₦airaland Forum

A reader wrote and sent in this article to be featured
right here on T.I.N Magazine, expressing his mind on
why Nigeria should approve the social media bill, you
may disagree with his title but you might want to
take a look at his points, anyone can express his/her
disagreement with his points in the comments
section or send in a counter article.


Why Nigeria needs Social Media Bill to Curb
Irresponsible Journalism an article by Tony
Ogunlowo

This article is not going to win me any new friends – especially
in the blogging community – but in the spirit of democracy I
believe a bill to curb the irresponsibility of some bloggers and
social media users is necessary after all.
In a country that’s just getting to grips with the concept of free
speech, many see this proposed bill as an attempt to gag free
speech as the incumbent President did in 1984 with his
infamous Decree 4.
I don’t think it’s the intention of the sponsors of the social
media bill to return to the throwback days of controlled press
and free speech but to police it, weeding out what I would
refer to as rogue bloggers, for instance, who publish,
sometimes, malicious lies about people and the government.
Blogging , tweeting and commenting on the various social
media sites has become a new way for the ordinary person, in
the street, to share their opinion about anything with anybody
out there in the vast online community without fear of
restriction or persecution. But there needs to be checks and
balances.
The wanton spread of malicious lies, rumours or hearsay is
punishable by law in all countries around the world.
As a blogger myself I have a moral responsibility to ensure
that whatever information I share with my readers – on
Facebook, blogs, twitter etc – is the truth. It would be
irresponsible, for instance, to post an article or link suggesting
the government was planning to do something they were not
or post lies. In the dangerous world we live in today that can
lead to mass civil unrest.
There are a lot people who use the social media platforms
responsibly and some who don’t – these are the ones the bill
is aimed at.
Even though its and unwritten rule, bloggers for instance are
bound by the same code of conduct as journalists – stories
need to be researched properly and only the truth, not rumours
or lies , can be published or posted.
Most bloggers have a subscriber base that runs into hundreds
of thousands, and if they’re in the league of Perez Hilton or
the Kardashians that figure can run into millions and millions –
more than the circulation of most regional newspapers – and
an incorrect story, rumour or lie will go out to all of them
causing untold embarrassment to an individual concerned.
Now if a journalist, OAP or newscaster spreads a false story
the latter could be sued for libel or defamation of character. It
shouldn’t be any different for somebody who posts something
on any of the social media platforms. You can’t have one rule
for one and one for another.
Anyone, bloggers included, have to take full responsibility for
whatever they publish or post online. You can’t go round
slandering, spreading malicious rumours or lies about
someone or the government and expect to get away with it!
In light of this let’s take a look at some recent litigation
concerning some rogue social media users from around the
world:
- Under section 127 of the Communications Act of 2003 of the
United Kingdom 1,209 people in 2014 were convicted for
sending indecent, offensive or obscene messages.
- In April 2014 a Dutch girl was arrested for joking about
hijacking a plane on twitter.
- Wrestler Hulk Hogan was fired by the WWE over an N-word
rant on twitter.
- In 2011 Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan of the
UK were both jailed for 4 years after creating a Facebook
event encouraging a riot.
- In 2013 Yang Xiuyu was arrested by Chinese authorities for
spreading rumours online.
So bloggers and social media posters get your stories right!
Only publish what is the verifiable truth – not rumours or
hearsay – because if this bill goes through, a spell in Kirikiri
prison or a hefty fine is not an interesting prospect!

Hello readers, we all know you all have been waiting to see Nigeria’s best artists of year 2015 as you guys have dropped your votes to tell us the people who deserve to be topping the list following their performance this year. Well, we bring to you today what you’ve been waiting for.

In case some people don’t know we conducted a poll earlier on this platform so Nigerians could tell us the artists they believe did well this year, we nominated 16 people and we asked Nigerians to vote the artists that should be at the top ten.

So T.I.N Magazine used Nigerians votes and our own criteria of judging to bring to you The Top Ten Musicians in Nigeria Year 2015.

NOTE: The criteria we used in this rating are as follow:

=>The total number of hit songs artists released from November 2014 to November 2015, please be aware we consider a hit song as a song with much downloads, with some quite popularity in the country, YouTube video views and more..

=> We also used artists performance when it comes to huge events they performed at, shows, concerts, album release, and international tours, their award nominations and wins.

WE GATHERED ALMOST A THOUSAND VOTES IN THE POLL,

FIND RESULTS TO THE POLL WE CONDUCTED DOWN BELOW. BUT FIRST SEE:

TEN BEST MUSICIANS IN NIGERIA 2015

10] PATORANKING


Patoranking was voted to be the number ten on this list in the poll we conducted, following his hit singles like “MY WOMAN” and more, his overall performance this year when it comes to being featured in songs, international shows and more.. T.I.N Magazine rates him no.10 in Nigeria this year.

9] YEMI ALADE

Yemi by many media platforms have been rated to be the best female musician of the year, the young lady can be definitely lauded she’s done a good job this year. Yemi released her album and increased her brand locally and internationally, She’s won some huge awards this year too. The Igbo-Yoruba girl is also one of the most controversial artists in Nigeria this year. Yemi alade didn’t make it to the top ten in the poll we conducted but with the criteria T.I.N Magazine used in this rating she managed to be the no.9 on this list.

8] IYANYA

The TrippleMG boss did what he’s been doing every year this year too which is being consistent; Iyanya dropped an album this year which carries along a few hit songs. His biggest song of the year is GIFT featuring Don Jazzy. Iyanya did quite some impressive collaboration this year too he was featured in many hit songs this year. Iyanya was voted no.9 in the poll we conducted.

7] REEKADO BANKS

The mavin artist was well voted in the poll we conducted, Reekado showed Nigerians his brain is full of music this year after making and releasing multiple hit singles. His biggest songs this year include; Katapot, Sugar Baby and more.. Reekado performed at many huge events this year, the star singer is also among the artsists nominated for Next Rated at the headies 2015. He was featured in a couple hit songs of the year too, the young star showed quite some talent this year and has been appreciated by fans. He was voted no.7 in the poll we conducted

6] KOREDE BELLO


Korede bello is obviously one of the most loved musicians in Nigeria right now.. Korede through his banging and crazy hit single GODWIN became one of the most controversial artists in Nigeria this year. GODWIN topped many music countdowns across Nigeria for weeks, not to mention his recent release featuring ASA (Somebody Great). Korede went on many international show bookings this year he also trended so well in the social media. He was voted no.6 in Nigeria in the poll we conducted.

5] LIL KESH

The YBNL star, is sure loved by many music lovers in Nigeria, he was the no.4 most voted for artist in the poll T.I.N Magazine conducted, Lil Kesh wowed a lot of music lovers this year with at least 3 big hit singles. Even though Lil Kesh is a new comer in the industry he still managed to be among the most featured artists in Nigeria this year, he was involved in many hit collabos. Report has it Kesh got many show bookings this year. He’s been concluded no.5 in Nigeria.

4] KISS DANIEL

It is quite an amazing thing how an industry new comer would make it has high as no.4 four in Nigeria, the young star really showed Nigerians he is not just a cute singer but a dope one as well. Kiss Daniel’s WOJU song is one of the most bought songs on iTunes and mtn musicplus this year, it’s also been revealed the song is one of the most subscribed for caller tunes this year. Kiss after that have made; (Laye,Molue,Good Time) and a few collabos, getting best of positive reviews on his songs this year. In the poll conducted, he was the no.5 most voted artist he was lead by Lil Kesh but judging by the criteria we used in judging this thing T.I.N Magazine decided to put Kiss ahead of Kesh. Kiss is sure a man to watch out for Next year.

3] WIZKID



The starboy just won’t relent. He has remained relevant since he came into the industry. The star singer rocked the music industry this year with some hit singles, His song Ojuelegba is one of the most digitally downloaded songs in Nigeria this year. The superstar musician didn’t stop at that he released many more hits after that with his music videos garnering massive views on YouTube. Wizkid has been concluded the no.3 best musician in Nigeria 2015.

2] DAVIDO



The OBO was voted by many to be the second best artist in Nigeria year 2015, the star singer did really well this year both locally and internationally, Starting with hit singles like; Owo Ni Koko, The Sound, Fans Mi, Dodo, and more.. Davido pushed his brand a lot harder this year, he is the second most followed musician on social media at the moment, his music video for “Fans Mi” set a record on YouTube as the fastest Nigerian video to hit 1million on YouTube.

Davido pulled a lot of crowd in all of his international tours. Davido was the second most voted person in the poll we conducted. He is the no.2 in Nigeria.

1] OLAMIDE

Finally, we arrive at no.1 well, it is Badoo himself, and the most consistent rapper in Nigeria of all time. Many have agreed he’s changed from rapping to singing but the new album he released this November said otherwise. Olamide made many hit singles just this year alone. Olamide set a record with headies awards this year after getting 8 nominations a thing that hasn’t happened before.

Olamide made a song “BOBO” which is one of the most popular in the country this year with its stylish dance steps which by now is still trending across the country. He is one of the most featured artist this year, He went on tours, released an album this year which is now his 5th studio album making him the first and only artist in Nigeria with 5 albums in 5 years, his concert comes up in December, He is also one of the most controversial people in Nigeria this year.

In the poll we conducted in which we asked you Nigerians to vote, Olamide beat everyone on the list.

In the poll we conducted here at T.I.N Magazine camp. Olamide lead too.

So judging with Olamide’s performance this year he’s been named the no.1 and the best musician in Nigeria year 2015.

OLAMIDE IS THE ARTIST OF THE YEAR.

SEE POLL RESULTS AND DETAILS FROM SOURCE

paragon40:
What a loss....A father and a great leader,I even dedicated my ftc to u on sat, I did not know death was near...I'm going to miss u Prince : ...#yourlagaciesliveson.

INTRODUCTION

[img]http://2.bp..com/-ces0tQXYB68/VlJLJPLgMYI/AAAAAAAABUw/XIoOvPb3O8U/s1600/Prince-Abubakar-Audu-In-The-News-650x432.jpg[/img]
Prince Abubakar Audu was twice the Governor of Kogi state. His first tenure was from January 1992 until November 1993 and the second from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003. In 2015 He was once again chosen to be APC's candidate in the Kogi state gubernatorial election. Was said to have died of heart attack on the election day.

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND

Prince Abubakar Audu, former Governor of Kogi State was born to the family of his Royal Highness, the late Pa Audu Oyidi, Orego Atta of Igala Land and the paramount rule of Ogbonicha-Alloma in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi

State.

He began his early education at the then N.A. Junior Primary School, Alloma, and later N.A Senior School Ankpa, from where he proceeded to Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. He however completed his Secondary School Education at Jos Commercial College.

From 1975 to 1978, Abubakar Audu proceeded to London where he studied banking and personnel management, obtaining professional qualification as a certified secretary; and a Fellowship of the Association of International Accountants of London, as well as the fellowship of the chartered institute of industrial administration of Nigeria.

Abubakar Audu began his working career by spending a total of 25 years with the First Bank, formerly Standard Bank, where he served in different capacities at management levels until 1991. He made history as the first black training officer for the bank and one of the first black senior management staff of Standard Chartered Bank in London and New York

CAREER AND LIFE

Audu's sojourn into public service began in 1986 when we has appointed as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning in the Old Benue state. He served in this capacity until 1988 when the cabinet was dissolved. He then returned to Fist Bank of Nigeria PLC as a General Manager.

In August 1991, Kogi state was created from parts of the old benue and Kwara states. This coincided with one of Nigeria's many previous encounters with democracy, and Audu, being part of those who had advocated for the creation of the state and a notable son of the soil, was invited to contest for governorship. He contested on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and won the election held in November, 1991. He was subsequently sworn in as the first executive governor of Kogi state in January 1992.

