₦airaland Forum

linkin8k:
Well, this is an eye opener to me, never knew all this. Thanks for the detailed explanation, always appreciated.

That is why we urgently need History back in our curriculum. The removal was conceived by OBJ and implemented by Yaradua/GEJ.

Nowenuse:
Just the same way you cannot really explain how the Hausas and muslims are dominating yorubas and Igbos together, and other christians politically, when infact christians outnumber muslims in Nigeria.

It is a systemic thing. Islam as a religion has always promoted politics among it's people. Whereas the kind of very orthodox and conservative christianity that was brought to most northern christians has always taught us that politics is a bad thing and a dirty game played by candidates of hell fire. Muslims on the other hand have always been taught that it is an abomination for infidels to rule over them, hence they must take politics as a do or die affair and do anything possible to rule over infidels.

The mentality is the problem. Muslims discuss politics in their mosques and how to dominate their terrain, if not now but in the nearest future.

Another reason, is that, Islam teaches you that religious bond is greater than your tribe or your race, but christianity doesn't. This is why you see all muslims drop their tribal differences and support one candidate, but christians will rather fight each other based on tribes.
In Nasarawa state, the muslims have succesfully pitched other christians against the Eggon/Mada people (who are the largest tribe and christian population in the state).. ...So, an Alago christian for instance would rather vote his fellow Alago muslim than an Eggon Christian. Just like the way Igbos are treated by other christians in Nigeria sometimes. ........ But where we christians are foolish is that we don't know than an Alago muslim for instance will rather vote a Hausa man who shares the same religion with him than his fellow Alago who is a christian. It's all tribalism.

This is why Adamawa south, which is clearly and unarguably Christian majority (75% christian) senatorial district, but has a muslim senator! Tribalism!

Most Chamba christians preferred to Support a Chamba muslim canidate than a Bachama christian candidate. Now, the Chambas commanding a very large christian population of the zone, definitely need to join the other predominantly christian tribes for christians to always dominate the zone, but no, they rather support their muslim chamba people in the name of tribal solidarity over religious solidarity. Just like Yoruba christians will rather go with the agenda of yoruba muslims over an Igbo agenda like you saw in the last election.

Christians have no religious solidarity unlike muslims.

You have really done justice to all the half-truths and outright lies they littered this place with in pursuit of a dubious narrative.
I lived in the Middle Belt for six years and in the Core North for three years. All you said in your responses are the unassailable truths.

LaudableXX:
Savage!! What a galactic finishing! I salute you, bro.'

Thanks. These folks are so pathetic in their tribal bigotry that they argue against common sense, basic academic principles and simplest logic. Funnily enough they are quick to claim they beat people blue and black in debates where they were subdued with superior logic. Beaters of vacuous chests.

InfiniteLoopx:
You've been beaten black and blue by Pazianza on this very stupid lies you've been parading for eons. Was it Ironsi that introduced the 12 State structure we are currently practicing? Ironsi harmonized the civil service, but left the regions as they were. Very wicked liar you are.

Pazienza ran away from that thread without answering any of the questions I am about to ask you now. Please visit it again if you have forgotten how it ended.
As for the bolded, you have just exposed how uneducated you are.
First and foremost, in SS 2 Government classes it is taught that the civil service is the only institution through which the government exercises its powers of generating revenue, allocating same for different purposes, monitors the utilization of resources, etc., i.e. a government without a civil service is as good as a car without an engine. In essence the civil service is the government, and the government is the civil service.
You agree that Ironsi harmonized/centralized the civil service but contend that he did not centralize the government. How daft and illogical! What is a government without its civil service if I may ask you? Very shallow reasoning indeed. Imagine you being a governor of a state but with your civil service under Abuja control. What sort of State Government will you be running? How will you collect tax to execute projects and monitor same?
Secondly, before Ironsi harmonized/centralized the civil service, each region was paying it's civil servants from revenues generated by its employees from within its domain. How do you think Ironsi would have been able to continue paying the employees of the centralized civil service without also having effectively centralized all the revenue sources of the regions from which their salaries were initially being generated thus abolishing resource control? Did you ever offer Government in secondary school at all?
Thirdly, Only a dubious person like you would argue that a person who removed the engine of a car left the car intact just because he didn't damage the body while removing the engine. How exactly were your "intact" regions supposed to operate without their civil service institutions which Ironsi had harmonized onto a central one?
Fourthly, what exactly does the word "Unification" in Ironsi's Unification Decree connote? In that speech didn't Ironsi condemn regionalism and denounce it as the source of national instability? So how could it be that he left intact the very arrangement he believed was the problem with Nigeria?
In furtherance of your duplicity against common sense you argue that Ironsi did not introduce the 12 State Structure. That is totally irrelevant because the issue has nothing to do with how many subnational units there were but how autonomous they were. Recall that before Ironsi came to the scene a fourth Region (Midwest) had been created and more like COR, Middle Belt, etc were already being considered, and the autonomous system would have trickled down to as many of such as would have been created as well as onto the future states to be created had Ironsi never introduced centralization or harmonization of the civil service thus eroding the powers of the subnational units. So, your argument on who created the 12 states is irrelevant and stands as an escapist route to deny responsibility on behalf of Ironsi for Nigeria's derailment.


Please go back and read that Ironsi's speech of May 24 1966 and see where he declared that "Nigeria ceases to be what is called a federation, and it is now officially to be called Republic of Nigeria as against the former Federal Republic of Nigeria". His removal of the term federal from the name simply meant that the regions had ceased to exist.
Go back and read and digest before you spew tribal emotions over what you have not deeply analysed. Wicked tribal bigot you are!

Paperwhite:
Shameless politicians with no political ideology.No surprised.APC was a marriage of strange bedfellows so their implosion is imminent.

Parties don't create ideologies for themselves but rather adopt as their ideology the greatest perceived concern of the majority of voters or the subject of the most massive movement at a material time.
For example, at the birth of the Republican party of the US, most of its founders including Abraham Lincoln owned slaves. But for the fact that the American masses and voters (who were 100℅ whites) had begun to view slavery as evil and were increasingly finding slave ownership very disgusting, the Republican Party came to realize that if it must win elections, it was compulsory for it to adopt "absolute individual liberty" as its ideology. And so it did and won the election.
But in Nigeria the major factors around which the average voters choice revolves are the religion, tribe and region of the candidates. And these are exactly what our parties too have adopted as their ideology and which they offer us.
The day Nigerians are interested in good governance, the parties will adopt it as their ideologies. It is that simple.

hammer6F:
THE MISTAKE U PEOPLE MAKE IS FAILING TO KNOW THAT IGBOS DONT FORGET ANYTHING.

