₦airaland Forum

Ngozi123:
You still haven't told me where exactly Osadebe or even Ojukwu said that Anioma and Onitsha people are not Igbos. You do realise that just because some Igbos came from Benin, doesn't mean that they are not Igbos. Ask any Igbo person if there is such a thing as 'pure Igbo'. Go on, ask any Igbo nairalander here and report your findings to me. Now that you're talking about my people, I can give you a better explanation. The Igbos of Onitsha are the result of what we call a 'reverse migration', that is, they went to live under the Benin Empire for a while and came back to where they currently preside, bringing them some of the customs they learned from the bini people. Some may have mixed with the bini and other ethnicities living under the empire but that doesn't make them any less Igbo. As for the Anioma people, they share their history and heritage with the people of Onitsha, which is why I said that it's highly insulting for you to say that the people of South-South have no ancestral links to those in the South-East. You're basically ignoring their history. Also, you failed to answer any of my questions but you did well to avoid them...

Please google Ojukwu's notes comparing Azikiwe, Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello and there you'll see how he described Onitsha people as Benin Kingdom migrants. In that account of his he did not patronize this your strange reverse migration theory. I'll soon search out sites containing the literatures of Osadebey in which he made his analyses and furnish you with them.
If, according to you, there are no pure Igbos then it is as good as saying there are really no Igbos in the real sense of the word but that all the people currently referred to as Igbos are migrants from other places and tribes. Then that means Osadebey was correct after all.
I made myself clear that the only probable ancestral link Igbos may correctly claim with the SS resides with only the Igboid tribes like Ikwerres, Aniomas and the likes. What I am against and find insulting is your repeated generalization that SE Igbos have ancestral links with the whole SS just as you repeated in your comment above.
You should rather be putting it this way; "SOME FEW parts of the SS have ancestral links with Igbos" and not "the SS people have ancestral links with Igbos". If you keep using the latter expression you'll always have people like me to contend with because the latter drags me along despite me not having any single traceable ancestral link to any of the WAZOBIA tribes.
However I am lost as to which questions you claim you asked me and I did not answer.

dustmalik:
He is not a wailer. Try to recognize sarcasm when you see one.

I wonder how they all just missed the sarcasm.
The statement "the money just entered his account" is the clearest indication that he was only using a literary device.

BossKratos:




After this 1 sef go stand up when school leavers dey yarn!

Bloody otondo!

You missed his sarcasm.

chelseabmw:
Can't we the youth form our own party? Let's just forget about PDP n APC [b] [/b]

Which youths? The youths who are more corrupt than the elders?

So sad for Ekiti.

Bari22:
Large percentage of people
from the South east and
south south are born to hate.
No apology!
These are people who
professed to be christians.
I was on Sahara reporter's
page yesterday to read
comments on the
cancellation of the president
2 days working visit to Lagos
due to ear infection.
I was amazed with the kind
of hate-filled comments that
took over the thread. I lost
my patience reading evil
wishes from some animals in
human skin. I asked myself,
how did we get to this level
of inhumanity in the name of
political affiliation?
I am no longer a fan of
Buhari. But anyone who
wishes him evil will be
consumed by evil.
Anyone who wishes him
death will die before him.
There are thousands ways to
criticise a leader. Death/evil
wish[es] is not one of it.

I am always rendered uncomfortable when people just lump the whole SS into the category of people harbouring hate inspired by partisan sentiments. My own state and one other neigbouring one in the SS see things quite objectively.
A good number of SS people knew that GEJ was a monumental failure and yet a higher number of SSeners no longer brood over GEJ's loss as recent revelations have made it clear that GEJ's loss had more to do with his own weakness than the alleged Yoruba-Hausa conspiracy. MEND's latest press release was also a clear indication of realization of GEJ's weakness and failure.
We have even a good number of Yorubas and Middle Belters who are as pro-GEJ as Igbos or even more than Igbos. Does that give us the licence to claim that the entire Yorubas and Middle Belt people are full of hate and sectionalist sentiments? And some Igbos are as anti-GEJ as anyone else. I personally know very many of such Igbos. Just check APC's figures in the last Bayelsa guber election and you'll see that GEJ has up to 40% votes against his party right in his own home state in the SS. I suggest yo visit a Facebook page named "Core Middle Belt Value" and there you see Tivs and Idomas who are ready to be buried alive with GEJ anyday.
The Fayose, FFK, who have are equally proven that they are born to hate by their daily spewing of hate messages against Buhari, are they also from SS and SE?