In 1998, democracy was again re-introduced and Audu, now with the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), was elected again with over 700,000 votes while his opponent hardly recorded 50% of the vote cast. He was sworn in on 29 May 1999 as the 2nd Executive Governor of Kogi State.

HIS WORKS

His socio-economic contribution in the state is to date a point of reference to the generality of the people and many aspiring leaders. Some of his major achievements during his brief first term of office include the establishment of three different housing schemes for public officers consisting of over 1,500 housing units in Lokoja, the transformation of Lokoja township with asphalt roads, street lights, aesthetic roundabouts, the construction of inter-township and rural roads, over 75 electrification schemes and 50 water projects.

Other include the founding of Kogi State Polytechnic, the establishment of a television station, radio station (both AM and FM), a state newspaper and the transformation of the colonial residence of Lord Lugard into an Ultra Modern Government House Complex, the construction of office blocks for ministries as the new state had no office accommodation, the construction of shopping arcade complex to enhance commercial activities, among others

He also pioneered the construction of the first ultra modern state liaison office in Abuja. His administration also built an ultra modern stadium and a five star hotel in Lokoja, the Confluence Beach Hotel.

He also took steps to woo prospective investors to harness the numerous solid mineral potentials in the State. The big prize was the establishment of Obajana Cement Factory. The project, which was on going before he left office, attracted the support of the United State Government. During the visit of former President Bill Clinton to Nigeria, the State Government signed the agreement with the US Trade Development Agency (TDA) for a grant to finalize the feasibility work on the project. The cement project is now operational.

The establishment of a state university, Kogi State University Anyigba, is another testimony to the vision and resourcefulness. The foundation stone was laid on 30 November 1999, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, visited the state. About a year later, the President returned to Anyigba during a state visit to commission the University complex. According to a report of a visitation panel to the university from the Nigeria University Commission, the institution was then described as the fastest growing university in the country. The university received tremendous international support, which included an affiliation programme to Morgan State University Baltimore. Also, seven visiting professors from various universities in the United States were at the university to review its curriculum and align it with their own universities and prepare the students for exchange programme to give the university an international acceptability.

Prince Audu completed several landmark projects within four years. They include: 250 units Housing Estate, a Sport Complex, a Specialist Eye Hospital and 25 other medical Institutions. Others are: a Special Government Girls Secondary School on student exchange programme, 350 borehole schemes, 300 kilometers of township roads, the procurement of 100 transit buses and completion of 40 rural electrification projects.

He was also named the best governor in the 1999-2003 dispensation, despite being a governor on the platform of the opposition, the ANPP.

A highly traveled politician, Prince Audu brought so many honors to the country through his personal relationships with foreign statesmen. It is known that he enjoys a very intimate relationship with the former British Prime Minister, Mr. John Major. In 1993, he and the member of his family were special guests of the British Prime Minister at No 10, Downing Street where he hosted them to a State Banquet. Also in 1993, His Excellency attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Cyprus. His connection with the international community saved Nigeria during the heady days of Shonekan administration from economic embargo. In December 1999, he was on the delegation of President Olusegun Obasanjo during the State visit to Germany. On every account, Prince Audu who maintains a good circle of friends across the country is by every judgment a great patriot, visionary, humanist and nationalist. The outstanding achievements of Prince Abubakar Audu have been acknowledged by several organizations within and outside Nigeria through awards and honours presented to him.

Gubernatorial Bids

Prince Abubakar Audu contested in the 2003 Kogi State gubernatorial elections but lost. His loss at the poll has been attributed to electoral rigging and other forms of manipulation, and 2003 is generally acknowledged in Nigeria's history as the beginning of a period of fraudulent electoral process carried out by the then PDP-led Federal Government.

In 2007 when election bells rang again, Prince Audu went to the polls, and was again defeated by massive electoral fraud committed by the then incumbent - Ibrahim Idris. Prince Abubakar Audu thereupon went to the Election Tribunal who nullified that election, and ordered fresh elections. Again, Prince Abubakar Audu contested against Ibrahim Idris, and again, was defeated by a fraudulent electoral process.

In 2012, Audu again contested against a new comer to the field, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada, and again Audu was defeated by another election fraught with fraud. The result of the particular election were allegedly announced while collation was still on-going.

2015 Gubernatorial Run

Prince Abubakar Audu emerged as the candidate of the APC at the August 28th Kogi State gubernatorial primary election. Subsequently, he announced James Abiodun Faleke, a legislator, as his running mate. The successive PDP governments in Kogi state are currently facing harsh criticism due to the state of affairs in Kogi, as unemployment has increased greatly and infrastructure is fast deteriorating. It is hoped that with the APC now at the helm of affairs, the election in the state this time around will be void of rigging and voter intimidation, and that perhaps, Audu may just follow in the footsteps of Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's current president who finally won the presidential election on his fourth attempt.

CONTROVERSIES
Corruption Allegations

When Prince Audu left office in 2003, he was charged by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with corruption. This case has been on for twelve years and many say it was coined as an attempt by the then ruling PDP to smear Audu's image, especially in light of the achievements recorded during his tenure.

He has responded to these allegations, stating that while he was governor, the state received less than N400million as monthly allocation, and that it would have been impossible to embezzle the N12 billion that the agency claims he did when he received less than N19 billion in total, yet embarked on many projects.

The Agency has also changed the figure he allegedly embezzled over the years; previously, they stated N1 billion, later N4 billion, and now, N12 billion. Audu has also described the EFCC case as being politically motivatedWhen Prince Audu left office in 2003, he was charged by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with corruption. This case has been on for twelve years and many say it was coined as an attempt by the then ruling PDP to smear Audu's image, especially in light of the achievements recorded during his tenure.

He has responded to these allegations, stating that while he was governor, the state received less than N400million as monthly allocation, and that it would have been impossible to embezzle the N12 billion that the agency claims he did when he received less than N19 billion in total, yet embarked on many projects.

The Agency has also changed the figure he allegedly embezzled over the years; previously, they stated N1 billion, later N4 billion, and now, N12 billion. Audu has also described the EFCC case as being politically motivated

Family Issues

The deceased had a lot of family issues reports online reveals. He once was said to have assaulted his wife and abandoned his family.

He was also said to have married a baby bride as his third wife. The bride who is far below his age is said to be a half-caste from Benue.

HIS DEATH

According to Sahara Reporters, Audu died around 5 am on Sunday, November 22. In what was considered a bizarre occurrence, his health had suddenly started to deteriorate on the night of Friday, November 20 when he started vomiting blood.

A family source said: “He started vomiting blood after he returned from Lokoja,”

The family source said that the late politician was very tired on the morning of the Election Day, Saturday, November 21 and doctors had to give him blood transfusion which provided him with enough strength to go to his home town in Ogbonicha to cast his vote.

The source added that when he returned to his home, he started vomiting again.

“After a while he became unconscious and died around 5 a.m. on Sunday morning,”

According to the source, Audu had died before the collation and announcement of the result of the election which was later declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).



T.I.N MAGAZINE SAYS; REST IN PEACE

jaymejate:
Damn long man. Can't read

Buh nollywood actors are after the money, they don't care if it teaching sense or not. And also, they don't want to spend money on producing movies.

Americans, they spend and take their time in acting.
Kunle Afolayan is trying in that area tho

Here is an interesting article i would like to share with our readers and every body involved or interested in Nollywood to see today.

Article by Apata D rock



Have you ever wondered; why Nollywood is doing not too good?

Well, if you are among the people who think Nollywood is at its peak or Nollywood is doing fine I am sorry to tell you that you are really mistaken as a matter of fact Nollywood is performing so woeful.

Do you know the highest grossing Nollywood movie ever is AY’s 30days in Atlanta? The movie which only grossed 200million naira only in the box office is Nigeria’s highest grossing movie ever, it could not even reach just 2million dollars? That is so sad to hear. The profit movie producers are getting is totally poor which leads to discouragement in making quality movies.

Nigeria is among the top 3 movie industries in the whole world that makes the most movies annually the top three which puts India in the No.1 spot, Nigeria in the 2nd spot and America in the 3rd spot. But Does that mean Nigeria movie industry is bigger than America’s? That is a capital NO! As we all know the biggest movie industry in the world has been America for quite a long time and it is still the U.S. Why? Because the U.S movie industry sells a lot, and how do they sell? Cinema grossing not just in their country but all over the world. And how did they get to that level? They make good movies, quality ones; Actions, Adventures, Romance, Family and all sorts.. And how do they sell exactly?? They put their movies in cinemas across the world in a few months it starts grossing hundreds of million dollars after that they start selling the hard copy CDs which is going to bring another huge set of million dollars, so tell me why the movie producers wouldn’t want to spend much making another movie??

Now let’s get into the India movie industry Bollywood which is the second largest movie industry in the world at the moment. To be candid I have never seen any country that has better story lines than the Bollywood writers. You now these people really know how to write and make good movies even though they us their language, you won’t believe an Indian movie grossed over a hundred million dollars just of recent. And more.. These guys gross well internationally and locally, some of their movies even gross well in the U.S.

Let’s start talking about the movie budgets, I personally I like knowing stuffs like this whenever I watch a film I take my time and check everything about the movie online, you would see an American movie with just 150million dollars budget getting a cinema gross of as much as $800million and even some over a billion dollars Isn’t that huge? Why are they getting that much profit? Because many people pay to watch them at the cinemas. Taking a look at Bollywood movie budgets too, you would see many of them get as much as a 10million dollars movie budget some 30-50million dollars budget and at the end of the day they get at least double of the movie budget as the profit which I find thrilling. In a case like this I would love to compare India to Nigeria because we have a lot in common, when it comes to the Population, the culture, even their story lines and how they make their movies is still somehow related to the Nigerian way. These people are somehow like us, so if India is making it big why can't Nigeria be making it big too? See why I think Nollywood isn’t making it big below.

Firstly, I would like to mention, our movies story lines and styles really need to improve a lot, and as a matter of fact I quit watching Nollywood movies when I was 14, why? Because I was starting to understand what real movies are by then, I was already watching a lot American movies then which I totally loved I actually prefer watching Yoruba movies to watching Nollywood movies then. I started watching Nollywood movies again last year when I started seeing a lot buzz on the internet about Kunle Afolanyan’s October 1st’ movie and another one; “Half of a yellow sun”, I went to the cinema to see these movies late 2014 and I was a bit impressed with the storyline, style, the movie graphics and more.. later on I saw many other Nollywood movies too like; Knocking on heavens door, 30days in Atlanta, Half of a yellow sun, Make a move and more and then I noticed there have been little changes in Nollywood which I think is a great thing but these changes can be said not to be enough considering the kind of level Nollywood is at right now, seriously I have never watched any Indian movie that has a bad storyline, these people got it all, their writers are just too brilliant.

So I think Nigerian producers shouldn’t just make movies because they just want to make a movie but they should make movies for purposes, they should make movies with targets, they should make movies they think would wow Nigerian movie lovers, they should stop making the same movie over and over again. Nollywood movies can start grossing heavy in other countries if they can fix the things I mentioned above.

The problem with our movie producers is the same thing that affects most Nigerians, which is; “Trying to make quick money.” I heard some Nigerian movie makers make over 5 movies in a year and it’s not that they have the money in abundance to make those 5 movies but they would patch it all up and manage to make those movies if it’s of good quality or not, they don’t care, they just want to make money. Those are the kind of movies that make people hate Nollywood.

Nollywood movie makers should try hard and find good writers I believe we got them plenty here in Nigeria, obviously our producers really don’t care.

Nigerian producers should make action movies; and not the action movies of robbers robbing and some shits like that, but action movies that would be so cool even an old man would be interested. Earlier I mentioned I would like to compare Bollywood to Nollywood so let’s see this, have you guys seen “Krrish”, “Dhoom3”, “Koi Mil Gaya” and more... These are some Indian action movies I remember, their story lines are just too great these movies grossed well in the U.S and other countries.