I am at loss as to exactly what you mean by "Igbos don't forget anything". If the meaning of "forget" has not changed, then Igbos remain the most forgetful Nigerians. Evidences as below:
1. After Igbos were slaughtered in thousands by Hausa-Fulanis in 1945 (Jos) and 1953 (Kano), Igbos decided at independence to align with the same Northernes in a manner that gave power to Hausa-Fulanis over Nigeria.
2. After being hounded and nearly killed by Hausa-Fulanis who chased him into exile in Abidjan, Ojukwu returned to Nigeria and joined the Hausa-Fulanis' party NPN.
3. After all that the North-East alliance of 1959/1960 cost Igbos in terms of innocent lives and marginalization, Igbos went into a North-East alliance again in 1979.
And lots more.
So how exactly did you arrive at your verdict that Igbos don't forget anything despite historical facts saying otherwise?

onegentleguy:

PATIENCE my dear. ...Just a little more PATIENCE !!
So u won't be amongst the last to be thrown out before the ACCESS route to the top.
I know ur heavy here, and my sincere advise is; continue to be even more heavy and never lose sight of what's to come.
...otherwise u just might be the last set of persons shaken off the door just before it closes.
Remain unshakable. ...For 'Mr TIME is already on his way down here' !!

#THERESULT
#BELIEVE

Access Bank is now a Noah's Ark. No one knows when the rain will start.

linkin8k:
I feel he did that with good intentions. Ethnic diversity should be recognised but we can't allow it rule us.

How really good a person's intention is about an action is judged against the prevailing background circumstances under which he took that action.
The coup and its resultant anarchical situation back then was as a result of the fact that the government at the center (headed by Balewa, Zik and Okotie Eboh) abused powers grossly by disobeying the Privy Council-Supreme Court equivalent, imposing falsified and disputed census figures on the nation, rigging elections in broad daylight, using the police to unlawful silence the opposition, etc.
A military officer who really came to the rescue and sincere about that mission should have found a way to further weaken the centre and strengthened the regions more in order to prevent future abuse of powers by the center by way of illegally interfering with the internal affairs of regions, thus avoiding a repetition of the ugly situation. But Aguiyi Ironsi, with his Unification Decree, took more powers away from the regions and gave them to the center whose abuse of power had just landed the country in anarchy. And you call that good intention?
I think he was just dishonest and after an agenda up his sleeves.

RedboneSmith:
You are being disingenuous. You are just shifting goalpost anyhow, rather than admitting that you possess very little knowledge about the issues you are jumping into on this post.

.

I am glad that you now see how it pains to be disingenuous. This attitude of being disingenuous is exactly what I have pointed out about the advocates of the non-Igbo ness of the Jan. 1966 coup which you have so far failed to either accept or address.
Now back to the main issue;
You alleged that my first comment was full of lies.
Please prove me wrong that Zik did not read Anthropology, did not invent the One-Nigeria philosophy at a time all evidences pointed to the contrary, did not deprecate all attempts to make Nigeria a very loose federation through the proposed secession clause, was not the originator of the idea that the unity of Nigeria was non-negotiable, was not the source of ideological inspiration to the coupists who wanted to impose unitary system on us and the Aguiyi Ironsi who finally did, was not known for not publicly making a case for federalism prior to independence, etc.
You avoided addressing all these completely. That, to me, is more disingenuous.

Who can see LIVESTOCK acting out yesterday's clarion call?

RedboneSmith:
Igbos held the larger chunk of the ministerial portfolios? Okay. Here is a list of the ministers in Balewa's government when it was constituted in 1960. Help me count the number of Igbos there. Me I counted only three o! Out of twenty-two names.

1. Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. (NPC)
2. Mr TOS Benson: Minister of Information.(NCNC)
3. Mr Olu Akinfosile, Minister of Communications. (NCNC)
4. Malam Zanna Bukar Dipcharima, Minister for Commerce and Industry (NPC)
5. Chief JM Johnson, Minister of Labour and Welfare (NCNC)
6. Mr Raymond Njoku, Minister of Transport and Aviation (NCNC)
7. Mr Aja Nwachukwu, Minister of Education (NCNC)
8. Chief Fests Okotie-Eboh, Minister of Finance (NCNC)
9. Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, Minister of Defence (NPC)
10. Malam Usuman Sarki, Minister of Internal Affairs (NPC)
11. Malam Maitama Sule, Minister of Mines and Power (NPC)
12. Malam Musa Yar'Adua, Minister of Lagos Affairs (NPC)
13. Mr Jaja Wachuku, Minister of Economic Development (NCNC)
14. Alhaji Inuwa Wada, Minister of Works and Survey (NPC)
15. Malam Waziri Ibrahim, Minister of Health (NPC)
16. Malam Shehu Shagari, Minister of Pensions (NPC)
17. Dr TO Elias, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice
18. Dr MA Majekodunmi, Minister of State
19. Dr EA Esin, Minister of State (NCNC)
20. Mr Nuhu Bamali, Minister of State (NPC)
21. Chief F Omo-Osagie, Minister of State (NCNC)
22. Mr JC Obande, Minister of State (NPC)

[Source: Nigeria, an Introduction to its History by Michael Crowder and Guda Abdullahi]

In the five + years the government lasted, portfolios were reshuffled, some ministers lost their posts, but at no time did Igbos constitute a significant (talk less of the larger chunk) of the ministers in Balewa's government.

I don't think you have studied the history of the First Republic closely. You still appear confused about a number of issues. Perhaps you should go back and have a closer look.

I am not confused at all. I knew what I was driving at all along, and I am almost arriving at it. Here it is:
In trying to prove that the Jan. 1966 Coup was not an Igbo agenda coup, most Igbos often argue that the actors of the coup could not have been after seizing political power for Igbos because Igbos already occupied most positions in the Federal Cabinet. So who between you as a person and the generality of non-Igbo coup apologists do we believe now? Or what exactly do these apologist mean by the claim that Igbos already had most portfolios hence an Igbo agenda could not have formed the basis of the coup?

Mpeace:
Danglourers, what is the news. From serious red to almost full bid.

The way you people on NSEMPA coin demonyms to describe holders of certain stocks is very funny.
Dangoteflourers indeed.
That was how one posted a link meant for those with CI LEASING in their portfolio and called them C and I Leasers.
One day we will hear of Oandoers, Oandoans or Oandoists.

