₦airaland Forum

DRlulu:
such a strong union between the north and the west will only tighten the union between the east and the south am sure you know the rest of the story.

Gbam!

[size=15pt]I’m on rescue mission –Okorocha[/size]

From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka, IJEOMA ONUORAH, Nnewi and VAL OKARA, Owerri

Tuesday, May 10, 2011





The governor-elect of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, yesterday visited Anambra State, stating that now was the time for Ndigbo to take their rightful place in Nigeria. Okorocha, who paid a courtesy visit to Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, at the Government House, Awka, stressed that Ndigbo were hard working people and had made serious contributions in nation-building and must stand up now to take what belonged to them in the Nigerian nation.

Restating that he was on a rescue mission in Imo State, the governor-elect promised to do everything possible to elevate the state to an enviable position, stressing that his people would enjoy dividends of democracy as they would witness good leadership as experienced in Anambra State.
Describing his victory as the will of God, he thanked Governor Obi for his support, even when the going was tough, urging Ndigbo to see the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the people of the South-west see Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Governor Obi, who earlier had a closed-door meeting with Okorocha, said they were strategesing on how to move APGA and Ndigbo forward, expressing delight that he now had a brother, withwhom he would share the burden he had been carrying alone for 10 years and assured Okorocha of his cooperation.
Meanwhile, Senator Chris Anyanwu, representing Owerri Senatorial Zone (Imo East) at the Senate, has described Okorocha’s election as a reflection of the wish of the electorate.

She made the assertion during a press briefing in Owerri yesterday, saying the pervious election was a charade and allocation of figures to individual candidates.
She said the outcome of the supplementary poll in the state where Okorocha emerged victorious was a clear indication that power had gone back to the people, stressing that expectations from the members of the public were high and as such, every effort should be put in place to rekindle people’s hope.
According to her, the out- come of the election was a new dawn in the state as God has answered the people’s prayers, stressing that the will of the masses would no longer taken for granted by any government or politician as the people would continue to them accountable.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/may/10/national-10-05-2011-019.htm

[size=15pt]Imo guber fallout: Ohakim’s kinsmen bar him from church service[/size]

From VAL OKARA, Owerri

Tuesday, May 10, 2011





Barely few days after the just-concluded Imo State gubernatorial elections, youths of the Okohia, Isiala Mbano country home of Governor Ikedi Ohakim have moved against him over alleged neglect of the community in the last four years of his administration.
Daily Sum learnt that last Sunday, youths of the area on learning that the governor and his family were billed for a special church service at the St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Okohia stormed the church, smashing windows and sacking the priests who were expected to officiate the church service.

The youths were said to have barricaded the church entrance insisting that the outgoing governor would not be allowed to attend church service in the area until he (Ohakim) rendered account of his stewardship to the community.
According to sources, the youths numbering about 50 wanted the governor to explain what he did for his Okohia community for the last four years he piloted the affairs of the state.
When the report got to the governor who was set for the service, the Chief of Staff, Emma Ohakim was said to have gone to the church to intervene in the matter but the rampaging youths were adamant challenging him to point out to any benefit the community had received from Ohakim’s administration as the church service was aborted.
Meanwhlie, the police spokesman Mr. Linus Nwaiwu (DSP) said that the command is yet to be briefed over the matter.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/may/10/national-10-05-2011-05.htm

True talk

Political prostitutes.

Onlytruth:
@jason

You of all people should be most worried about current development because it will torpedo whatever southern Nigerian unity you've been canvassing. There is no way to explain that a region that produced 6 PDP members of the national assembly should produce a speak ahead of a region that produced 43 PDP members of the national assembly.

I would also worry if I were a minority because other majority tribes are watching the current plight of Ndigbo. They are ringing their fingers and vowing never to repeat the "Igbo mistake" of supporting Jonathan.

I hope you're not buying into his southern unity nonsense. He simply would like to see Igbos either come under some sort of yoruba rule(acn) or not get what we want,period.

jason123:
Baba, how you dey??
You raised some very important points but I think the SW and SE have the SAME ambitions but are using very solutions.
First of all, I think APGA will sweep the SE come 2015. It is imperative that the SE controls her destiny instead of it to be left in the hands of "zoning". I see a combination of a SE/SW ticket 2015 hence, a merger (the old South) believe it or not. But to achieve the "Old south", as you rightly said in a thread, you need to also have a bargaining chip.
Secondly, I really do not see the creation of a "Sixth" SE state or "Anioma" state because it will disrupt the polity. That is, the SW will also want at least 2 states, the Okun(Kogi around where ACN (yemi smart won)) and Kwara. The North will also want and it goes on and on. . . . unfortunate that is the way it is.
Thridly, National politics without Idealogies is just an opportunity for our leaders to run to Abuja and loot us dry.

