the Niger Delta is open to question. This question is related to the broader issue of what exact geographical and cartographical form a possible Biafra 2.0 would take?

Perception of Biafra 2.0

Over the course of a week in May 2017, SBM Intelligence sent correspondents to interview people in all the states in the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones. We also conducted an online survey open only to indignenes of those zones. A quick scan of the results shows an increased perception of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, as having been treated unfairly by the Federal Government. In total, 35.8% of respondents see Kanu as a freedom fighter, while the second largest proportion, 21.7% see him as a saviour for all of Southern Nigeria. This is in marked contrast to an earlier survey in which most of our respondents saw him as a noise-maker. Now, those seeing him as a charlatan comprised just 18% of respondents.

On the issue of whether the Niger Delta should be a part of any future Biafran state, 65% of respondents think that the Niger Delta’s right to self-determination should decide the question.

Looking at the survey results on a granular, state-by-state basis, it is clear that Kanu’s experience at the hand of the government has greatly caused him to be perceived as a freedom fighter in the Igbo heartland and to a lesser degree in the South South. Exactly half of the respondents from Bayelsa see him as some sort of freedom fighter, and with the exception of Delta state (34.6%), this number goes up for all the other states in the South-South geopolitical zone. However there remains a significant number of people who continue to view him as a charlatan and such sentiments can be explored to cast doubts on his sincerity and commitment to really obtaining change for the South East. Unexpectedly, this sentiment is particularly strong in Abia state where exactly half of the total respondents expressed reservations about him.

Most respondents in the SE considered Biafra to include the South-South and Civil War Biafra. Surprisingly, a significant portion of respondents in the South South agreed. A total of 42.5% of all respondents believe that both regions should make up a future Biafran state.

However, just under half, 49.3%, of the total respondents still believe that the way forward for the Nigerian state is as one country, but with “true federalism” being practised, in place of the unitary system they believe is currently in place. This thinking is supported by the fact that the largest number of respondents, 31.1%, believe that their regions (South-East and South-South) are being marginalised by the central government. Most respondents spoke of unfair leadership, perceptions of marginalisation, and restriction of economic choices, as the key reasons they currently find an idea of Biafra appealing. These are factors that can be resolved by focused and visionary leadership and does not require the force of arms to win over these respondents and by extension the larger populace in the two regions.

Our interpretation of this is while there is significant growing support to a separate Biafran State in the South East, most people are still more inclined to a united Nigeria with true federalism or some other arrangement that grants greater autonomy to the regions, leaving the door open for conversations around the restructuring of our nation. This is clearly the direction to go.

Conclusion

Our survey reveals that in general terms, there is rising support for a Biafra in the South East and South South geopolitical zones. However, those who support secession are not yet in the majority. More people are inclined towards a restructuring within a united Nigeria. Considering that Aba has been an epicentre of IPOB protests, we found that in Abia State in particular, support for Biafra is very low compared with the rest of the South East. A deeper interrogation of that showed that new economic initiatives may be responsible for the renewed belief in their prospects within Nigeria.

Support for the idea of Biafra is greater in Delta State than it is in the other South South states. We believe that because of the presence of a large Igbo speaking community, with respondents in Delta North almost unanimous in support. However, respondents in Delta Central and Delta South are also leaning towards the idea because of increasing hardship, and rising cases of conflict with herdsmen, most of whom are from the North of the country.

A key point is to note the reasons for support. These are issues that do not require military force for the government to fix and win the people over. Creating martyrs and symbols as is being done with Nnamdi Kanu, and will be done if military forces kill more protesters is counterproductive and will only further strengthen the perception of oppression and marginalisation that fuels the separatist sentiments, winning over those who today do not support it. The government must make use of a policy/diplomatic approach in solving the problem, targeted at winning hearts and minds more than anything else.

In May 2017, SBM conducted a survey in South-East and South-South Nigeria and found growing support for the pro-Biafra movement in both regions.

http://sbmintel.com/2017/05/25/the-prospects-of-biafra-2-0/

A study this month by London-based SBM Intelligence suggested there was "rising support for a Biafra" in Nigeria's southeast and south.

" Believe that both regions should make up a future Biafran state,"

The current main pro-independence groups want a referendum on self-determination

The arrest and incarceration towards the end of 2015 of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on treason charges has been seen as a turning point




Nigeria on Tuesday marks 50 years since the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra plunged the country into a civil war, amid renewed tensions and fresh calls for a separate state.

The main pro-independence groups -- the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) -- have called for a day of reflection.

People in the southeast have been urged to stay at home to commemorate the secession, which happened on May 30, 1967.

But many fear an eruption of violence and Nigeria's security forces have said they are on red alert in hotspots in the former republic, such as Aba and Onitsha, where protests last year turned bloody.

In 1970, after nearly three years of fighting, Biafran soldiers who were outnumbered 10 to one by federal troops and under-equipped, laid down their arms.

The conflict caused an estimated million deaths, many of them caused by starvation after the secessionist region was blockaded.

With surrender went their dreams of a separate state for the Igbo people, who are the majority in the southeast.

Half a century later, Biafra remains an extremely sensitive subject in Nigeria.