RedboneSmith:
And while we are on the topic of substantiating claims, can you substantiate your claim that Azikiwe had a grand plan to foist Igbo dominion on Nigeria through a faux one-Nigeria agenda?

That over-quoted one sentence in a speech delivered while he was briefly president of the Igbo State Union (a position he resigned from when he realised it was clashing with his position as a nationalist) lacks substance and it is funny that people keep using it as 'evidence' of some Machiavellian scheme on his part. Zik was fund of highfalutin and verbose speeches: you should hear him go on about Benin or Mali or even Liberia.

Zik did not even propose a unitary government. Zik was in favour of a Nigeria made up tribal blocs, all with a certain level of autonomy. It was his hope that with time a Nigerian national consciousness will develop and the tribal blocs will then fuse into one nation. He never proposed a unitary government. You don't even know the man's politics and are just making things up as you go.

Zik's deprecation of all attempts to have a secession clause in the independence constitution and his invention of the cliche "The unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable" are the greatest evidence that he was an apostle of unitary system as it is the only system that favours a very strong centre and weak regions or states.
Balewa, Enahoro, Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo all at one time or another made speeches in defense of a loose structure that would guarantee the right and freedom to any region to exit the union if marginalized. No similar speech was ever heard from Zik until the time Balewa began to bully him in the NPC-NCNC coalition.

RedboneSmith:
Okay, I have identified one of your major problems. You think looking out for your people's interests = tribal bigot. I said Awo had a pro-Yoruba agenda; I never called him a bigot. It is now become a little clearer to me why you throw the term 'tribal bigot' around a lot. You cannot distinguish between ethnic pride/ethnic awareness and bigotry.

Again, where did you read that Achebe held a ministerial portfolio under Balewa?

Funny enough you feign ignorance of the fact that the comment of mine which you first referenced was actually a response to someone else who labelled Awolowo as a tribal bigot without substantiating his claim to which my response was an explanation of who actually introduced tribal bigotry if we are to adopt his own perception of same.
But unfortunately you have ignored the originator of the distortion and focused on me who is merely trying to correct him.

I might have been mistaken on Achebe's place in The Balewa-Azikiwe-Okotie Eboh coalition government but that doesn't change the theme of my argument that Igbos who held a larger chunk of the ministerial portfolios saw nothing wrong with the Balewa-Azikiwe style of governance until things began to fall apart.

RedboneSmith:
So many inaccuracies in one post. So many.

Awolowo had a pro-Yoruba agenda. To deny that is to be dishonest. I don't hate him for that though. Watching out for your own people's interests is not a bad thing.

Chinua Achebe was not a minister in the Balewa Government. Where did you even get that from? He was working with Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation at the time. As a civil servant he couldn't hold or stand for political office at the time.

Unfortunately you could not substantiate your claim that Awolowo was a tribal bigot.
The the laws of regional system back then dictated that each region's leader placed utmost priority on the interest and welfare of natives of their regions. Each region was autonomous and protectionist by law, hence Awolowo did not have a Western Region agenda any more than Zik and Ahmadu Bello had Eastern and Northern Region agenda respectively. Therefore the "One-Nigeria" philosophy which Zik invented had no basis in the prevailing circumstances and was therefore a dubious quest to pull the wool over others' eyes and then subdue them. But he failed in that bid.

Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello pursued their Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani agenda not at the cost of any other region's peace and stability unlike Zik who did not mind destabilizing the Western Region in the pursuit of his Igbo focused One-Nigeria agenda.

Why couldn't Achebe resign all the same from NBC to make a statement against the pogroms being sponsored by the Balewa-Azikiwe-Okotie coalition when it really mattered?

RedboneSmith:
So many inaccuracies in one post. So many.

Awolowo had a pro-Yoruba agenda. To deny that is to be dishonest. I don't hate him for that though. Watching out for your own people's interests is not a bad thing.

Chinua Achebe was not a minister in the Balewa Government. Where did you even get that from? He was working with Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation at the time. As a civil servant he couldn't hold or stand for political office at the time.

?

CSTR2:
You are not serious .

I will never take anybody that support a man that made statements like '' Yorubas should vote for yorubas'' serious.

Zik that was reponsible for one divisible Nigeria is who you referred to as a tribalist?. The zik of africa.?

So all the tribalsits were igbo and none were yoruba?


You are a joke and a bigot. To think i was even taking you seriously when you agreed with me that Chinua was not a true Nigerian at heart.

I didn't know you were speaking from a position of bigotry.

There was never a time when Awolowo said Yorubas should vote for Yorubas. The only Yoruba man who pursued a Yoruba agenda was Akintola, and he was Awolowo's enemy but an associate of Zik together with FFK's father - Faani Power.

You are shallow in thinking.
Zik actually wanted an indivisible Nigeria in order to fulfill his dream and agenda of Igbo domination.
Zik read Anthropology from a prestigious university in Pennsylvania and lectured in it for some time before returning to Nigeria to resume politics. He learned it in his course content that a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria is best governed by a loose constitution - meaning such constitution should make provision for divisibility in order to instill in all its future leaders the fear of the consequences of misgovernance. But Zik kicked against a loose constitution and favoured a very tight one with a strong centre under which there will be no divisibility. In fact it was he who first used the expression that "the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable". For an Anthropologist to return to his own home country and start preaching the direct opposite of the structure which the principles of his discipline told him was the only way to Nigeria's greatness means he was not sincerely committed to seeing a truly united and equitable Nigeria but was nursing a hidden agenda for his own tribe, hence a tribal bigot.
If he was sincere why was he preaching One-Nigeria in defiance of what he read in his course of study?

Sure, there were tribalists among all tribes but that doesn't change the fact that Igbos were the first to make and promote tribally divisive utterances before every other tribe followed suit in self defense.
Even till today it is evident that Igbos make the most tribal hate-filled speeches both online and offline.

For Chinua Achebe, he held a ministerial portfolio in the oppressive Balewa-Zik-Okotie Eboh coalition government, and while that government was killing Tivs, Yorubas, Okrikas, etc, he did not resign. It was only when Igbos too started being killed that it suddenly dawned on him that sensible persons should not hold portfolios in a killer government. Can such a person be described as a genuine Nigerian patriot?

CSTR2:
Awolowo was a tribal bigot who ushered in tribalism into Nigerian politics.