Very soon, the government will have no choice but to weaken the center. No more "monkey dey work, baboon dey chop".

Yo, are you Igbo?

Interms of presidentil election, yes it was the best ever,hands down.

Ikengawo:
you people are so ignorant its baffling.

ok lets say the speaker is from your village? so what? what does that REALLY matter? what will he do for you? and to top it off the president doesn't pick the speaker.

idk what this has to do with igbos or why out of 250 tribes the igbos were singled out but nobody is getting free cars because a guy from their tribe is the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. do you people even know what a speaker does? nothing.

The speaker signs all major documents emanating from the House and preserves order, and decorum. He leads controls and sets the pace for deliberations and other activities in the House. His or her powers are extensive and the office embodies the dignity and prestige of the House.

An affront or contempt on the Speaker is seen as an affront to the House as a whole and will be dealt with as such. [b]The essential role of the Speaker is to be fair at all times. He has to ensure that all parties are given an opportunity to express their views.[/b]


This is a very strategic position. It can really uplift a ostrisized region immensely.

aloy-emeka:
How can you have president and senate president from the same region?. It is a ridiculous demand by ndigbo. The middle belt should retain the senate presidency.

So Yaradua and Mark were from different regions,abi?

EzeUche_:
That is one of my fears as well. Peter Obi needs to change the people's perception of him very quick. My hope is that APGA will spread throughout the entire S/east, but we at least have PDP politicians nationally. That would be the best strategic plan for the Ndigbo. APGA locally, PDP nationally.

@bolded, you are correct. You know what though, if they don't give us any of the two positions we should collapse being in the PDP nationally as well. No more use and dump. We can just make an alliance with CPC when it comes to making decisions in the assembly and screw PDP every time.

Onlytruth:
Lets see how this whole thing develops.

I am not a PDP insider, heck I never liked the party. Just supported Jonathan, and I hope he is smart enough to realize the implication of pandering to the whims of Obasanjo. He is the president. End of story.

As for Igbo politicians, it is time they prove where their loyalty lies; whether with PDP or with Ndigbo. They must choose. And I don't see Ndigbo backing down on these minimal demands.

I am happy that we have settled an age old question, which is whether to stand for fairness, or to stand for our own interest and survival. I am especially happy that PDP and GEJ got at least 85% and 97% support respectively in SE.

I agree, it is either we get those positions which we rightfully deserve or we decamp to APGA. They need to understand that it isn't about them but the imagine of our people. I don't see why Igbo politicians from Delta state aren't saying anything. If the SE doesn't get either positions, they(Delta Igbo politicians) can kiss Anioma State good-bye. I doubt we are even going to be given the chance to have governorship for Delta in 2015 like promised,especially with Ogboru or Edwin Clark around. If the SE PDP decamps, I hope the south-south Igbo politicians know that it is over for them. This is why I always side with the SE because SS Igbo politicans are very insecure.

EzeUche_:
That is what I often hear of Peter Obi. He is good businessman and he knows how to make good political connections, but when he deals with the local politics of his state, he is quite a disappointment. I hear that there is widespread dissatisfaction with his administration. All I hope is that he does not waste the goodwill that Ojukwu gave him in order to get elected. You are right! Our women should be leading the way. Many Igbo female politicians seem more politically astute than the men. Maybe there is need of an Iron Lady who can defend Igbo interest. Since Igbo women have always been the source of our culture and history and even challenged the English colonial authorities, maybe we should tap into that historical reality.

My fear is that as one APGA state emerges in the SE, the other submerges. Obi is going to have to get things together,what ever that problem may be.