But should we exactly blame producers alone? Nah! As far as I am concerned Nollywood does not have very good movie directors, as a director you should be able to manage things up and perfect a movie without enough contents, most directors do it the way the producers do also. And not to mention the sense to fix errors in a movie, even the almighty 30days in Atlanta has its own obvious error. The ending of the movie was a bit crappy. Let’s take a look at what happened with the Female lawyer and Akpos, in a right sense of thinking that woman has no reason to follow Akpos to Nigeria but they did it that way anyway. I think a good director would find something short that would be an explanation of why she followed Akpos to Nigeria.

Moreover I can say I have never seen any tangible adventure movie made by Nollywood, all we see is Family and Romance...

Coming to promotion; I would conclude most Nigerian movies are not well promoted after being made, well, I would say why would you promote a movie you made for making sake in the first place? We could see how AY’s 30days in Atlanta was well promoted, I can say the movie is a good movie, it got a lot of positive reviews and with what I saw in the movie I think the producer spent quite a lot on the movie. So if you do something of quality you would do all you can to promote and let the world see what you did, and as a matter of fact quality things promote themselves, but if you didn’t make something impressive you wouldn’t bother yourself too much about promoting it.

Lastly, I would say everybody involved in Nollywood I’m talking; Actors, Producers, Writers, Directors should try and woo Nigerian movie lovers to start watching their movies in the cinemas, many Nigerians don’t bother on going to the cinemas to watch movies all they do is wait for the Hard copy which piracy has spoilt its marketing. Filmmakers should let Nigerians know what is up; what they went through to make that movie and why they should manage to go watch them at the cinemas.

And the federal government is so not doing much on piracy. These people are arming a developing movie industry, so when is it going to get developed if its film makers are not making any profit.

Nollywood is an industry that can and that will improve Nigeria’s economy quite well if it becomes developed. Many talented Nigerians would get the chance to be actors, it wouldn’t be a movie industry where we see Mercy Johnson, Funke Akindele and others acting a role of a high school or college student anymore, many young ones would get shots to earn living from the industry.

Lastly the mother of all; Nigeria’s economy is also affecting Nollywood and the whole entertainment industry, tell me, is it an unemployed person that would have time to go see movies at the cinema? Oh No! Nigeria’s productivity should improve so that people would be employed. Let’s take a look at this, Nigeria have been working on fully migrating to Digital TV but that has taken like forever.. Why? Because it would affect many as only a few would be capable of acquiring digital TV, if this can be fixed and we could fully migrate to digital TV, It would be another development for Nollywood people would be able to subscribe to watch not only movies but TV shows and more on their screens.

I have much to say but can’t type it all. I am a great lover of movies and I would love to see Nollywood grow to what I picture.

Thanks.
&
Peace…
Article by: Apata D rock follow him on twitter HERE

wisdomguy4u:
I don't blame you, you are from africa. You bunch have no respect for freedom of expression. Go to American blogs and see for yourself heinous names they call Obama. Pple are airing their grievances , instead of you to address the situation and make them change their view, you are busy trying to suppress their voice.

This is why some whites still call you black monkey, bcus you act and reason like a monkey.

ghostmist:
As per the bolded; why contradict yourself? Nigeria is made up of several ethnic groups. Discussing the issues affecting these ethnic groups is tantamount to discusssing the issues affecting Nigeria. How do you discuss Nigeria, without discussing those who make up Nigeria?

iykomo0:
first of all, #Free #NnamdiKanu
.... then we need a referendum....





what am a even saying....??







ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS BIAFRA

shizzy7:
LLLOooolllll
You will work for free oooo and full-time. hunger go wire you.
You can NEVER end tribalism on NL because we have some mumu species suffering from
*we are clueless* deficiency syndrome.
They don't mind having more than 10 e-mails dedicated to NL.

wisdomguy4u:
Just tell us you need a job...

For Godsake, We are in a democratic regime, pple should be allowed to exercise their freedom of expression. If I see Nigeria as a Zoo, that my personal view . If you see Nigeria as a paradise, that's your own view, you respect my view , I respect yours. Why try to suppress my voice?

We africans don't really know what democracy is all about. Dictatorship is inked into our skin. That's why we don't grow like our contemporaries in the western world. We are repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. That's why the world see africa as an animal kingdom, were their is no respect for human rights.

They call you Zoo, you called them Biafra, miscreants, touts e.t.c , so why wailing again?

ify2016:
No be small thing o... protest everywhere... Me I don dey mind my biz o
LOL...
FTC on first day of joining Nairaland.
I dedicate free shit to everyone wey wan shit for our toilet. just to increase the ministry.

T.I.N Magazine brings to you the top 10 record labels in Nigeria for year 2015. After some good evaluations we came to a conclusion of ten Nigerian music labels that did well this year, and when we say did well; we mean the number of artists on the label, the labels whose artists release hit songs, concerts, tours, endorsements, and more..

NIGERIA'S TOP TEN RECORD LABELS OF 2015 COUNTDOWN.

10] CAPITAL HILL MUSIC

Founded by one the ace video director Clarence Peters, the record label didn’t bring out much hits this year but they did fairly well. The label is home for artists like Tha suspect, Chidinma, Illbliss and Ayoola. With no doubts the label belongs to the top ten in Nigeria this year.

9] STARBOY ENTERTAINMENT

The Wizkid owned record label do not have very much artists signed to it, the label can actually be said to be with two artists only which are L.A.X and Wizkid himself although there are many other music producer signed to the label though.

8] X3M

The Extreme music label may not be as popular as others but it has the currently trending Nigerian star R&B singers signed as artists. The label is home for artists like PRAIZ,SIMI and not very popular SAMMY. The label really tried for their artists this year with production of many songs and music video. The label is gradually becoming Nigeria’s home of R&B.

7] HKN

The Honorable Kings of New-school record label owned by the OBO himself is can actually be said to have make some impacts in the industry this year. Even though we can only mention two active artists signed to the label which are B-RED and Davido himself. They both made hits this year. So they should definitely make this list.

6] EME

This label actually used to be the no.1 in Nigeria few years back. But now at the no.6 is quite a drawback. The label with artists like NIYOLA, SHAYDEE and BANKY W himself the label CEO can be agreed to have been fairly active this year. With a few hit songs from Banky and Shaydee specifically, they can be said to have done fairly well.

5] TRIPPLE MG

The MADE MEN MUSIC GROUP owned by star artist Iyanya and his manager Ubi Franklin we believe did well this year. The label with artists like; Iyanya, Selebobo, Tekno and others. With a few active artists on the label they showed Nigerians their label is still in the game.

4] CHOCOLATE CITY

Well, the owned by M.I and ICE PRINCE Label did their best this year, with a few hits from their label artists, the label might actually be said to be the label with higest number of artists in Nigeria, they’ve got artists not all of them were active this year though. A few of their artists can be concluded to have done well this year though artists like; Victoria Kimani, Ice prince, M.I, Nosa, Femi Kuti and others...

3] 5star MUSIC GROUP

This label no doubts rocked the music industry this year, no arguments they did well this year. The E-MONEY owned record label with artists like KCEE, Harrysong, the controversial Skibii and others did their best with releases of hit songs and amazing performances when it comes to shows and tours this year. 5star really nailed it. Two of the label artists also have huge endorsements to their name.

2] YBNL

YBNL is sure a popular name to any music lover in Nigeria, the label artists did well this year with the release of many hit songs and show performances. The label ceo himself was quite the man of the year when it comes to hit songs and other performances and also with up to 5 active artists on the label they thrilled Nigeria this 2015, artists which includes; Lil Kesh, Adekunle Gold, Chynko Ekun, Victoh and Olamide himself and also a few of its artists have got endorsement deal to their names.

1] MAVINS (SMD)

The very popular record label is sure the no.1 in Nigeria for year 2015. With up to 7 active artists on the label. Mavin artists really lead the music industry this year with amazing performances from artists like; Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, Dr Sid, Di’ja, Tiwa savage, D’prince and Don Jazzy himself who is the CEO of the label. Many of its artists performed in big shows and events across Nigeria this year and all the artists have multimillion naira endorsements to their name.

OKAY.. THAT'S IT! EXPECT MORE T.I.N MAGAZINE RATINGS FOR YEAR 2015....!

Idowuogbo:
Y'all look cute together. Boy resemble sexkillz sha

Seun:
False. Gossip blogs don't attract high quality traffic. Nairaland's Targeted Ads are certainly more effective than the ads on Linda Ikeji's blog.

End of the war

With increased British support the Nigerian federal forces launched their final offensive against the Biafrans once again on 23 December 1969 with a major thrust by the 3rd Marine Commando Division the division was commanded by Col. Olusegun Obasanjo (who later became president twice) which succeeded in splitting the Biafran enclave into two by the end of the year. The final Nigerian offensive, named "Operation Tail-Wind", launched on 7 January 1970 with the 3rd Marine Commando Division attacking, and supported by the 1st Infantry division to the north and the 2nd Infantry division to the south. The Biafran town of Owerri fell on 9 January, and Uli fell on 11 January. Only a few days earlier, Ojukwu fled into exile by flying by plane to the Ivory Coast, leaving his deputy Philip Effiong to handle the details of the surrender to General Yakubu Gowon of the federal army on 13 January 1970. The war finally ended a few days later with the Nigerian forces advancing in the remaining Biafran held territories with little opposition.

After the war Gowon said, "The tragic chapter of violence is just ended. We are at the dawn of national reconciliation. Once again we have an opportunity to build a new nation. My dear compatriots, we must pay homage to the fallen, to the heroes who have made the supreme sacrifice that we may be able to build a nation, great in justice, fair trade, and industry."[124]

Reckoning and legacy

The war cost the Igbos a great deal in terms of lives, money and infrastructure. It has been estimated that up to three million people may have died due to the conflict, most from hunger and disease caused by Nigerian forces.[125][126][127] More than two million people died from the famine imposed deliberately through blockade throughout the war. Lack of medicine also contributed. Thousands of people starved to death every day as the war progressed.[128] (The International Committee of the Red Cross in September 1968 estimated 8,000–10,000 deaths from starvation each day.)[129] The leader of a Nigerian peace conference delegation said in 1968 that "starvation is a legitimate weapon of war and we have every intention of using it against the rebels". This stance is generally considered to reflect the policy of the Nigerian government.[130][131] The federal Nigerian army is accused of further atrocities including deliberate bombing of civilians, mass slaughter with machine guns, and rape.[130]

Some scholars including Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe continue to argue that the Biafran war was a genocide, for which no perpetrators have been held accountable.[132] Critics of this position suggest that Igbo leaders had some responsibility, but acknowledge that starvation policies were pursued deliberately and that accountability has not been sought for the 1966 pogroms.[130][133] Arguments that this war did not strictly constitute "genocide" focus on political aspects of the war which differ from prototypical genocide, such as the objective to keep Igboland within the Nigerian Federation, and improved conditions for Igbos after the Federal Military Government achieved its political objectives.[134] Despite the high death toll and widespread application of the label "genocide" while the war was taking place, the Nigeria–Biafra war is frequently omitted from lists of genocides. In 1969, Biafra made a formal complaint of genocide against Igbos to the International Committee on the Investigation of Crimes of Genocide, which concluded that British colonial administrators were complicit in the process of fomenting ethnic hatred and violence, dating back to the Kano riots of 1953. With special reference to the Asaba Massacre, Emma Okocha described the killings as "the first black-on-black genocide".[129] Ekwe-Ekwe places significant blame on the British.

Severely malnourished woman during the Nigerian-Biafran war of the late 1960s.