Yet his name is on our naira notes and we have a federal university named after him.

That should have been more evidence that he wasn't actually a tribal bigot.
Zik actually introduced tribalism into our politics as far back as 1938 when he resigned his membership of NYM because he felt his preferred Ijebu candidate who lost was hated by the Ijebus who voted in that election.
The same Zik would, after the Western Region Assembly election, read tribal sentiments into his loss of that election with the falsehood that Awolowo used carpet crossing founded on tribal sentiments to change the results of an election which he (Zik) had won. How can an individual change the results officially released by an electoral body without having been to court? In actual fact Zik lost the election by a wide margin which would not have been closed even without carpet crossing. If you want the details of the election I will give you here.

Zik also was the first national figure to utter a tribal slur. That was in 1949 when he said that the god of Igbos had destined them to lead other Nigerians and the entire Africa to Utopia. This was before the Western Region saga.
Another Igbo man had in 1945 declared that it had become obvious that the domination of Nigeria by Igbos was just a question of time.
Again, a football match was once held between a Western Region secondary school and another one from the Eastern Region which ended up winning the match. Azikiwe wrote an article in the papers the next day ascribing the victory of the Eastern Region school to their Igboness rather than skills.
All these were before the Western Region saga.

In addition, while other tribal associations allowed their members to join any political party of their personal choices, Zik as the president of Igbo Union made it compulsory for all Igbos to join NCNC or face ostracism.

He was preaching "One-Nigeria" and asking that we ignore tribalism but at the same time refused to resign his position as national president of Igbo State Union.
Was that a genuine nationalist or a pretentious tribal bigot?

linkin8k:
Can we fulfill the promise that Nigeria once had? Yes! We can! But we need to all put in HONEST effort to it.

Blame won't change things, things are already bad.

We need to forget ethnicity and religion and work together as one if we are to truly STOP THE ROT that is eating Nigeria.

The times you see in the video were when Nigeria's ethnic diversity was given its due recognition and religious differences were acknowledged and respected.
We started getting it wrong beginning from the day (May 24 1966) Aguiyi Ironsi decided to unilaterally do away with religion and ethnicity by way of proscribing all tribal associations which were existing during the times shown in the video, and centralizing power which ended up being to the advantage of the Hausa-Fulani who now use the leverage to dominate others to the detriment of national development.
Aguiyi Ironsi wanted us to start pretending we were a homogeneous country whereas we were a huge diversify. Look where it has landed us now. Pretence is the surest way to failure in life.

Guestlander:
The fist coup and the coming of Ironsi changed the course of Nigerian history. The civil war, the unitary system, the long years of military rule all started from that single event.

Thank you.
Most of them obviously don't know much about the events of the first republic and its truncation by Nzeogwu and co leading to the installation of Aguiyi Ironsi who destroyed the very foundation on which a prosperous future of Nigeria was built.
Nearly every Nigerian has rightly come to understand that our problem is the present structure hence the persistent calls for restructuring. Unfortunately they don't bother to find out who exactly brought about this structure and when.
Buhari, as unacceptable as he might be, did not have a hand at all in the dismantling of our federal structure in 1966. It was started by Ironsi and accentuated by Gowon.

hammer6F:
The Igbo man will continue to demand a state of his own for the simple reason that those he shares a country with are backward and regressive.

They are actually holding him back.

This is the reality regardless of how many times Nigeria send army to murder innocent people in Igboland.

Ironically the same Igbos are responsible for all that halted and reversed our development till today by
1. forcefully introducing the culture of coups and military rule,
2. the replacement of our perfectly working federal system with this unitary system under the excuse that they wanted "One-Nigeria".

Are they now tired of the One-Nigeria they forced on us that they now want to run away from it?

AdeizaPaul:
I said it categorically that they are not Yorubas, so I don't exctly get the point of this.
Have I claimed otherwise?

The theme of the position of the Akoko-Edos on this thread is that we are not Yorubas. Your coming in here to antagonize us logically means you are of the opinion we are Yorubas. So your denial above is self-contradictory.


Wait, were the Yorubas the ones who "forced" the Akoko Edos to add Akoko to their name like you are postulating here?
because from what I gathered in this thread I think it was you who said they chose to go with the Akoko tag since there was no unifying appelation for all the people in that area. All that area were known as Kukuruukus before they all chose their different distinguishing names, and i very much doubt the Yorubas were the ones who told or coerced them to chose the Akoko-Igarra tag.[/quote]I thought you said you followed the thread from the beginning? How come you have not seen the context in we accuse Yorubas of forcing themselves on us? I made it clear that the then Western Region Government made Yoruba a compulsory Subject in schools located in the minority areas of the region unlike the Binis who did not kick against Ogbemudia's policy that each school should teach the local language of its host town or village in the Midwestern Region.
You also did not see the comments here in which Yorubas repeatedly claimed that they founded many Akoko-Edo towns and that Akoko-Edo people are actually Yorubas who just want to wear Edoid status just to be politically correct in the Edo State environment. This is in spite of the fact that Akoko-Edos themselves have used countless unassailable facts and logic to prove otherwise? You also failed to notice where I mentioned that YOLICOM included Akoko-Edo in their recent Oodua Republic map without due consultation of the people themselves? If, to you, all these don't constitute self imposition attempts by Yorubas on Akoko-Edos, then I wonder what ever can in your eyes.
You obviously lied with the claim that you have been following this thread. It is now obvious you jumped in at page 9.


So you mean the more than 55 years of independence is not more than enough to correct any policy effect of the Western regional gpvernment that lasted 12 years (1951 to 1963)? That would be quite shocking.[/quote]If after taking the pains and time to lecture you on how impossible it is for a people to get their distorted identity corrected under unitary system, with even references to the works of Awolowo the most consummate Federalist in Nigeria's history; you still repeat this rhetorical question, then it means you don't enter debates to actually learn to improve your knowledge but just to play the devil's advocate. Most Southerners regard Ebiras as sharing the same domination ideology over Nigeria with the Hausa-Fulanis. How much have you Ebiras been able to correct that perception within the 55 years we have so far spent under this unitary system? How much have you Ebiras been able to, under this 55 year old unitary system, address the stigmatization which you yourself have just freshly accused other Nigerians of placing on you? How much have the Kanuri's of Borno State been able to, under this unitary system, correct the average Southerner's perception that they are one and the same with Hausa-Fulanis? How successful has the generality of the Middle Belt been in their attempts to, under this unitary system, assert themselves as different from Hausa-Fulanis? If unitary system is practised for 1 million years, distorted identities will remain unaddressed for 1 million years. Go and read up Awolowo's written books on federalism vs unitary system before I can engage you further on this.