EzeUche_:
Just thinking about the waste of such talent in Orji Uzor Kalu can be quite depressing. He is an intelligent man and he is sly as a fox. Too bad he only cared about enriching his own pockets and turning Abia to his personal fiefdom. Do you know of any Igbo politician that we currently have, who can take up the mantle and fight for Igbo interest. I am not sure that Governor Peter Obi is up to the task. And I agree, SE politicians need to hold their ground against the elites from other parts of Nigeria. If they lose out in this battle, they will not only be respected, they will be considered enemies to the interest of the Ndigbo. However, I do think it is a good idea, if the worst case scenario happens, they leave PDP en masse and join APGA. Lets see if they have Igbo interest at heart.

Peter Obi is a true fighter for Igbo interest, this article is an example of it,but, he is not a POLITICIAN. Uzor Orji Kalu could have been that dude but money and power is his detriment. What we need right now is an Igbo POLITICIAN who fights for Igbo interest, sadly at the moment we dont have that. Our strength is in our women,politically our men are weak. Our women should be the HEADS and the men the ARMY. Ngige screwed us up when he sold out and cheated to oust Dora. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala would have been great but she is now working for the World Bank.

EzeUche_:
I hope you are right, because we all know Obasanjo may be pulling President Jonathan's strings. If the S/west gets that coveted position, even after their lackluster support of PDP, I swear the Ndigbo will need to do something drastic. Are you not tired of this continued disrespect? Are the current Igbo leaders that weak, that they cannot handle politicians from other regions? I hope you are indeed right. The only strong Igbo politicians that I have seen counter elites from other parts of Nigeria is Orji Uzor Kalu, who is a man that I hate. T.A. Orji seems like a man who is not afraid to speak his mind concerning the plight of the Ndigbo in Nigeria.

When it comes to politics, Uzor Orji Kalu may be the best hands down,but, his problem is that he doesn't know where to draw the line. He connives even against his own people. If the SE politicians don't get either senate presidency or speaker, if they want to be respected or taken seriously, they'd dump PDP and join APGA, which is looking good right now because of the Imo victory.

EzeUche_:
We need to watch Obasanjo. He still holds sway over President Jonathan. The SE delegation must find a way of countering his influence, because he is the major obstacle in our aspirations.

He's the problem right now. This delegation should do the trick though. This reminds me of OBJ's failed third term ordeal.

ekt_bear:
^-- Why would the NC loses senate presidency to SE or NE? I think at this point, NC has to be to be the favorite for keeping it (which I guess helps SW retain speaker.)

I don't think anyone cares about or takes seriously your rejection of the SGF. I could be wrong though; lets see how things play out

@bolded, i dont know if you are keeping up with what's going on but the NE has been applying intensive pressure for the Senate Presidency postion. Now that religion is being made a factor, it is easy to knock of Mark, for "religious fairness", and give the NE the position, then the Speakership would have to go to the SE.

As for anyone not caring about the SE rejecting the SGF position, maybe you dont care but you are just Dapo, not anybody within the goverment, ya know.

EzeUche_:
Is APGA an arm of PDP now? Not good if you ask me. . .

On surface, it looks like both ACN and APGA are arms of PDP. This is nigeria, no party is permanant. Its about who has the best offer at the moment. Now, as far as APGA being an arm, i dont know undoubtly because of course I'm not in the party,but, i doubt it. Peter Obi has been the speaker for Igbo/SE for a while. I'm guessing he has great public relation skills or something. Obi getting close with the president from the beginning was a great move.

Looking good for the SE and potentially bad for the PDP,esceially since the person leading the meeting with Goodluck Jonathan is Gov.Obi, an APGA chief.

ekt_bear:
yeah, he is a clever chap. .  .amazing to me that one man is going to single-handedly defeat an entire region

Notice how the Northerners have introduced religion into it too. . . saying that having Christian president, christian senate pres, christian speaker (from SE) looks bad and doesn't augur well for the unity of the country

As if religion of the top 6 positions was ever an issue before (aside from President and VP)? 

Hilarious

Hilarious since the SE has rejected the SGF position, which means, the SW could lose the Speakership position to the NE while the SE gets senate presidency or vice versa. Introducing religion in the matter makes it worse for the SW now that the SE has publicly rejected the position today . But all in all, this is of course if the SE doesn't get Speakership, either way, because of the low performance of the SW, you lose.