Reconstruction, helped by the oil money, was swift; however, the old ethnic and religious tensions remained a constant feature of Nigerian politics. Accusations were made of Nigerian government officials diverting resources meant for reconstruction in the former Biafran areas to their ethnic areas. Military government continued in power in Nigeria for many years, and people in the oil-producing areas claimed they were being denied a fair share of oil revenues. Laws were passed mandating that political parties could not be ethnically or tribally based; however, it has been hard to make this work in practice.

Igbos who ran for their lives during the pogroms and war returned to find their positions had been taken over; and when the war was over the government did not feel any need to re-instate them, preferring to regard them as having resigned. This reasoning was also extended to Igbo-owned properties and houses. People from other regions were quick to take over any house owned by an Igbo, especially in the Port Harcourt area. The Nigerian Government justified this by terming such properties abandoned. This, however, has led to a feeling of an injustice as the Nigerian government policies were seen as further economically disabling the Igbos even long after the war. Further feelings of injustice were caused by Nigeria changing its currency, so that Biafran supplies of pre-war Nigerian currency were no longer honoured. At the end of the war, only N£20 was given to any easterner regardless of the amount of money he or she had had in the bank. This was applied irrespective of their banking in pre-war Nigerian currency or Biafran currency. This was seen as a deliberate policy to hold back the Igbo middle class, leaving them with little wealth to expand their business interests.

On 29 May 2000, The Guardian reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. In a national broadcast, he said that the decision was based on the principle that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy."

Biafra was more or less wiped off the map until its resurrection by the contemporary Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra. Chinua Achebe's last book, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, has also rekindled discussion of the war.

France

France provided weapons, mercenary fighters, and other assistance to Biafra and promoted its cause internationally, describing the situation as a genocide. Charles de Gaulle referred to "Biafra's just and noble cause". However, France did not recognize Biafra diplomatically. Through Pierre Laureys, France had apparently provided two B-26s, Alouette helicopters, and pilots. France supplied Biafra with captured German and Italian weapons from World War II, sans serial numbers, delivered as part of regular shipments to Côte d'Ivoire. France also sold Panhard armored vehicles to the Nigerian federal government.

French involvement in the war can be viewed in the context of its geopolitical strategy (Françafrique) and competition with the English in West Africa. Nigeria represented a base of British influence in the predominantly French-aligned area. France and Portugal used nearby countries in their sphere of influence, especially Côte d'Ivoire under President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, as waystations for shipments to Biafra. To some extent, also, France repeated its earlier policy from the Congo Crisis, when it supported the secession of the southern mining province Katanga.

Economically, France was significantly incentivized by oil drilling contracts for the Société Anonyme Française de Recherches et d'Exploitation de Pétrolières (SAFRAP), apparently arranged with Eastern Nigeria in advance of its secession from the Nigerian Federation. SAFRAP laid claim to 7% of the Nigerian petroleum supply. In the assessment of a CIA analyst in 1970, France's "support was actually given to a handful of Biafran bourgeoisie in return for the oil." Biafra, for its part, openly appreciated its relationship with France. Ojukwu suggested on 10 August 1967, that Biafra introduce compulsory French classes in secondary, technical and teacher training schools, in order to "benefit from the rich culture of the French-speaking world".

France led the way, internationally, for political support of Biafra. Portugal also sent weapons; Czechoslovakia sent weapons until its priorities were adjusted by the 1968 Soviet invasion. These transactions were arranged through the "Biafran Historical Research Centre" in Paris. French-aligned Gabon and Côte d'Ivoire recognized Biafra in May 1968. On 8 May 1968, De Gaulle personally contributed 30,000 francs to medicine purchases for the French Red Cross mission. Fairly widespread student-worker unrest diverted the government's attention only temporarily. The government declared an arms embargo but maintained arms shipments to Biafra under cover of humanitarian aid. In July the government redoubled its efforts to involve the public in a humanitarian approach to the conflict. Images of starving children and accusations of genocide filled French newspapers and television programs. Amidst this press blitz, on 31 July 1968, De Gaulle made an official statement in support of Biafra.[87] Maurice Robert, head of Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE, the French foreign intelligence service) African operations, wrote in 2004 that his agency supplied the press with details about the war and told them to use the word "genocide" in their reporting.

France declared "Biafra Week" on 11–17 March 1969, centered on a 2-franc raffle held by the French Red Cross. Soon after, de Gaulle terminated arms shipments, then resigned on 27 April 1969. Interim president Alain Poher fired General Jacques Foccart, the lead coordinator of France's Africa policy. Georges Pompidou re-hired Foccart and resumed support for Biafra, including cooperation with the South African secret service to import more weapons.

United States of America

The United States officially declared neutrality, with US Secretary of State Dean Rusk stating that "America is not in a position to take action as Nigeria is an area under British influence", but nevertheless provided military assistance to the Nigeria government. Formally, the United States was neutral in the civil war. Strategically, its interests aligned with the Federal Military Government. The US also saw value in its alliance with Lagos, and sought to protect $800 million (in the assessment of the State Department) worth of private investment.

This had not been publicized, while Senator Ted Kennedy led a movement for relief to the millions dying.

On 9 September 1968, United States presidential candidate Richard Nixon stated:

Until now, efforts to relieve the Biafra people have been thwarted by the desire of central government of Nigeria to pursue total and unconditional victory and by the fear of the Ibo people that surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. But genocide is what is taking place right now – and starvation is the grim reaper.

Gulf Oil Nigeria, the third major player in Nigerian oil, was producing 9% of the oil coming out of Nigeria before the war began. Its operations were all located offshore of the federally controlled Mid-Western territory; therefore it continued to pay royalties to the federal government and its operations were mostly undisrupted.

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union strongly backed the Nigerian government, emphasizing the similarity with the Congo situation. It consistently supplied Nigeria with weapons, with the diplomatic disclaimer that these were "strictly for cash on a commercial basis". In 1968, the USSR agreed to finance the Kainji Dam on the Niger (somewhat upriver from the Delta). Soviet media outlets initially accused the imperialist British of cynically supporting the Biafran secession, then had to adjust these claims later when it turned out that Britain was supporting the Federal Government.

One explanation for Soviet sympathy with the Federal Military Government was a shared opposition to internal secessionist movements. Before the war, the Soviets had seemed sympathetic to the Igbos. But Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin stated to their chagrin in October 1967 that "the Soviet people fully understand" Nigeria's motives and its need "to prevent the country from being dismembered."

Reportedly, the war substantially improved Soviet-Nigerian diplomatic and trade relations, and Moskvitch cars began to make appearances around Lagos. The USSR became a competitive importer of Nigerian cacao.

Israel

From early on, Israel perceived that Nigeria would be an important player in West African politics, and saw good relations with Lagos as an important foreign policy objective. Nigeria and Israel established a linkage in 1957. In 1960 Britain allowed the creation of an Israeli diplomatic mission in Lagos, and Israel made a $10 million loan to the Nigerian government. Israel also developed a cultural relation with the Igbos based on possible shared traditions. These moves represented a significant diplomatic success given the Muslim orientation of the northern-dominated government. Some northern leaders disapproved of contact with Israel and banned Israelis from Maiduguri and Sokoto.

Israel did not begin arms sales to Nigeria until after Aguyi-Ironsi came to power in January 1966. This was considered an opportune time to develop this relationship with the federal government, because Aguyi-Ironsi was Igbo. Ram Nirgad became Israeli ambassador to Nigeria in January. Thirty tons of mortar rounds were delivered in April.

The Eastern Region began seeking assistance from Israel in September 1966. Israel apparently turned down their requests repeatedly, although they may have put the Biafran representatives in contact with another arms dealer. In 1968, Israel began supplying the Federal Military Government with arms—about $500,000 worth, according to the US State Department. Meanwhile, as elsewhere, the situation in Biafra became publicized as a genocide. The Knesset publicly debated this issue on 17 and 22 July 1968, winning applause from the press for its sensitivity. Right-wing and left-wing political groups, and student activists, spoke for Biafra. In August 1968, the Israeli air force overtly sent twelve tons of food aid to a nearby site outside of Nigerian (Biafran) air space. Covertly, Mossad provided Biafra with $100,000 (through Zurich) and attempted an arms shipment. Soon after, Israel arranged to make clandestine weapons shipments to Biafra using Côte d'Ivoire transport planes.

Other countries

Biafra appealed unsuccessfully for support from the Organisation of African Unity, whose member states generally did not want to support internal secessionist movements.

Nigeria received support from Egypt, which provided pilots to fly the aircraft procured by the Soviet Union.

Biafra surrounded

Biafran troops in action

A makeshift airport in Calabar, Nigeria, where relief efforts to aid famine victims were deployed by helicopter teams.

From 1968 onward, the war fell into a form of stalemate, with Nigerian forces unable to make significant advances into the remaining areas of Biafran control due to stiff resistance and major defeats in Abagana, Arochukwu, Oguta, Umuahia (Operation OAU), Onne, Ikot Ekpene, etc.[101] But another Nigerian offensive from April to June 1968 began to close the ring around the Biafrans with further advances on the two northern fronts and the capture of Port Harcourt on 19 May 1968. The blockade of the surrounded Biafrans led to a humanitarian disaster when it emerged that there was widespread civilian hunger and starvation in the besieged Igbo areas.

The Biafran government reported that Nigeria was using hunger and genocide to win the war, and sought aid from the outside world. Private groups in the US, led by Senator Ted Kennedy, responded. No one was ever held responsible for these killings.

In September 1968, the federal army planned what Gowon described as the "final offensive." Initially the final offensive was neutralised by Biafran troops by the end of the year after several Nigerian troops were routed in Biafran ambushes. In the latter stages, a Southern FMG offensive managed to break through. However in 1969, the Biafrans launched several offensives against the Nigerians in their attempts to keep the Nigerians off-balance starting in March when the 14th Division of the Biafran army recaptured Owerri and moved towards Port Harcourt, but were halted just north of the city. In May 1969, Biafran commandos recaptured oil wells in Kwale. In July 1969, Biafran forces launched a major land offensive supported by foreign mercenary pilots continuing to fly in food, medical supplies and weapons. Most notable of the mercenaries was Swedish Count Carl Gustav von Rosen who led air attacks with five Malmö MFI-9 MiniCOIN small piston-engined aircraft, armed with rocket pods and machine guns. His Biafran Air Force consisted of three Swedes: von Rosen, Gunnar Haglund and Martin Lang. The other two pilots were Biafrans: Willy Murray-Bruce and Augustus Opke. From 22 May to 8 July 1969 von Rosen's small force attacked Nigerian military airfields in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin City and Ughelli, destroying or damaging a number of Nigerian Air Force jets used to attack relief flights, including a few Mig-17's and three of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28 bombers that were used to bomb Biafran villages and farms on a daily basis. Although the Biafran offensives of 1969 were a tactical success, the Nigerians soon recovered. The Biafran air attacks did disrupt the combat operations of the Nigerian Air Force, but only for a few months.

In response to the Nigerian government using foreigners to lead some advances, the Biafran government also began hiring foreign mercenaries to extend the war. Only German born Rolf Steiner a Lt. Col. with the 4th Commandos, and Major Taffy Williams, a Welshman would remain for the duration. Nigeria also deployed foreign combatants, in the form of Egyptian pilots for their air force MiG 17 fighters and Il 28 bombers. The Egyptian conscripts frequently attacked civilian rather than military targets, bombing numerous Red Cross shelters.

Humanitarian crisis

Further information: Biafran airlift

A child suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition as a result of the blockade. Pictures of the famine caused by Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans worldwide. It was regarded in the Western press as the genocide of 2 million people, half of them children and fund raising for relief was carried out at the time, with the help of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Awareness of a mounting crisis rose in 1968. Information spread especially through religious networks, beginning with alerts from missionaries. It did not escape the notice of worldwide Christian organisations that the Biafrans were Christian and the northern Nigerians controlling the federal government were Muslim.