Why isn't the same level of policy entrenchment seen amongst people like the Ishans and Urhobos, or even Itsekiris to the same level today as it is seen among Akoko Edos? You were all in it together. You can't blame Western region 100% on this, seriously.
This was where my mention of a few ebira villages that have some Yoruba names actually makes sense, because it isn't all about policy somethimes[/quote]So you have not heard about the Urhobos' current senator with the name Omo-Agege a purely Yoruba name? You also never heard of The Bini man called Late Ephraim Akpata - the first INEC chairman? Is Akpata a Bini or Midwestern name? You have not visited any part of Delta State to see a lot of streets with Yoruba names? You obviously don't travel wide. Are there not more Hausa-Fulani street names than Yoruba ones in Okene, thereby underscoring the influence of the Hausa-Fulani domination of the Northern Region? If being part of a region does not guarantee policy entrenchment, then how come Bank of the North had a Branch established in Okene but never in Igarra which was not in the Northern Region like Okene was?

Now this is interesting.
I think you might be alluding to the fact that the interactions and common boundary between the Akoko Edos and the Yorubas might have had more part to play in this entire Imbroglio that you are ready to admit, because politically, it was no different for Ibillo than it was for Bomadi.
And that is the meat of this whole discussion. Neighbouring peoples have been interacting eons before anything colonial in Nigeria.[/quote]You have been labouring to change the topic of this thread. But here it is again: Among all the 12 tribal divisions within the Western Region minorities, Akoko-Edo was the most heterogeneous hence had its identity most vulnerable to attacks and distortions by the Yorubas, and so it really ended up. The other divisions were homogeneous thus could unite to fend off Yorubalization attempts to good extents but for Akoko-Edo the required homogeneity to fight back coordinately was absent hence the larger scale identity distortion as Yorubas fully descended on them with little or no resistance. This is the long and short of the whole argument. Why deliberately refuse to get it remains a puzzle to me.

I never said the Ogoris were Yoruba.
I said they are usually trilingual. Theya re not Yoruba, Ebira or Edo, they are their own people, yet the influence of all three tribes reflect in their lifestyle. Who is forcing them to exhibit traits that are not indigenous to them?
Look at Ososo of today that are celebrating Ebira festivities like Unehe, have the Ebiras gone there to force them to do it?[/quote]You are still off track. Our point here is that Yorubas are forcing themselves on Akoko-Edo and I have given you the evidences which rather than acknowledge or prove wrong, you veered into Ogori and Ososo vs Ebira. How is that related to the topic under discussion?

This is apples to oranges comparison based on what is being discussed here. If a Lagosian came here to deny the presence of Igbo dominated areas within Lagos now, then yes you might have a point. Heck some ososo people can eve speak Ebira.[/quote]Does that now make Ososos Ebiras any more than your ability to speak English makes you a white man? Has Lagos become Igbo land on account of those Igbo dominated areas of Lagos?

So the fact that Okenes call Etunos derogatory names means what? that they don't have the same root?
How is Etuno being of same stock as Ebira Tao (Okene) from the same source in Kwararafa any different from you in Akoko Edo claiming to have come from Benin? Etunos can understand us, Can you understand Benin without learning it?[/quote]Why call them derogatory and subhuman names in the first instance if you are sincere in your belief that they are one and the same with you? Have you ever seen a Hausa man call another Hausa man derogatory names? Do Fulanis do that even though they are natives of different states? Do Igalas do so to one another? Do Binis do it? Derogatory name calling is an inter-tribal/inter-ethnic phenomenon and never intra-tribal/intra-ethnic.
So, the fact that it is happening between Ebiras and Etunos means they are actually different tribes/ethnicities from each other.
Among Yorubas of Ogun State you have the Egbas, the Ijebus, the Aworis, the Yewas, etc. Does the fact that they all share the Yoruba generic name, and understand one another to a good extent mean that all the other three (Egbas, Aworis, Yewas) have become Ijebus just because Ijebus have more population than them? This is analogy of the Ebiras vs Etuno case.
A lot of Bini words and expressions feature in Okpameri and Uneme Languages, just that the extent of divergence from Bini has become so large that mutual intelligiblity is now very low. With time too the extent of divergence of Etuno from Ebira will make it compulsory for an Ebira man to deliberately learn Etuno before understanding them speak. It has already gone far enough as of now.

Yes, Imoga and Ekor are more Yoruba than Ibillo by my own experience, that is why I brought them up, they basically attend the same churches as Yorubas , that is why I have chosen to mention CAC.. Do you get to see CAC churches in that much prominence anywhere outside Yorubaland?[/quote]Then you have not really studied Imoga and Ekor deeply.
Ekor used to be a quarters in Ibillo and just recently it got recognized and gazetted by the State Government as an independent Okpameri (not Yoruba) clan. This means Ekor people themselves applied to be recognized as an independent Okpameri clan and not as Yorubas. I guess you know Ekor people more than they know themselves? Imoga is described as the Largest Okpameri settlement in terms of landmass. Imoga people speak Okpameri which has alphabets v, z and which are absent in Yoruba Language but present in Bini Language. So how Imoga and Ekor are more Yoruba than Bini is a product of your experience got from just driving past them without having really interacted deeply with them.

SOFTENGR:
Fvck off!

You obviously have realized your self contradiction.

SOFTENGR:
Just as Benue is PDP

And was I the one who suggested that the incidents of Fulani Herdsmen attacks only happens in APC states?

SOFTENGR:
Edo people should keep enjoying their APC.

I guess the Ekiti and Enugu States where they have been attacking all before now are also APC states?
Must you always politicize every issue?

AdeizaPaul:
^^ Division tactics! very clear
citing all the instances of a bad relationship between the Okenes and the Etunos to designate them as different and unrelated.

Wehdone sir!

When Frank Onaivi Ukonga wanted to run for the Gubernatorial seat in Edo back in 2012 tell me what group did he run to first if not the Ebira Vonya International, and the Ohiku-Egbira descendants union?

Meanwhile, Etuno people in Okene earlier this year

https://scontent.fyto1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26231415_10211303154155282_39391137320786129_n.jpg?oh=1c2c42a536743802e18db67b622ecd6b&oe=5ADC6231


We remain one and indivisible!
Same names, same looks, same language, same origin! wetin remain?