[size=15pt]S/East Rejects SGF Position, Demands Senate Presidency[/size]

Monday, 09 May 2011 00:23 Isah




The South- East caucus in the National Assembly met yesterday with the chairman of the South -East governors, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, and asked him to pass on to President Goodluck Jonathan, their demand that they would not accept anything less than the seat of Senate president or that of Speaker of House of Representatives.
The lawmakers, led by the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, met with the governor of Anambra State at the Government House in Awka, the state capital.



Each of the five states of the zone had two representatives in the delegation that met with Obi. In response, Governor Obi said a meeting of the South -East governors would be convened after which they would meet with President Jonathan to press home their demands. The lawmakers on their part, said it would be “insulting” to the people of the South- East geo-political zone not to be considered for either the senate presidency or speaker of the House, after the massive support they gave the president in the last election. They also said it was unacceptable for the zone to be given the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) believed to have been zoned to the South -East. LEADERSHIP investigations however indicate that the governors from the region are already planning a meeting with President Jonathan this week.

http://www.leadershipeditors.com/ns/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30407:seast-rejects-sgf-position-demands-senate-presidency&catid=51:cover-stories&Itemid=142

Gbawe:
Why can't some of you speak the truth and shame the Devil sometimes? Must you folks be routinely biased to the extent that your ethic bigotry and partisanship is displayed glaringly every time you post? In this case , and strictly speaking politics , this Edo-Osagie is wrong on many counts. The ACN is the majority Party in the SW in terms of elective offices held.They have the overwhelming mandate of the SW and can thus speak , regarding politics, for the region. Anything else would be dereliction of duty .  It is also entirely the right of the ACN to reject joining any GNU. Simple as that .

The ACN have not asked anyone else not to join the GNU. This Edo-Osagie is overstepping his brief , as we are used to seeing supporters of GEJ and the PDP doing incessantly, and it would be good to see you and your fellow co-travellers , all passengers on board the unreasonable partisanship train, acknowledge that for once . Instead you and others just join the thread to side with whoever is attacking the ACN. Whether the ACN is wrongly maligned is not of concern to you . Truly shameful.

Welcome Naija!

So ACN ruly is a Yoruba party. I hope Ngige is watching.

Ileke-IdI:
Interesting, most South Nigerian states were conquered by Benin Kingdom, yet the Yorubas still retained those Bini cultural value.

From what I'm seeing, as a Yoruba woman,  I actually love the influence.

Yea, I wonder what was their exact methods of conquering those groups. Even up till now those groups still appreciate them. My on Ukwuani came under the Bini conquest as well and they still retain some of their(bini) cultural influence as well. That video is very beautiful.I wish I could see it in person.

Ileke-IdI:
Found this online. . . . .quite interesting.
Love the video tho!!

No wonder the Western world confuses Binis with Yorubas. Check the hair beads and attire, a mixture of bini and Yoruba tradition.


Traditional dancers from Owo, at Chief Akingboye's Grandmother's Funeral Ceremony Okitipupa, Ondo State

[flash=500,500]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=790VfEynfSs?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash]

The Owo yorubas were conquered by the Benin kingdom. So what you're seeing is more of Bini influence rather than Bini/Yoruba similarities.

tpia@:
what is the current state of the Yoruba union because the way i see it, there are far too many souls within who have only one goal, which is to hand-deliver yorubas, to the highest bidders.


i do not think our forefathers [or the british colonials] were wrong when they decentralised the administrative function and bolstered [to some extent] the self government and self determination of the various groups which make up the southwest. That way, one region would find it more difficult to impose on the others at least militarily if not politically.


Given the rampant activities of slavers at the time, who roamed everywhere and penetrated even to the furthermost villages in every region, i see the reason why it was necessary to keep people on their guard.

now, i've noticed quite a few of our "brothers" tend to have no ultimate vision beyond selling yorubas to different purchasers.

for some, it's benin, for others, its whites, ghana, arabs, etc.

now, what exactly is the gain here, assuming you really believe in what you're doing.

is this promoting infrastructural development and good governance or is it simply a way to line your pockets with filthy lucre or to shine your overbloated ego.

Well done,babe. i luv u.

7:22 PM- Orji Wards in Owerri North LGA, APGA is leading with a wide margin.

 
7:23 PM-Celebration in the air as APGA supporters rejoice over APGA lead. Soldiers and anti-riot policemen are shooting indiscriminately in the air to scare jubilant APGA supporters. There is tension in the area