spacechuks:
I have said it time without number that Benin is not a good place to raise a child. the city is evil. and the indigenes are not friendly. 15years that should be doing Sth meaningful with his life is busy engaging himself with crime. pls beware of Benin boys.. they are not good people

This guy is just an exception. Benin boys are not really deadly. However, I am saddened that my state is in the news for the wrong reason. That boy should be caught and killed. This vindicates those of us who stood against the human "rights" activists when they tried to intimidate Oshiomhole into refusing to sign into laww the capital punishment bill passed by EDHA.

IPOBs will be like; "MEND is a Yoloba Organization"

Fayose should have rather advocated and sponsored a bill towards creating state police.
Even if his bill to criminalize normadism scales through it will still come back to rely on the overcentralized Nigeria Police Force to implement. And we all know how responsive to emergency the centralized police is. Those Southerners who joined GEJ in arguing against state police on the senseless excuse that it will be abused by governors for election rigging seem to have started seeing their folly especially following how the Enugu governor got intelligence information before the Enugu massacre but could not secure the IG's cooperation as per swift response.
Secondly, it is almost impossible for Nigerians to learn from history. I can see some Igbos here chanting Fayose for president and trying to paint him as an ideal leader of Yorubas instead of Tinubu whom they seem to describe as an ass licker. One might even agree with the notion that OBJ is an embarrassment to the Yoruba race. However, Igbos current positive disposition to Fayose for his apparent anti-Tinubu stand is evocative of igbos initial positive disposition to Akintola's Anti-Awolowo stand which took Igbos as far as wanting Akintola to subdue and entirely relegate Awolowo to the background for the pro-Igbo NCNC to take over Western Region thus the whole Nigeria, and after Akintola succeeded in that with Igbos help he began to witch hunt the Igbos in the Western Region Civil Service and tried to use his newfound NNA alliance with Balewa to oust Igbos from federal positions. I personally don't see how Fayose, on becoming president of Nigeria with Igbo support, will not turn around to fight Igbos to protect Yoruba interest just as it was with Akintola. History has a way of repeating itself.

Dede1:
There is no doubt that you and I are not the only navigators to this forum. Also, I have never expected you to write in consensus with my views. However, I would like to draw your attention to1967 when the creation of states was jumpstarted in Nigeria. I know you will agree with me northern region of Nigeria was not the only region that sustained such ill-conceived and murderous machination.

You wrote; “Have you forgotten how Ukiwe left because he wasn't ready to play the boy-boy role to the northern boys of which Aikhomu has not problem filling the gap he left?” This is very irrelevant to the issue of cradle of states in Nigeria.

You wrote; “If Ahmadu Bello was asked that Nigeria should adopt unitary system in 1960 when he was scared of the likes of Zik and Awo dominating the north, will he had signed for an independent structured that way?” You should not pose this question to me. Again the question has the demeanor of a misplaced priority and directed to the wrong person.

If I remembered correctly, Nigeria under Gowon abolished regional federalism for unitary statism and only one region out of four stood up against it. I honestly agree with Senator Jubril Aminu when he said that disintegration of Nigeria can not be achieved through peaceful means. All these people shading crocodilian tears about the present state of the cesspit called Nigeria are either delusional or immune to political reality.