Be it Ebira, Egbira, Egbura or Etuno we are all One , and descendants of Ohiku (Oshuku), so no, we are not different at all.

A truly the same people would not even have such instances of bad relationship. They show solidarity to each other irrespective of the political divisions they fall into. An Ijaw man in power or position of influence at the national level would protect and defend the interests of all Ijaws in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo States because Ijaws are really one and the same. Same with Yorubas, Igbos and Hausa-Fulanis.
But put an Ebira man in power and he would fight for the interest of only Ebiras and when he loses that position he suddenly 'realizes' Ebiras extend beyond Okene.

That you do refer to Igarrans as annavi without provocation says it all. A people who are genuinely convinced that they are identical with another set of people would not have ever tagged them annavi as that would have meant that they too were annavi. For instance if without any provocation I keep call my sibling a bastard then I implicitly call myself a bastard as well. But if I insist he is a bastard and that I myself am not, then common sense dictates that he is not actually my sibling in the real sense of the word. This is simple logic.

On Frank Onaivi Ukonga; How can someone nursing Edo State Governorship ambition run to Kogi State for support? What kind of support was that one? Since when did the Nigeria constitution begin to allow registered voters in one state vote in another State's election? How exactly were Ebiras supposed to support him for an Election in Edo State? Your claim here would have been valid if the guy were contesting for president.
Can't you see the different straws you've been holding onto?
On the picture you posted of Igarra women visiting Okene: it is very simple. They visited them as fellow Oshukus not as fellow Ebiras.

Even you yourself agree that the name "Oshuku" exists. Why have you been trying to replace it with "Ebira" is what I don't understand. Is "Ebira" synonymous with "Oshuku" in meaning?
This is the question you have avoided like a plague, and until you answer it all your stories here will keep reinforcing the perception among Igarrans that the Ebiras are out to subsume other Oshukus' identity under theirs and re-colonize them.

AdeizaPaul:
First and foremost, your ad hominem attacks on my person by calling me "Big Fat liar" and all sort of other names won't work here. So because You know I am Ebira, you think you can force your reasons of why YOU THINK I am involved in this thread on me?

I have 2 questions for you.

What is the origin of Etunos?
What language do Etunos speak?



I will forgive your ignorance on any issues relating to Anebira because you are not one. Same way you can excuse some yorubas here for making some claims.
Who told you the name Ebira is new? Some Ebiras chose to be known as Egbira, others as Egbura but never you say the name is a new coinage, because it is not. Ethnologue classifies Etuno simly as an Ebira dialect, which is what it is.




Read Up
Ebira Etuno leaders bear their minds on Anebira Opete'

Watch this video and change your warped perspective
What is the difference between an Advize from Okene and an Adavize from Igarra other than political boundary?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxMO1pOTv4U

Listen clearly to where this Igarra chief said that he Hopes and prays for the day that all EBIRAS will come together as One and discuss common interests.
He said it CLEARLY that everyone in the EBIRA NATION are one and have a unique way of identifying one another, no matter where we are across the globe.

It is so funny how while you on one hand are trying to promote your cultural uniqueness are trying to drive a wedge of division beween basoically the same people, the Taos and the Etunos.

Listen and listen carefully: I am partly Anetuno and partly from other parts of Akoko-Edo hence I am more Etuno than you anyhow you may look at it. Same explains my versed knowledge of the entire Akoko-Edo. So your accusation against me of trying to, as an outsider, drive a wedge between Igarra and Ebira people's false sameness is therefore funny and puerile.
So insults are painful? Were your tagging me as hateful of Yorubas or looking at history through a tube and lot others in your very first mention of me complementary remarks? By your question on the language spoken by Etunos you have actually boxed yourself ta tight corner. Both Etuno and Ebira are dialects of the Oshuku Language.
Ebira is not a Language but a dialect under the Oshuku Language.
There is no name like Adavize in Etuno. What they have is Adaviriku. Here are some details about the irreconcilable differences between Etuno and Ebira.
1. In Etuno, stone is called ireta while Ebiras call it akuku.
2. In Etuno, fish is called Isenyi while Ebiras call it ivovo.
3. Bottle is called ipanava in Etuno while Ebiras call it jongo.
4. Snake is isechichi in Etuno while Ebiras call it ewu.
And lots more, hence the differences are there.
In addition, Ebiras are predominantly moslems (up to 70℅) while Igarrans up to 90℅ Christians.
There is a whole world of difference between the value systems of these two groups.
Igarras celebrate festivals like Aba, Aazi, Echetete, Ubete, Ututanebe, etc which Ebiras don't. These cleavages were already prominent while they were yet unseparated Oshuku descendants.
The Ebiras that reside in Igarra have a separate location chosen by themselves where they build their houses and live. It is called Ekunchi Area.
They don't live interspersed among Igarrans because they know they are neither in Ebiraland nor actually the same people as Igarrans.
Mind you that in Anthropology it is a principle that dialects diverge wide enough over time to become separate languages in their own rights. However, for the fact that there is no agreed extent of divergence at which a separate language could be said to have formed from a dialect, then it remains the prerogative of the members of any tribal division to choose when their dialect becomes a language.
If Etuno people have at this level of divergence decided that their tongue has become a language, who are Ebiras to refuse them?
The opinion on the video you posted up there does not represent the feelings of majority of Igarra people. Some Igarras erroneously hold such belief for two reasons:
1. They wrongly and ignorantly assume that Igarra is being marginalized in Edo State and that identifying themselves as Ebiras and calling for a transfer of Akoko-Edo to Kogi State can draw the attention of the State government to them. But deep down in their minds they are not genuinely interested.
2. Even the man in the video was once a Representative of Akoko-Edo South in the Edo State House of Assembly, but all through his tenure he never moved such a motion or gave such a clarion call.
When Onuka was the governor of Edo State, all that he concerned himself with was to rival and demystify Oba Erediawa which he however woefully failed to achieve. One would have expected Ebiras to prevail on him to give Igarra special attention if they sincerely believed that Igarras are Ebiras like themselves. But they did not. Onuka never visited Igarra to identify with them as his brothers. Igarrans were however not pained by that because they too did not see him as their kinsman. In fact Igarra community never sent a delegation to pay him a courtesy call all through his tenure. He did not embark on a single project in Igarra. All these were because he and his fellow Ebiras knew deep down in their hearts that Igarra are not Ebiras and would never be. All these current phantom Ebira nation unity peddling is because Ebiras have lost relevance ever after the demise of military rule in which they were well represented and highly influential. Why did they not start this phantom pan-Ebira or Ebura identity movement back then when all was going well between them and Hausa-Fulanis in the military era while Igarrans and other Akoko-Edos were suffering serious irrelevance?
If Ebiras sincerely believed all along that Igarrans are exactly same as themselves, then why did their influential military officers ignore Igarra in its helpless quest to have Akoko-Edo split into three so that they could have one to themselves? Yet those Egbira military officers split Ebiraland into several LGAs without asking how their purported 'fellow Ebiras' somewhere in Edo State without any officer in the military were faring in their helpless push to get just one. It was when democracy came and military influence expired that Ebiras began to preach Oshuku descendants union which they still tried to distort as Ebira descendants union. Mind you that Akoko-Edo actually ended up not being split.
Over 90℅ of Igarras don't agree with the Ebira identity because it is not actually true and added to the fact that the Ebiras themselves have always proven it wrong in action whenever push comes to shove.