Many volunteer bodies organised the Biafran airlift which provided blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra, carrying food, medicines, and sometimes (according to some claims) weapons.

More common was the claim that the arms-carrying aircraft would closely shadow aid aircraft, making it more difficult to distinguish between aid aircraft and military supply aircraft.

One of the interesting characters assisting Count Carl Gustav von Rosen was Lynn Garrison, an ex-RCAF fighter pilot. He introduced the Count to a Canadian method of dropping bagged supplies to remote areas in Canada without losing the contents. He showed how one sack of food could be placed inside a larger sack before the supply drop. When the package hit the ground the inner sack would rupture while the outer one kept the contents intact. With this method many tons of food were dropped to many Biafrans who would otherwise have died of starvation.

Bernard Kouchner was one of a number of French doctors who volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra. The Red Cross required volunteers to sign an agreement, which was seen by some (like Kouchner and his supporters) as being similar to a gag order, that was designed to maintain the organisation's neutrality, whatever the circumstances. Kouchner and the other French doctors signed this agreement.

After entering the country, the volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals, were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army, and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces. Kouchner also witnessed these events, particularly the huge number of starving children, and when he returned to France, he publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. With the help of other French doctors, Kouchner put Biafra in the media spotlight and called for an international response to the situation. These doctors, led by Kouchner, concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of victims. They formed le Comité de Lutte contre le Génocide au Biafra which in 1971 became Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

The crisis brought about a large increase in prominence and funding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Media and public opinion

Media and public relations played a central role in the war, due to their influence on morale at home and the dynamics of international involvement. Both sides relied heavily on external support.

Media campaigns focused on the plight of the Biafrans intensified internationally in the summer of 1968. By the Biafran leadership and then around the world, the pogroms and famine were classified as genocide and compared to the Holocaust; hypothetical Judaic origins of the Igbos were used to bolster comparisons with Jews in Germany. In the international press, Igbo refugee camps were compared to Nazi extermination camps.

Humanitarian appeals differed somewhat from place to place. In Britain, humanitarian aid used familiar discourses of imperial responsibility; in Ireland, advertisements appealed to shared Catholicism and experiences of civil war. Both of these appeals channeled older cultural values into support for the new model of international NGOs. In Israel, the Holocaust comparison was promoted, as was the theme of threat from hostile Muslim neighbors.

The Biafran war bombarded Western culture with the trope of the starving African child. The Biafran famine took media coverage of disaster to a new level, enabled by the proliferation of television sets. The televised disaster and the rising NGOs mutually enhanced each other; NGOs maintained their own communications networks and played a significant role in shaping news coverage.

Biafran elites studied Western propaganda techniques and released carefully constructed public communications in an intentional fashion. Biafran propagandists had the dual task of appealing to international public opinion, and maintaining morale and nationalist spirit domestically. Political cartoons were a preferred medium for publicizing simple interpretations of the war. Biafra also used push polling to insinuate messages about Nigeria's inherent bloodthirstiness. Novelist Chinua Achebe became a committed propagandist for Biafra, and one of its leading international advocates.

On 29 May 1969, Bruce Mayrock, a student at Columbia University, set himself ablaze at the premises of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to protest the genocide against the nation and people of Biafra. He died of his injuries the following day.

Kwale oilfield incident

In May 1969 a company of Biafrian commandos raided an oil field in Kwale and killed 11 Saipem workers and Agip technicians. They captured three Europeans unhurt and then at a nearby Okpai Field Development Biafrian commandos surrounded and captured 15 more expatriate personnel. The captives included 14 Italians, 3 West Germans and one Lebanese. It was claimed that the foreigners were captured fighting alongside Nigerians against Biafrian troops and that they assisted Nigerians in constructing roads to aid them in their operations against Biafra. They were tried by a Biafrian court and sentenced to death.

This incident caused an international uproar. In the month that followed Pope Paul VI, the governments of Italy, UK and USA mounted concerted pressure on Biafra. On June 4, 1969, after receiving a personal direct mail from the Pope, Ojukwu pardorned the foreigners. They were released to the special envoys sent by the governments of Ivory Coast and Gabon and left Biafra.

Military coups

On 15 January 1966, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and other junior Army officers (mostly majors and captains) attempted a coup d'état. The two major political leaders of the north, the prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Premier of the northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello were executed by Major Nzeogwu. Also murdered was Sir Ahmadu Bello's wife and officers of Northern extraction. Meanwhile, the President, Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo, was on an extended vacation in the West Indies. He did not return until days after the coup. There was widespread suspicion that the Igbo coup plotters had tipped him and other Igbo leaders off regarding the impending coup. In addition to the killings of the Northern political leaders, the Premier of the Western region , Ladoke Akintola and Yoruba senior military offiers were also killed. The coup, also referred to as "The Coup of the Five Majors", has been described in some quarters as Nigeria's only revolutionary coup. This was the first coup in the short life of Nigeria's nascent second democracy. Claims of electoral fraud were one of the reasons given by the coup plotters.

This coup was however seen not as a revolutionary coup by other sections of Nigerians , especially in the Northern and Western sections and latter revisioninsts of Nigerian coups, mostly from Eastern part of Nigeria have belatedly maintained to widespread disbelief amongst Western and Southern Nigerians that the majors sought to spring Action Group leader Obafemi Awolowo out of jail and make him head of the new government. From there, they would dismantle the Northern-dominated power structure. However, their efforts to take power were thwarted by Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo and loyalist head of the Nigerian Army, who suppressed coup operations in the South. The majors surrendered, and Aguiyi-Ironsi was declared head of state on 16 January.

Aguyi-Ironsi suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He then abolished the regional confederated form of government and pursued unitary like policies heithero favoured by the NCNC, having apparently been influenced by some NCNC political philosophy. He however appointed Colonel Hassan Katsina, son of Katsina emir Usman Nagogo, to govern the Northern Region, indicating some willingness to maintain cooperation with this bloc. He also preferentially released northern politicians from jail (enabling them to plan his forthcoming overthrow). Aguyi-Ironsi rejected a British offer of military support but promised to protect British interests; however … Britain participated in overthrow?

Ironsi fatally did not bring the failed plotters to trial as required by then-military law and as advised by most northern and western officers,rather, coup plotters were maintained in the military on full pay and some were even promoted while apparently awaiting trial. The coup, despite its failure and since no repercussion was meted out to coup plotters and since no significant Igbo political leaders were affected was widely perceived as having benefited mostly the Igbo. Most of the known coup plotters were Igbo and the military and political leadership of Westerrn and Northern regions had been largely bloodily eliminated while Eastern military/political leadership was largely untouched. However Ironsi, himself an Igbo, was thought to have made numerous attempts to please Northerners. The other event that also fuelled the so-called "Igbo conspiracy" was the killing of Northern leaders, and the killing of the Colonel Shodeinde's pregnant wife by the coup executioners. Despite the overwhelming contradictions of the coup being executed by mostly Northern soldiers (such as John Atom Kpera, later military governor of Benue State), the killing of Igbo soldier Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Unegbe by coup executioners, and Ironsi's termination of an Igbo-led coup, the ease by which Ironsi stopped the coup led to suspicion that the Igbo coup plotters planned all along to pave the way for Ironsi to take the reins of power in Nigeria.

Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu became military governor of the Eastern Region at this time. On 24 May 1966, the military government issued Unification Decree #34, which would have replaced the federation with a more centralized system. The Northern bloc found this decree intolerable.

In the face of provocation from the Eastern media which repeatedly showed humiliating posters and cartoons of the slain northern politicians, on the night of 29 July 1966, northern soldiers at Abeokuta barracks mutinied, thus precipitating a counter-coup, which have already been in the planning stages. The counter-coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Gowon was chosen as a compromise candidate. He was a Northerner, a Christian, from a minority tribe, and had a good reputation within the army.

It seems that Gowon immediately faced not only a potential standoff with the East, but secession threats from the Northern and even the Western region. The counter-coup plotters had considered using the opportunity to withdraw from the federation themselves. Ambassadors from Britain and the United States, however, urged Gowon to maintain control over the whole country. Gowon followed this plan, repealing the Unification Decree, announcing a return to the federal system.

Persecution of Igbo

From June through October 1966, pogroms in the North killed tens of thousands of Igbos and caused millions to flee to the Eastern Region. 29 September 1966, was considered the worst day.

Ethnomusicologist Charles Keil, who was visiting Nigeria in 1966, recounted:

The pogroms I witnessed in Makurdi, Nigeria (late Sept. 1966) were foreshadowed by months of intensive anti-Ibo and anti-Eastern conversations among Tiv, Idoma, Hausa and other Northerners resident in Makurdi, and, fitting a pattern replicated in city after city, the massacres were led by the Nigerian army. Before, during and after the slaughter, Col. Gowan could be heard over the radio issuing 'guarantees of safety' to all Easterners, all citizens of Nigeria, but the intent of the soldiers, the only power that counts in Nigeria now or then, was painfully clear. After counting the disemboweled bodies along the Makurdi road I was escorted back to the city by soldiers who apologized for the stench and explained politely that they were doing me and the world a great favor by eliminating Ibos.

The Federal Military Government also laid the groundwork for the blockade of the Eastern Region which would go into full effect in 1967.

Breakaway

On 27 May 1967, Gowon proclaimed the division of Nigeria into twelve states. This decree carved the Eastern Region in three parts: South Eastern State, Rivers State, and East Central State. Now the Igbos, concentrated in the East Central State, would lose control over most of the petroleum, located in the other two areas.

On 30 May 1967, Ojukwu declared independence of the Republic of Biafra.

The Federal Military Government immediately placed an embargo on all shipping to and from Biafra—but not on oil tankers. Biafra quickly moved to collect oil royalties from oil companies doing business within its borders. When Shell-BP acquiesced to this request at the end of June, the Federal Government extended its blockade to include oil. The blockade, which most foreign actors accepted, played a decisive role in putting Biafra at a disadvantage from the beginning of the war.

Although the very young nation had a chronic shortage of weapons to go to war, it was determined to defend itself. Although there was much sympathy in Europe and elsewhere, only five countries (Tanzania, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia and Haiti) officially recognised the new republic. Britain supplied amounts of heavy weapons and ammunition to the Nigerian side because of its desire to preserve the country it created. The Biafra side on the other hand found it difficult to purchase arms as the countries who supported it did not provide arms and ammunition. The heavy supply of weapons by Britain was the biggest factor in determining the outcome of the war.

Several peace accords, especially the one held at Aburi, Ghana (the Aburi Accord), collapsed and the shooting war soon followed. Ojukwu managed at Aburi to get agreement to a confederation for Nigeria, rather than a federation. He was warned by his advisers that this reflected a failure of Gowon to understand the difference and, that being the case, predicted that it would be reneged upon. When this happened, Ojukwu regarded it as both a failure by Gowon to keep to the spirit of the Aburi agreement, and lack of integrity on the side of the Nigerian Military Government in the negotiations toward a united Nigeria. Gowon's advisers, to the contrary, felt that he had enacted as much as was politically feasible in fulfillment of the spirit of Aburi. The Eastern Region was very ill equipped for war, outmanned and outgunned by the Nigerians. Their advantages included fighting in their homeland, support of most Easterners, determination, and use of limited resources.

The UK-which still maintained the highest level of influence over Nigeria's highly valued oil industry through Shell-BP- and the Soviet Union supported (especially militarily) the Nigerian government.