"Nigeria did nothing for us since the end of the war. We have no roads, no infrastructures, no jobs. It's time to achieve what our fathers started," John Ahaneku, 48, told AFP.

- Turning point -

Igbo frustrations have grown over the decades.

During the long years of military government after the end of the war, they felt excluded from economic and political power.

Both have been dominated by the two other main ethnic groups in the country, the northern Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba from the southwest.

But it was only after the return to democracy in 1999 that secessionist aspirations began to slowly resurface.

The current main pro-independence groups want a referendum on self-determination.

They accuse the former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari -- a northern Muslim who was elected civilian president in 2015 -- of violently repressing their freedom of expression.

The arrest and incarceration towards the end of 2015 of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on treason charges has been seen as a turning point.

Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian security forces of killing at least 150 IPOB supporters in 2016, a claim Abuja flatly denies.

At least 60 were killed during commemorations for the civil war on May 30 last year, the human rights group alleged.

- Separatist solidarity -

On Thursday, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo -- standing in for the absent Buhari, who is on indefinite medical leave -- warned against the eruption of violence.

Nigeria is made up of some 250 ethnic groups and broadly divided between a largely Muslim north and mainly Christian south.

The 50th anniversary of Biafra was "an opportunity for individual and collective introspection", Osinbajo told a conference on the civil war in Abuja.

"Today some are suggesting that we must go back to the ethnic nationalities from which Nigeria was formed.

"Clearly our strength is in our diversity, that we are greater together than apart."

Abuja currently faces a number of sometimes violent separatist claims that threaten the country's unity, not least Boko Haram's insurgency to create a hardline Islamic state in the northeast.

In the oil-producing Niger delta, some of which was part of independent Biafra at the start of the war, sabotage by armed rebel groups in 2016 led to a slump in production, hitting Nigeria's economy.

Despite their diverging interests, pro-Biafra groups and Niger Delta rebels have publicly expressed mutual solidarity.

- Wrong approach -

On Friday, the federal police denounced "planned protests and order of market closures" on May 30 and said it was "deeply concerned with the security implications".

Police "will not hesitate to deal decisively with any group(s) and their sponsors that attempt to cause disturbance of the peace or carry out any unlawful demonstration", spokesman Jimoh O. Moshood warned.

According to analysts, the suppression of pro-Biafra protests is the wrong response and has only hardened more young people's attitudes in favour of independence.

A study this month by London-based SBM Intelligence suggested there was "rising support for a Biafra" in Nigeria's southeast and south.

"A total of 42.5 percent of all respondents believe that both regions should make up a future Biafran state," it said.

"However, just under half, 49.3 percent, of the total respondents still believe that the way forward for the Nigerian state is as one country, but with 'true federalism' being practised."

"You can't kill an ideology with a gun."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4549160/Frustration-hope-Biafra-50-years-on.html

The political creation by the British is not working
Separation was inevitable



Secretary General of the Prof Ben Nwabueze-led Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), Prof Elochukwu Amucheazi said yesterday that Nigerians, and especially Ndigbo, couldn’t be forced to live together under the present government framework.

He stated that living together under the current scheme of things that had continually put the southeastern into slavery was no longer acceptable, stressing that separation was inevitable, unless the country was restructured.

Reacting to comments credited to Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, at a forum to mark the 50th anniversary of Biafra that “Nigerians are greater together,” Amucheazi stated that it was obvious that the structure foisted on the country can no longer work, stressing that actions of the present administration had further confirmed it.

“I don’t think that what happened yesterday (Thursday) was a sincere attempt at addressing the Nigerian problem. First, you have to think about who the sponsors are and why at this particular time. I think they have two objectives: One, to downgrade or ridicule the agitation for Biafra and to intimidate Osinbajo, the Acting President from doing the needful. Every person is saying restructure the country and we all know the extent of the restructuring and how far it can go and so they wanted to intimidate him.”

You heard about the attempted coup. They brought him to talk about the usefulness of a large political entity. Who is against that? But must it be mischievously drawn political boundary from the British. I think there is need for Africans to settle down and redraw the boundaries imposed by these European imperialists.

“People are running round the circle. The political creation by the British is not working. You can’t tell me that it is a big household that you want to have slaves and masters and that will make it become a big household and you try to sustain it. It is not possible. If we come together and discuss, you can contrive a way of living together and that is what the whole thing is all about. Not coming to sermonise to me that it is good for all us to live together. Like I said, it is a diplomatic offence from the British and America, just as Obasanjo talked about Presidency, so that the people’s attention can be diverted. I don’t think that thing has achieved any purpose”

He continued: “How you can live together when you have made a section perpetual slave? Even the President tells you that. Look at the security apparatus he has set up; do you see any Igboman there? Look at all the infrastructures, the railway line where they are going to China to raise over Five billion USD and they are not thinking about Eastern rail corridor? Yet it is a loan, which the southeast will join in paying back. Look at the second Niger Bridge that has become a political issue. There is no reason why we think that this political framework must stand,” he said.

Amucheazi also chided former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the civil war was not aimed at ‘exterminating Ndigbo,’ saying that confessions made before and after the war indicated that they planned to, “exterminate the Igbos so as to enslave the remnants”.

http://guardian.ng/news/nobody-can-force-nigerians-to-live-together/?F

Hmmm We cant be alone in the zoo