AdeizaPaul:
Igarra is basically Ebira.
Forget all the political posturing, or is it because they are in Edo state? They may chose to be called something else maybe because there has now been a kind of stigma associated with been seen as Ebira or something.
We have Ebira Koto, Ebira Mozum, Ebira Panda, Ebira Toto, and Ebira Etuno,they are all Ebiras.

Okene people don't have any copyright over the name Ebira. All these groups are from the same source who settled in various different locations either straight from the source or by separating from other groups already established elsewhere.

You are a big fat liar. Didn't I already say it that your actual grouse with me has nothing really to do with the issue of Yoruba vs Akoko-Edo but my exposure of the true position of the status of Igarra as being not a subset of Ebira? Am I not vindicated now?Igarras are not and will never be Ebiras. The mere fact that it is even a subject of debate is enough evidence that they are not. If at all one of them has to be classified under the other, then the Ebiras should even be the ones to be subsumed under the Etuno identity on account of seniority of Etuno.
However, the collective generic name of the people is "Oshuku" and not Ebira.
Why Ebiras want to subsume the identity of other Oshukus under theirs is to make themselves appear numerically stronger than they actually are in order to attain some more ego- boosting political relevance at the national level owing to how much emotional damage their domination by Igalas in Kogi politics has caused them. You can imagine that despite being a second majority in Kogi the Ebiras had never produced the governor due to overwhelming Igala influence if not now that it accidentally came their way through circumstances which legally shut Igalas out of the contest.
All these Ebira-Panda, Ebira-koto, Ebira- this and that were originally unknown. They are recent narratives in pursuit of a dubious agenda.
There are many more Oshuku towns in Benue and Cross River which have never been identified as Ebiras.
Ebira refers to the Oshuku descendants of Itaazi's loyalists ONLY.
I am not aware of any stigma associated with Ebiras. This is another fallacy aimed at validating your False narrative. If there is such a stigma for which you accuse Igarrans of avoiding Ebiras, then why did they attend the very first Oshuku descendants meeting in which an Igarra man was chosen as its first national president in recognition of Igarra's overall seniority status? You can't deceive anyone here please.

AdeizaPaul:
I have been following this discussion very closely and I must say that you seem to have a thing against Yorubas either that or you just aren't a fan of them.

How can you continue to insist that the yorubas are the ones forcing 'Yorubaness' over Akoko-Edo people , a people who have been in a separate region since 1963, over 54 years! Isn't that enough time for every man to chart his own destiny?

Take it or leave it, the influence of Yorubas in Akoko Edo is undeniable. The influence of ethnic majorities over surrounding ethnic minorities is inevitable, it is a fact of Life. I have met people from Biase and Abi local governments of cross river state who are not Igbo people having Igbo names.

I am from Adavi local government and even though we are in Kogi state NC Nigeria, never have we for once ever been under the Western region, yet so many Ebiras have Yoruba names, I am not joking, go to places like ihima and check for yourself. So, it would be wrong of you to keep saying, ohh The Yoruba influence seen amongst us is because of Western region, lol, were the Agenebode's not under the same western region , or the Agbors?

You are calling the Ibillo man here "Confused" while parading your own views as sacrosanct, You even said Akoko Edo has been ridden of all Yoruba influences which I personally know to be a pure lie, lol. Ogori people who are your closest neighbours in Kogi are usually trilingual in Oko, Yoruba and Ebira without leaving their towns. Is that also a case of Western region influence or simply influence of a neighbouring majority on surrounding tribes?

Let us have an objective discussion. These people are not Yorubas but pls, people are not stupid. We are even talking about ibillo, what if we start talking about Ekor and imoga that are absolutely no different from Yorubas with all their C.A.C Oke Isegun and Oke Igbala churches ?

Unless you carry that entire area and move it to another place, neighbours will always interact. as I speak to you I can tell you that nothing less that 30% of Ososo town are of Ebira origin and there are quarters there that are majority Ebira. So yes while ososo town might have been initially completely edoid, same can not be said of Ososo of now, who is to say all those Yoruba place names in Ibillo and co were not first founded by Yoruba people?

Stop dealing with history like someone looking at a landscape through a tube, who only sees only what is straight ahead in front of the open end of the pipe but incapable of seeing all the surrounding complexities.

@Ezanafe

Merely following a thread is totally different from reading it with comprehension. You obviously refused to comprehend the contents. Your claim of being an Ebira man yet fighting Yoruba battle is queer. Yes I have something against the Yorubas, and that is their overbearing attitude and their claim of founding Akoko-Edo towns which is pure falsehood.
I am sure you will give them a pat on the back the day they claim they founded Okene, Ihima, Ogaminana, Kuroko, and other Ebira settlements.