War

Shortly after extending its blockade to include oil, the Nigerian government launched a "police action" to retake the secessionist territory. The war began on 6 July 1967 when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra. The Nigerian Army offensive was through the north of Biafra led by Colonel Mohammed Shuwa and the local military units were formed as the 1st Infantry Division. The division was led mostly by northern officers. After facing unexpectedly fierce resistance and high casualties, the right-hand Nigerian column advanced on the town of Nsukka which fell on 14 July, while the left-hand column made for Garkem, which was captured on 12 July. At this stage of the war, the other regions of Nigeria (the West and Mid-West) still considered the war as a confrontation between the north (mainly Hausas) against the east (mainly Igbos).

Biafran offensive

The Biafrans responded with an offensive of their own when, on 9 August, the Biafran forces moved west into the Mid-Western Nigerian region across the Niger river, passing through Benin City, until they were stopped at Ore (in present day Ondo State) just over the state boundary on 21 August, just 130 miles east of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. The Biafran attack was led by Lt. Col. Banjo, a Yoruba, with the Biafran rank of brigadier. The attack met little resistance and the Mid-West was easily taken over.

Flag of the Republic of Benin.

This was due to the pre-secession arrangement that all soldiers should return to their regions to stop the spate of killings, in which Igbo soldiers had been major victims. The Nigerian soldiers that were supposed to defend the Mid-West state were mostly Mid-West Igbo and while some were in touch with their eastern counterparts, others resisted. General Gowon responded by asking Colonel Murtala Mohammed (who later became head of state in 1975) to form another division (the 2nd Infantry Division) to expel the Biafrans from the Mid-West, as well as defend the West side and attack Biafra from the West as well. As Nigerian forces retook the Mid-West, the Biafran military administrator declared the Republic of Benin on 19 September, though it ceased to exist the next day. (The present country of Benin, west of Nigeria, was still named Dahomey at that time.)

Although Benin City was retaken by the Nigerians on 22 September, the Biafrans succeeded in their primary objective by tying down as many Nigerian Federal troops as they could. Gen. Gowon also launched an offensive into Biafra south from the Niger Delta to the riverine area using the bulk of the Lagos Garrison command under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle (called the Black Scorpion) to form the 3rd Infantry Division (which was later renamed as the 3rd Marine Commando). As the war continued, the Nigerian Army recruited amongst a wider area, including the Yoruba, Itshekiri, Urhobo, Edo, Ijaw, etc.

Nigerian offensive

FEDERAL TROOPS WITH CAPTURED BIAFRAN SOLDIERS

Four battalions of the Nigerian 2nd Infantry Division were needed to drive the Biafrans back and eliminate their territorial gains made during the offensive. Nigerian soldiers under Murtala Mohammed carried out a mass killing of 700 civilians when they captured Asaba on the River Niger. The Nigerians were repulsed three times as they attempted to cross the River Niger during October, resulting in the loss of thousands of troops, dozens of tanks and equipment. The first attempt by the 2nd Infantry Division on 12 October to cross the Niger from the town of Asaba to the Biafran city of Onitsha cost the Nigerian Federal Army over 5,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing. Operation Tiger Claw (17–20 October 1967) was a military conflict between Nigerian and Biafran military forces. On 17 October 1967 Nigerians invaded Calabar led by the "Black Scorpion", Benjamin Adekunle while the Biafrans were led by Col. Ogbu Ogi, who was responsible for controlling the area between Calabar and Opobo, and Lynn Garrison a foreign mercenary. The Biafrans came under immediate fire from the water and the air. For the next two days Biafran stations and military supplies were bombarded by the Nigerian air force. That same day Lynn Garrison reached Calabar but came under immediate fire by federal troops. By 20 October, Garrison's forces withdrew from the battle while Col. Ogi officially surrendered to Gen. Adekunle.

Control over oil production

Control over petroleum in the Niger Delta was a paramount military objective during the war.

Towards the end of July 1967 Nigeria captured Bonny Island in the Niger Delta, thereby taking control of vital Shell-BP facilities. Operations began again in May 1968, when Nigeria captured Port Harcourt. Its facilities had been damaged and needed repair. Production and export continued at a lower level. The completion in 1969 of a new terminal at Forçados brought production up from 142,000 barrels/day in 1958 to 540,000 barrels/day in 1969. In 1970, this figure doubled to 1,080,000 barrels/day. The royalties enabled Nigeria to buy more weapons, hire mercenaries, etc. Biafra proved unable to compete on this economic level.

International involvement

Britain Involvement

BIAFRAN SOLDIERS: ABA - UMUAHIA HIGHWAY

The British planned to maintain and expand their supply of cheap high-quality oil from Nigeria. Therefore they placed a high priority on maintenance of oil extraction and refining operations. They backed the Federal Government, but when the war broke out cautioned them not to damage British oil installations in the East. These oilworks, under the control of Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company (jointly owned by Shell and British Petroleum), controlled 84% of Nigeria's 580,000 barrels per day. Two-thirds of this oil came from the Eastern region, and another third from the newly created Mid-West region. Two-fifths of all Nigerian oil ended up in Britain.

Shell-BP therefore considered carefully a request by the Federal Government that it not pay the royalties demanded by Biafra. Its lawyers advised that payment to Biafra would be appropriate if this government did in fact maintain law and order in the region in question. The British government advised that paying Biafra could undermine the goodwill of the Federal Government. However, the payment was made, resulting in a blockade on oil. Forced to choose a side, Shell-BP and the British government threw in their lot with the Federal Government in Lagos, apparently calculating that this side would be more likely to win the war. As the British High Commissioner in Lagos wrote to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs on 27 July 1967:

Ojukwu, even victorious, will not be in a strong position. He will require all the international help and recognition he can get. The Federal Government would be much better placed both internationally and internally. They would have a cast iron case for the severest treatment of a company which has subsidized a rebel, and I feel fairly convinced they would press their case to the lengths of cancelling the Company's concessions and nationalizing their installations. I conclude, therefore, if the company does change its mind and asks the British Government for advice, the best that could be given is for it to clamber hastily back on the Lagos side of the fence with cheque book at the ready."

Shell-BP took this advice. It continued to quietly support Nigeria through the rest of the war, in one case advancing a royalty of £5.5 million to fund the purchase of more British weapons.

During the war, Britain covertly supplied Nigeria with weapons and military intelligence and may have also helped it to hire mercenaries. After the decision was made to back Nigeria, the BBC oriented its reporting to favor this side. Supplies provided to the Federal Military Government included two vessels and 60 vehicles.

In Britain, the humanitarian campaign around Biafra began on 12 June 1968, with media coverage on ITV and in The Sun. The charities Oxfam and Save the Children Fund were soon deployed, with large sums of money at their disposal.

[b]Looking at what is happening in Nigeria at the moment we at T.I.N Magazine think we should let the Nigerians of this generation know what civil war means and the damages it has done to this country, and why it shouldn't happen again.

Do many of you know over 2million Nigerians died in 1970 during the civil war, Majority of which are civilians? Well, we think the whole fuss about Biafra and Nigeria going on presently shouldn't be. The federal government especially should deal with this case carefully as most of the faults goes to them.

Why would people not want be out of Nigeria when Nigeria is not favoring them? Why would you want to be part of a country that is full of corrupt leaders who only care for themselves?

Therefore the nation needs a serious fix which is what we are hoping the new government would do.

To the masses and IPOB, we understand your feeling and anger but we are one now.. The best we can do is join hands together and fight these leaders who don’t care about us, we are supposed to be doing what we can to fix Nigeria for ourselves, our children and our children's children. You shouldn't keep up with blasphemy against the country you are still part of, want it or not you are still part of Nigeria so why the hatred against the country you are part of?

Please let’s build a better Nigeria together with our honesty and diligence because that is what the nation needs. We shouldn't try and mess things up again because peace and unity is all we want.

Well, let’s take a look at the very sad war that ran for almost 3years.[/b]

HISTORY CULLED FROM WIKIPEDIA.


YOU CAN SEE ALL PICTURES DOWN BELOW THIS POST

INTRODUCTION

The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a war fought to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960–1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over oil production in the Niger Delta played a vital strategic role.

Within a year, the Federal Military Government surrounded Biafra, capturing coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. The blockade imposed during the ensuing stalemate led to severe famine—accomplished deliberately as a war strategy. Over the two and half years of the war, about two million civilians died from starvation and diseases.

This famine entered world awareness in mid-1968, when images of malnourished and starving children suddenly saturated the mass media of Western countries. The plight of the starving Biafrans became a cause célèbre in foreign countries, enabling a significant rise in the funding and prominence of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Britain and the Soviet Union were the main backers of the Federal Military Government in Lagos, while France and some independent elements supported Biafra. France and Israel provided weapons to both combatants.

THE BACKGROUND AND THE CAUSE OF THE WAR

FEDERAL SOLDIER
Ethnic division

Like most other African countries, British Nigeria grouped people together for governance without respect for their religious, linguistic, and ethnic differences. Nigeria, which gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, had at that time a population of 60 million people consisting of nearly 300 differing ethnic and cultural groups.

More than fifty years earlier, the United Kingdom had carved an area out of West Africa containing hundreds of different ethnic groups and unified it, calling it Nigeria. Although the area contained many different groups, the three predominant groups were the Igbo, which formed between 60–70% of the population in the southeast; the Hausa-Fulani, which formed about 65% of the peoples in the northern part of the territory; and the Yoruba, which formed about 75% of the population in the southwestern part. Although these groups have their own homelands, by the 1960s they were dispersed across Nigeria, with all three ethnic groups represented substantially in major cities. When the war broke out in 1967 there were still 5,000 Igbos in Lagos.

The semi-feudal and Islamic Hausa-Fulani in the North were traditionally ruled by a feudal, conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of Emirs who, in turn, owed their allegiance to a supreme Sultan. This Sultan was regarded as the source of all political power and religious authority.

The Yoruba political system in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a series of monarchs, the Oba. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than those in the North, and the political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for greater upward mobility based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.

The Igbo in the southeast, in contrast to the two other groups, lived mostly in autonomous, democratically organised communities, although there were monarchs in many of these ancient cities such as the Kingdom of Nri. In its zenith the Kingdom controlled most of Igbo land, including influence on the Anioma people, Arochukwu (which controlled slavery in Igbo), and Onitsha land. Unlike the other two regions, decisions among the Igbo were made by a general assembly in which men could participate.

The differing political systems among these three peoples reflected and produced divergent customs and values. The Hausa-Fulani commoners, having contact with the political system only through a village head designated by the Emir or one of his subordinates, did not view political leaders as amenable to influence. Political decisions were to be submitted to. As with other highly authoritarian religious and political systems, leadership positions were taken by persons willing to be subservient and loyal to superiors. A chief function of this political system was to maintain Islamic and conservative values, which caused many Hausa-Fulani to view economic and social innovation as subversive or sacrilegious.

In contrast to the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbo often participated directly in the decisions which affected their lives. They had a lively awareness of the political system and regarded it as an instrument for achieving their own personal goals. Status was acquired through the ability to arbitrate disputes that might arise in the village, and through acquiring rather than inheriting wealth. Igbos were substantially victimized in the Atlantic slave trade; in the year 1790 it was reported that of 20,000 people sold each year from Bonny, 16,000 were Igbo. With their emphasis upon social achievement and political participation, the Igbo adapted to and challenged colonial rule in innovative ways.

These tradition-derived differences were perpetuated and perhaps even enhanced by the British system of colonial rule in Nigeria. In the North, the British found it convenient to rule indirectly through the Emirs, thus perpetuating rather than changing the indigenous authoritarian political system. As a concomitant of this system, Christian missionaries were excluded from the North, and the area thus remained virtually closed to European cultural imperialism, in contrast to the Igbo, the richest of whom sent many of their sons to British universities. During the ensuing years, the Northern Emirs thus were able to maintain traditional political and religious institutions, while reinforcing their social structure. In this division, the North, at the time of independence in 1960, was by far the most underdeveloped area in Nigeria, with an English literacy rate of 2% as compared to 19.2% in the East (literacy in Ajami (local languages in Arabic script), learned in connection with religious education, was much higher). The West enjoyed a much higher literacy level, being the first part of the country to have contact with western education in addition to the free primary education program of the pre-independence Western Regional Government.