You laboured to sound unbiased but your illogicality gave you away. Your attempt to deny the effect of Western Region in the Akoko-Edo identity crisis is laughable. You rhetorically asked whether the bearing of Yoruba names by Egbiras also means they were once in the Western Region, and then sighted other watery evidences against the Western Region's administration factor.
If the bearing of Yoruba names by Egbiras negates the Western Region's effect as you would have us believe, then how come none of your present Ebira LGAs ever used the 'Akoko' tag in its name?
Why didn't you Ebiras give your LGAs names like Akoko-Okene, Akoko-Adavi, Akoko-Ihima, etc to prove that it does not take once being in the Western Region to be that Influenced by Yorubaism as you want your gullible readers to believe? Why don't you also sing your Ekuochi songs in Yoruba to also prove that 'point'?
Your claim that Yorubas are not imposing themselves on other tribes on account of the 1963 parting of ways is funny.
The Western Region was created in about 1951 and operated as a Yoruba dominated autonomous region for 12 years during which they made policies through which the minorities were forcefully Yorubalized to an extent.
But just three years after the parting of ways in 1963, the military misadventured into politics, seized power, dismantled regional autonomy and imposed unitary system which we have had to live with in all the 55 years thereafter. How easy is it for each tribe to chart her own identity under unitary system if I may ask you? The mere attempt to change your LGA's name requires the National Assembly to debate it as a bill and either reject or accept it. I doubt if you have any understanding of the near impossibility of self assertion by individual tribes or ethnicities under a system defined by very weak subnational units at the mercy of an overwhelmingly strong centre. Of course, being one of the Northerners currently resisting a return to the 1960 constitution, I don't expect you to have known this. But you can avail yourself with Chief Obafemi Awolowo's written works on thoughts about Nigeria's freedom in which he X-rayed the dangers inherent in experimentation with unitary system in a multi-ethnic democracy like ours.

The Etsakos and Aniomas whom you call Agenebodes and Agbors in error did not share boundaries with Yorubaland unlike Akoko-Edo hence the Yoruba influence was minimal even though some Etsakos too do have Yoruba names.

Your reference to Ogori is another fallacy. Much as Ogori is trilingual, the undiluted Ogori Language is not mutually intelligible with Yoruba, and the LGA in which Ogori is domiciled does not have the 'Akoko' tag as they were never part of the Western Region. What they call it is Ogori-Magongo LGA with HQ at Akpafa.

I could not however see how your analysis on Ososo, Imoga and Ekor is related to the topic under debate. That Ebira migrants make up 30℅ of Ososo can't credit Ebiras with the founding of Ososo any more than the 40℅ Igbo population of Lagos, as we are told, can credit Igbos with founding of the city. So I don't get your point there.

Your question on who is to say about who founded Akoko-Edo towns is at best hypocritic because I, an Akoko-Edo person, is to say rather than you a Kogite. More Ibillo people have come up here to explain that Yorubas did not found Ibillo but you still point to the OP as if all it takes for one's information on a NL thread to be authentic is being the OP of that thread.

Above all these, what I see in you is a hidden grouse over my detailed explanations of the independent status of Igarra from Ebira. We all in Akoko-Edo understand that Ebiras have always sought to do a fraudulent reclassification of all Oshukus as subsets of Ebiras with Igarras most particularly resistant to it on account of the superior status conferred on them by historical primogeniture right over the others. That we even began to hear distortions as Ebira-Etuno is enough indication of the extent to which you Ebiras would rather go to re-colonize and suppress the separate identities of other Oshukus.
When you see Igarrans you call them annavi meaning bush people but when it comes to seeking political relevance on a national scale you try to describe them as Ebiras just to make up the numbers required. Igarras are not Ebiras and Ebiras are not Igarras. Igarras are the Oshuku descendants of Ozoko while Ebiras descended from Itaazi.
Finally, stop looking at a people's concern through the perspective of others but themselves.

The CAC church is a Yoruba movement thus frequently founded by Yorubas everywhere. So their being named Oke Igbala or Isegun in Ekor and Imoga does not translate to these towns being founded by Yorubas any more than the names Anglican and Catholic translate their host towns and cities within Nigeria to being founded by Britons and Italians

While Reno Omokri is very correct about his predictions on the fate of states that agree to the cattle colony policy, one is however left wondering why he has not spared even a line to condemn the governor of his own State who is leading in pro-cattle colony gesture by virtue of his allocation of 1,200 acres of Bayelsa State land as grazing reserve for Fulani Herdsmen.
Seeing through the plank covering your own eyes to remove the spec in others'eyes.

R0LL0N:
Hello. Am currently doing my MSc project on stock price prediction. Is there any stock broker on this platform? please i greatly need your help i have some series of questions to ask in order to aid my discovery. Thanks.

If you have the stamina and patience, you can start reading from page 0 of this thread to this current page 3057 and you will get answers to at least 90℅ of your questions.

emmykk:
you are pain because i state the obvious that zik of africa is the most prominent national figure that dwarf other leaders in achievement.
he didnt support the civil war organise by his kindred,he even wanted to contest from Lagos,his influence on nationalist activity is beyond bound.



you are colouring it that he is not,if he is not then state the person

I have already stated that It is Herbert Macaulay followed by Anthony Enahoro. How come you missed seeing it in my comment?
You see, Zik was not a nationalist in the real sense of the word unless according to the Nigerian meaning which has to do with sentiments and misconceptions here and there.
Who is a nationalist really?
A nationalist or nationalism hero is he who fights for the freedom in two ways:
1. He fights to free his fellow countrymen and women from external domination by imperial forces. Mandela is a good example here.
2. He more importantly fights for internal freedom of his people from one another's possible future domination after the imperialists may have gone. Abraham Lincoln is the world's best example here for fighting for the freedom of Americans from fellow Americans.

On these two standards Zik failed woefully.
First, he knew fully well that Nigerian was a British creation as a means to keep exploiting Africa of her material and human resources yet he openly pledged to pay the supreme price to keep Nigeria one at a time every other figure was asking for a de-amalgamation of the British fraud. He resisted the inclusion of secession clause in our constitution even though such a clause would have guaranteed good governance. Till today we are not really free from Britain's imperialism courtesy of Zik's One-Nigeria philosophy. Was such a person therefore a nationalist or a neo-colonialist?
Secondly, for a country like Nigeria with a very diverse ethnic mix, it is a principle in Anthropology that the best guarantee for genuine national peace and development is highly decentralized system which in our case should be federalism marked by resource control. Zik read Anthropology from a prestigious university in Pennsylvania and even lectured in it for sometime before returning home. But in the build up to independence Zik, despite being an Anthropologist began to champion unitary system (i.e. a government with a very powerful centre and very weak sub-national units which creates room for internal oppression of other tribes by the ruling tribe). This means he was deliberately seeking for a system of internal recolonization of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians, and that exactly is what we have today hence asking for restructuring. The effect of the internal recolonization also caused his own Igbo brothers to ask for secession in 1967 through Ojukwu and now through Nnamdi Kanu.

With all these, do you still believe Zik was a nationalist and national hero?
The system he advocates is what we have now practised for 52 years and the country has failed because of that.
Whoever calls such a figure a national hero is obviously blinded by tribal loyalty.