In the South, the missionaries rapidly introduced Western forms of education. Consequently, the Yoruba were the first group in Nigeria to adopt Western bureaucratic social norms and they provided the first African civil servants, doctors, lawyers, and other technicians and professionals.

In Igbo areas, missionaries were introduced at a later date because of British difficulty in establishing firm control over the highly autonomous Igbo communities. However, the Igbo people took to Western education actively, and they overwhelmingly came to adopt Christianity. Population pressure in the Igbo homeland combined with aspirations for monetary wages drove thousands of Igbo to other parts of Nigeria in search of work. By the 1960s, Igbo political culture was more unified and the region relatively prosperous, with tradesmen and literate elites active not just in the traditionally Igbo South, but throughout Nigeria. Therefore, by 1966, the ethnic and religious differences between Northerners and Igbos had combined with additional stratification of education and class.
The Politics and economics of federalism

The British colonial ideology that divided Nigeria into three regions—North, West and East—exacerbated the already well-developed economic, political, and social differences among Nigeria's different ethnic groups. The country was divided in such a way that the North had a slightly higher population than the other two regions combined. On this basis the Northern Region was allocated a majority of the seats in the Federal Legislature established by the colonial authorities. Within each of the three regions the dominant ethnic groups, the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, respectively formed political parties that were largely regional and based on ethnic allegiances: the Northern People's Congress (NPC) in the North; the Action Group in the West (AG); and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in the East. These parties were not exclusively homogeneous in terms of their ethnic or regional make-up; the disintegration of Nigeria resulted largely from the fact that these parties were primarily based in one region and one tribe. To simplify matters, we will refer to them here as the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo-based; or Northern, Western and Eastern parties.

The basis of modern Nigeria formed in 1914, when Britain amalgamated the Northern and Southern protectorates. Beginning with the Northern Protectorate, the British implemented a system of indirect rule according to which they exerted influence through alliances with local forces. This system worked so well, colonial governor Frederick Lugard successfully lobbied to extend it to the Southern Protectorate through amalgamation. In this way, a foreign and hierarchical system of governance was imposed on the Igbos (along with many other smaller groups in the South.) Intellectuals began to agitate for greater rights and independence. This size of the intellectual class increased significantly in the 1950s, with the massive expansion of the national education program. During the 1940s and 1950s the Igbo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the fight for independence from Britain. They also wanted an independent Nigeria to be organised into several small states so that the conservative North could not dominate the country. Northern leaders, fearful that independence would mean political and economic domination by the more Westernized elites in the South, preferred the perpetuation of British rule. As a condition for accepting independence, they demanded that the country continue to be divided into three regions with the North having a clear majority. Igbo and Yoruba leaders, anxious to obtain an independent country at all costs, accepted the Northern demands.

However it would be wrong to state that the two Southern regions were politically or philosophically aligned and there were already discordance between the two Southern political parties. Firstly, the AG favoured a loose confederacy of regions in the emergent Nigerian nation whereby each region would be in total control of its own distinct territory. The status of Lagos was a sore point for the AG which did not want Lagos, a Yoruba town which was at that time the Federal Capital and seat of national government to be designated as the Capital of Nigeria if it meant loss of Yoruba Suzerainty. The AG insisted that Lagos, a Yoruba city which was situated in Western Nigeria must be completely recognized as a Yoruba town without any loss of identity, control or autonomy by the Yoruba. Contrary to this position, the NCNC was anxious to declare Lagos, by virtue of it being the "Federal Capital Territory" as "no man's land" - a declaration which as could be expected angered the AG which offered to help fund the development of other territory in Nigeria as "Federal Capital Territory" and then threatened succession from Nigeria if it didn't get its way. The threat of succession by the AG was tabled , documented and recorded in numerous constitutional conferences, including the constitutional conference held in london in 1954 with the demand that a right of succession be enshrined in the constitution of the emerging Nigerian nation to allow any part of the emergent nation to opt out of Nigeria, should the need arise.(Author(s): Tekena N. TamunoSource: The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Dec., 1970), pp. 563-584 ) This proposal for inclusion of right of succession by the regions in independent Nigeria by the AG was rejected and resisted by NCNC which vehemently argued for a tightly bound united/unitary structured nation because it viewed the provision of a succession clause as detrimental to the formation of a Unitary Nigerian state. In the face of sustained opposition by the NCNC delegates, later joined by the NPC and backed by threats to view maintenance of the inclusion of succeesion by the AG as treasonable by the British, the AG was forced to renounce its position of inclusion of the right of succession a part of the Nigerian constitution. It should be noted that , had such a provision been made in the Nigerian constitution, later events which led to the Nigerian/Biafran civil war would have been avoided. The pre-independence alliance between the NCNC and the NPC against the aspirations of the AG would later set the tone for political governance of independent Nigeria by the NCNC/NPC and lead to disaster in later years in Nigeria.

Northern–Southern tension manifested on 1 May 1953, as fighting in the Northern city of Kano. The political parties tended to focus on building power in their own regions, resulting in an incoherent and disunified dynamic in the federal government.

In 1946, the British divided the Southern Region into the Western Region and the Eastern Region. Each government was entitled to collect royalties from resources extracted within its area. This changed in 1956 when Shell-BP found large petroleum deposits in the Eastern region. A Commission led by Jeremy Raisman and Ronald Tress determined that resource royalties would now enter a "Distributable Pools Account" with the money split between different parts of government (50% to region of origin, 20% to federal government, 30% to other regions). To ensure continuing influence, the British promoted unity in the Northern bloc and discord among and within the two Southern regions, as well as the creation of a new Mid-Western Region in an area with oil potential. The new constitution of 1946 also proclaimed that "The entire property in and control of all mineral oils, in, under, or upon any lands, in Nigeria, and of all rivers, streams, and water courses throughout Nigeria, is and shall be vested in, the Crown." Britain profited significantly from a fivefold rise in Nigerian exports amidst the postwar economic boom.

First Republic

Nigeria's First Republic came into being on 1 October 1960. The first prime minister of Nigeria, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was a northerner and co-founder of the Northern People's Congress. He formed an alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons party, and its popular nationalist leader Nnamdi "Zik" Azikiwe, who became Governor General and then President. The Yoruba-aligned Action Group, the third major party, played the opposition role.

Workers became increasingly aggrieved by low wages and bad conditions, especially when they compared their lot to the lifestyles of politicians in Lagos. Most wage earners lived in the Lagos area, and many lived in overcrowded dangerous housing. Labor activity including strikes intensified in 1963, culminating in a nationwide general strike in June 1964. Strikers disobeyed an ultimatum to return to work and at one point were dispersed by riot police. Eventually, they did win raise increases. The strike included people from all ethnic groups. Retired Brigadier General H. M. Njoku later wrote that the general strike heavily exacerbated tensions between the Army and ordinary civilians, and put pressure on the Army to take action against a government which was widely perceived as corrupt.

The 1964 elections, which involved heavy campaigning all year, brought ethnic and regional divisions into focus. Resentment of politicians ran high and many campaigners feared for their safety while touring the country. The Army repeatedly deployed to Tiv Division, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of Tiv people agitating for self determination.

Widespread reports of fraud tarnished the election's legitimacy. Westerners especially resented the political domination of the Northern People's Congress, many of whose candidates ran unopposed in the election. Violence spread throughout the country and some began to flee the North and West, some to Dahomey. The apparent domination of the political system by the North, and the chaos breaking out across the country, motivated elements within the military to consider decisive action.

Britain maintained its economic hold on the country, through continued alliance and reinforcement of the Northern bloc. In addition to Shell-BP, the British reaped profits from mining and commerce. The British-owned United Africa Company alone controlled 41.3% of all Nigeria's foreign trade. At 516,000 barrels per day, Nigeria had become the tenth biggest oil exporter in the world.

FAST FORWARD TO THE 21st CENTURY

DON JAZZY

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Don Jazzy

Don Jazzy, is a Nigerian multi award-winning record producer, singer-songwriter, musician, former Co- Owner of Mo' Hits Records and current CEO of Mavin Records.

Don Jazzy's first full credit production work was in 2004 on Tongolo for Nigerian singer D'banj. He went on to produce D'banj's first studio album titled No Long Thing released in 2005.

He has produced tracks for Dr SID, Wande Coal, Emeka Infiniti, D'Prince, Darey, Naeto C, Olakunle Excel et Zanga, Sauce Kid, Ikechukwu & Tiwa Savage. He also collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the production of Lift Off, featuring Beyoncé on the album Watch The Throne, released on 8 August 2011.

This guy have since then shown us he is a legend in the music industry, Alongside D'BANJ they brought new shining stars to the music industry, artists who are doing too good right now.

Don Jazzy is the most famous music producer in Nigeria and even Africa in general.

Jazzy now controls another record label Mavin Records a record label which can be said to be the biggest in Nigeria as of 2015 bringing in new talents and producing hit songs for all the time.

Don Jazzy is now more than just a producer but also a song writer and performing artist.

His awards as of 2015 can be said too be numerous as he wins awards every year and stayed on top his game for years...

He was rated as the 39th "Most powerful celebrity in Africa" according to Forbes in 2015.

2FACE IDIBIA

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2face

2face Idibia, is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He officially discontinued the use of the name Tuface and selected Tu-baba as his stage name. He is one of the most decorated and successful Afro pop artists in Africa. He is also one of the most bankable artists in Africa.

2Face has received one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, five Headies Awards (Hip-hop award), four Channel O Music Video Awards and one BET award for his musical work, four MTV Africa Music Awards, one MOBO award, one KORA award, and numerous additional nominations.

2face's "African Queen" 2004 song is one of the songs that took African music to another level and better recognition for the Nigerian music worldwide.

Since 2004 he has remained relevant and conssistent in the music industry, having his own record label where artists are signed and showcased to the world.

D'BANJ

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Dbanj

D'banj presently known to be Africa most popular musician globally is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and businessman. He has won several music awards, including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007,Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009, Best International Act: Africa at the 2011 BET Awards, and Best-selling African Artist at the 2014 World Music Awards, Evolution award at the 2015 MTV Africa Music awards.

He adopted the stage name D'banj, a combination of his first name Dapo his surname Oyebanjo. D'banj is currently best known internationally for his 2012 summer hit "Oliver Twist", an uptempo dance fusion of Afrobeat and electronic dance music that topped the African charts 2011 and was a top 10 hit in the UK singles chart in 2012 reaching No. 2 on the UK R&B chart.

In December 2012 D'banj signed a mega deal with Sony,Speaking on the importance of the deal to Sony, Managing Director of Sony Music Entertainment Sean Watson said: “Partnering with D’Banj is a seminal event for us at Sony Music Entertainment Africa. We’ve always admired his talent and to be able to assist with bringing D’Banj’s music to millions of fans, established and new, across the continent is an honour for us. We are very excited about being a part of it.”

The deal is being described as a “Pan African, multi-album deal with Sony Music’s RCA Records. It also involves an exclusive management deal with Sony Music and strategic partner ROCKSTAR4000 for the continent. Add to that a multi-album, worldwide exclusive contract with emerging Nigerian singer-songwriter star Kayswitch and a strategic partnership with D’Banj’s Nigerian record label DB Records”.

P-SQAURE

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Psquare

P-Square are a Nigerian R&B duo composed of identical twin brothers Peter Okoye .... for their habit of sampling western songs and popular hits in their records. They came in to the Nigeria music industry in 2001 and ever since then have been a great inspiration to the Nigerian music industry locally and internationally.

In 2001, "P-Square" won the "Grab Da Mic" competition, and hence Benson & Hedges sponsored their debut album, titled Last Nite, which was released under Timbuk2 music label. P-Square was also nominated as "Most Promising African Group" in the Kora Awards three months after the release of their debut album. They eventually won the 2003 Amen Award for "Best R&B Group".

In 2005, they released their second album, Get Squared under their own label, Square Records. This album was marketed nationwide by TJoe Enterprises, although they were still managed by Howie T of Adrot Nigeria Limited. The video for the second album held the #1 position on the MTV Base chart for four straight weeks.

They have an ever growing fan base across South Africa with a particular stronghold of diehard fans in Cape Town.

The group has performed alongside the following international artists like Ginuwine and Sean Paul, Akon. The members of P Square are now located in Lagos.

Late in 2007, they released their best selling album so far, Game Over. It has sold 8 million copies worldwide.

In 2009, P-Square released their fourth studio album, Danger. The album features collaborations with 2 Face Idibia, J Martins and Frenzy. The first single called "Danger" is a hip hop song with cutting synths and a frog bass baseline similar to an Eminem song. The video affirms this with the presence of clowns and staggered movements in front of the camera reminiscent of comical videos by Eminem. They are also known for the close resemblance which the twins have to American R&B Superstar, Usher Raymond.

On 4 April 2010, P-Square was named the Artist of the Year at the Kora Awards in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso while they were in London for a Concert at the Troxy, and they will receive a sum of $1 Million Dollars as the award winners, in Ebebiyin City.

On August 29, 2014, P-Square released a single track featuring a top America Artist T.I. which P-Square titled EjeAjo, EjeAjo official video featuring T.I. was also released 29 August 2014 on both TV stations, Radio Stations and Web blogs.

On September 14, 2014 P-Square released their 6th studio album titled Double Trouble .
NOTABLE MENTIONS:

BANKY W

SOUNDSULTAN

EEDRIS ABDULKAREEM

The people listed above are the major Nigerian music industry legend of the moment. T.I.N Magazine currently watches the ace Nigerian rapper and singer Olamide as he might quite join the list anytime soon. Other artists who could possibly join in the nearest future are: Wizkid, Davido,Iyanya, Flavour, Tiwa Savage and more..

After the remembrance and celebration of the popular Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti this week,

we've decided to show you there are more other legends in the music industry you may not know, that is why T.I.N MAGAZINE decided to name "The Top Ten Nigeria Music Industry Legends" for our readers to see.Firstly; Who is a legend? well, there are many definitions for the word "legend" but all depends on the circumstances at which they are being used.

The circumstances we used in naming the people on this list are; How long they've stayed on top of their profession(music), how much the public have talked about them in the past and how they are talking them presently, their contributions to the development of the music industry and their impressive works.

The Nigeria music industry has evolved a lot in many ways, you know what? some people made it happen! Nigeria music industry right now is getting bigger and bigger everyday.

We are going to list out the top ten artists that moved,pushed and promoted the Nigerian music from the past to the present.

So why don't you chill,relax and see the Legends of the Nigeria music industry.

TOP TEN NIGERIA MUSIC INDUSTRY LEGENDS


ONYEKA ONWENU

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Onyeka

This woman was said to be one of the greatest female musicians of the 20th century, she inspired a lot of music lovers back then, drawing their attention more to Nigerian music. Her reputation precedes her.

Onwenu began her music career in 1981 while still working with the NTA, releasing the album "For the Love of You". Originally a secular artist, she now sings mainly gospel music, and continues to write and sing about issues such as health (HIV/AIDS), peace and mutual coexistence, respect for women rights and the plight of children. Her latest effort titled, "Inspiration for Change," focuses on the need for an attitudinal turn around in Nigeria.

She is in partnership with Paris-based La Cave Musik, headed by Nigerian cultural entrepreneur Onyeka Nwelue, and UK-based Jungle Entertainment Ventures, headed by musicologist David Evans-Uhegbu. La Cave Musik is set to release her collection titled Rebirth of a Legend in November.

In 2013, she was named as one of the three judges on the Nigerian version of The X Factor. In recognition of her contribution to music and arts in Nigeria, she has been celebrated by professionals like Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Laolu Akins, Charles O'Tudor, and former PMAN president Tony Okoroji among others in the arts industry in Nigeria.

I.K DAIRO

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i.k dairo

Just in case you may not know, JUJU Music was the heart of music back then in Nigeria a lot of listeners and fans back then, it was the Hip-hop of the 20th century and this man happens to be among the biggest stars of then who boosted the morale of music in Nigeria.

I.K Dairo emergence at the end of the 1950s coincided with the rising euphoria towards independence. He was seen then as a premier musician who could capture the exciting moment preceding the nation's independence and briefly after independence. The musical taste during the period had graduated from appreciation of solemn music to much more intensified sounds. The period was also one of lavish parties with musicians as a side attraction.

I.K. Dairo musical success in the 1960s, was influenced by different factors including a resort to include traditional sounds, the political life of the 1950s, which inspired him and a focus on Rhythm, beats and tempo that reflected different ethnic sounds and in the process leading to his appeal rising beyond his primary ethnic group. His band experimented and played with musical styles originating from different Yoruba areas and also utilized the Edo, Urhobo, Itsekiri and Hausa language in some of their lyrics. The band's well organized and slick arrangement, Yoruba and Latin America influenced dance rhythm and patronizing lyrics on the entrepreneur pursuits of patrons were factors that contributed in his rise to the height of the Juju and musical arena in the country. He also employed musical syncretism, mixing the Ijebu-Ijesa choral multi-part sound with melodies and text from Christian sources.

In 1962, he released the song 'Salome' under Decca records. The song mixed traditional elements in Yoruba culture and urban life as major themes. The song was a major hit of his. Another song of his which was quite popular was Ka Sora (Let Us Be Careful), the song is sometimes described as predictive of the Nigerian civil war in its warning about the pitfalls of unreasoned governance. He also released other popular hits including one about Chief Awolowo, who was incarcerated at the time the song was released.

SIR SHINA PETERS

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Shina peters

Shina Peters, after releasing many albums with Segun Adewale thru the 1980s, went on to form his own band "Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars". Their first album release Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1) in 1989 went double platinum and was the career breakthrough which catapulted Sir Shina Peters back into the limelight. "Ace" was a musical fusion between Juju and Afro beat; a rhythmic collaboration which pierced Ethnic, Cultural and language barriers in Nigeria. The second album release Shinamania (Afro-Juju Series 2) went on to further prove that Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars were on the verge to change and revolutionize the Juju Music scene in Africa. Sir Shina Peters is still regarded as the creator of a well-respected music genre (Afro Juju) that exists in its own class till this day. He currently has 16 album releases to his credit.

Sir Shina Peters also called "SSP" has received numerous awards and recognition for his unparalleled prowess in the art of Writing, Composition, Choreography and Musical Ability.

Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars have become a household name in the World Music genre.Sir Shina Peters has sold millions of albums worldwide & has taken his music to the shores of South Africa, Europe, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and United States. Sir Shina Peters is currently signed to Orbit Entertainment, his USA agency based in New York.

KING SUNNY ADE

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ksa

In the 1970s and 1980s Adé embarked on a tour of America and Europe where he played to mixed (both black and white) audiences. His stage act was characterised by dexterous dancing steps and mastery of the guitar. Trey Anastasio, American guitarist, composer and one of his devout followers, once said, "If you come to see Sunny Adé live, you must be prepared to groove all night."

After more than a decade of resounding success in Africa, Adé was received to great acclaim in Europe and North America in 1982. The global release of Juju Music and its accompanying tour was "almost unanimously embraced by critics (if not consumers) everywhere" Adé was described by The New York Times' as "one of the world's great band leaders". and in Trouser Press as "one of the most captivating and important musical artists anywhere in the world".

His next album, Syncro System (1983), was equally successful and earned him his first Grammy Award nomination in the folk/ethnic music category.

After the death of Bob Marley, Island Records began looking for another third world artist to put on its contract, while Fela Kuti had just been signed by Arista Records. Producer Martin Meissonnier introduced King Sunny Adé to Chris Blackwell, leading to the release of Juju Music in 1982. **Note: Robert Palmer claims to have brought King Sunny Adé to Island's attention, his familiarity being from his life on Malta in the 60s listening to African Radio and Arm Forces Radio. Many music aficionados are quick to point out that Sunny Adé's brand of music Juju could not be ignored.

Today, this seminal recording is often acclaimed as one of the most important records from Africa. Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as "the African Bob Marley".

Sunny Adé has said in the past that his refusal to allow Island to meddle with his compositions and over-Europeanise and Americanise his music were the reasons why Island then decided to look elsewhere.

In 1987, Sunny Adé returned to the international spotlight when Rykodisc released a live concert he did in Seattle and was given an astonishing embrace by fans across the globe who were eager for another international album release.

He soon employed an American manager, Andrew Frankel, negotiated another three album record deal with the Mesa record label (a Division of Paradise Group) in America. One of these albums was 1998s Odu, a collection of traditional Yoruba songs, for which he was nominated for the second Grammy Award and thus making him the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy. Apart from being an international musician Sunny Adé is also prominent in his native Nigeria, running multiple companies in several industries, creating a non-profit organisation called the King Sunny Adé Foundation, and working with the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria.

MAJEK FASHEK

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Majek

African reggae star majek fashek ( born :majekodunmi fasheke) attracted international attention, in 1987. when his self-penned tune, "send down the rain". seemed tocoax a rain storm that ended one of the worst draughts in Nigeria's history. majek went on to become one of africa's greatest reggea-influenced performers.

In the early eighties Fashek, who at the time went by the stage name Rajesh Kanal, joined the group Jastix with McRoy Gregg, and lead singer Black Rice. They were best known as the in-house band on the show Music Panorama on NTA Benin, and toured with fellow reggae group The Mandators. Jastix were also session musicians for upcoming reggae singer Edi Rasta, who would later be known as Evi-Edna Ogholi.

In 1988, shortly after Jastix disbanded Fashek, who had now used the name Majek Fashek, signed with Tabansi Records and began a solo career by releasing the album Prisoner of Conscience and quickly became Nigeria's top reggae artist after the song "Send Down The Rain" became the most popular song of the year, and in 1989 he won four PMAN awards which included "Song of the Year", "Album of the Year", and "Reggae Artist of the Year". Fashek's next album was I&I Experience which was released in late 1989 under the Tabansi label.

FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI
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Fela

Fela Anikulapo Kuti or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist, and political maverick.

After Fela and his band returned to Nigeria, the group was renamed The Afrika '70, as lyrical themes changed from love to social issues. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for the many people connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. (According to Lindsay Barrett, the name "Kalakuta" derived from the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta dungeon in India.) Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, first named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he both performed regularly and officiated at personalized Yoruba traditional ceremonies in honour of his nation's ancestral faith. He also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "He who carries death in his pouch", with the interpretation: "I will be the master of my own destiny and will decide when it is time for death to take me", stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name.

Fela's music was popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. During 1972, Ginger Baker recorded Stratavarious with Fela appearing alongside Bobby Tench. Around this time, Kuti became even more involved in the Yoruba religion.

In 1977, Fela and the Afrika '70 released the album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother (whose house was located opposite the commune) thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the Dodan Barracks in Lagos, General Olusegun Obasanjo's residence, and to write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier", referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.

Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel, as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978, Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only 12 simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie", which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumours that Fela was planning to use the entire proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.

Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called Movement of the People (MOP), in order to "clean up society like a mop" In 1979, he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade, but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt '80 (reflecting his reading of pan-African literature) and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT Corporation vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed entitled "I.T.T. (International Thief-Thief)".

donholy28:
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