Destruction of federalism actually started with Aguyi Ironsi who broke down the regions and left only their shadows in existence. He (Ironsi) even went as far as changing Nigeria's official name from "Federal Republic of Nigeria" to just "Republic of Nigeria" meaning that the federating units had ceased to exist. Gowon initially made an attempt to reverse Ironsi's folly with his own decree 56 which returned the adjective "Federal" to Nigeria's official name. His creation of 12 states in itself should not have in any way undermine federalism as the decentralized power should have normally trickled down to as many states as were later created. But it was his quest to weaken Ojukwu that he unofficially reversed himself and began to arrogate more powers to the centre away from the States including those in the Old Eastern Region to weaken Ojukwu. Obasanjo later came and finally buried the federalism. It and was first killed by Ironsi, resurrected by Gowon, killed again by Gowon for fear of Ojukwu, and buried by Obasanjo. However a lion share of the blame goes to Ironsi for being the first to tamper with federalism and therefore emboldening all others after him to further attack it.

ekubear1:
@fstranger: Doesn't belong to us. We agitated for separation from Ondo, so now must stand on our feet alone regardless.

Cannot have your cake and eat it.

We will have to find something else to generate revenue.

Exactly! Ekiti people themselves agitated for the creation of Ekiti State through a memorandum which they submitted containing the resources present in their domain to sustain and generate revenue from. Did they not know that Ondo had oil while they were agitating to be carved away from Ondo? What if there were no oil in Nigeria or what happens to all this oil-based anti-federalism theories when Nigeria's oil gets exhausted? When oil had not been found and groundnut was generating huge revenues for the North why could Jibril Aminu not advocate for abolition of fiscal federalism? Why then did his brothers in the army kill Ironsi for dismantling true federalism? Anyway it is not Jibril's fault. I blame ironsi and Zik who , through a fraudulent one-Nigeria advocacy, brought this unitary system mess upon us which ended up opening the eyes of Northerners to the hugeness and allure of a centralized purse. Zik and Ironsi were two big fools.

Ngozi123:
Where did I say that every tribe in the South-South is Igbo? I said that some are Igbo so it isn't too far fetched for the Igbos in the South-East to call them their brethren, especially considering that many of them have been marrying and trading with them for hundreds of years. There are Igala people native to the South-East as well as he Middle Belt; do they stop becoming Igalas just because they happen to dwell in a different state?

I'm not accusing Osadebe as he has never denied that he is Igbo. Your friend's opinion is in the minority as I'm sure that if you were to ask every person from Asaba whether they are Igbo or not, 90% will tell you that they are. Ask yourself this, why is Asaba one of Ipob's biggest supporter bases? Why would a people who want to distance themselves from the Igbos want to live in a country with them? If they're not Igbo then why did the Nigerian military decide to slaughter them during the Asaba massacre? Were they mistaken?

I brought oil into this issue as that was one of the biggest reasons why the military government in Nigeria decided to create different states, carving out the then oil producing Igbo areas from the rest of the Igbos. That and the Nigerian government's propaganda post-war that convinced them to deny their heritage.

I want to go further but I don't want this post to turn into an essay so I'll just leave you with the fact that 'Igboness' created through: language, customs, food etc. Now ask yourself honestly if certain groups in the South-South share these things with other Igbo groups. If your answer is yes then I remind you of the old saying, "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck then it's probably a duck". If your answer is no then I'll know that you have an agenda. Btw, I've noticed that you've decided to stop arguing that Onitsha people are not Igbos, that's good...

Have a good day.

You keep on ascribing to me what I only quote from notable figures. I said Ojukwu himself (a foremost Igbo leader) argued, in one of his write ups on Zik, that Onitsha people are descendants of a Benin settler. This is all over the internet. I did not say so. Ojukwu said so. I don't believe you are not educated enough to know the difference between an assertion and a reported speech. So for you to pretend not to know the difference hence keep accusing me of what Ojukwu (an Igbo man) himself said betrays an agenda on your part. Why not rather just accept that Ojukwu is either right or wrong? Your denial does not change the fact that Dennis Osadebe wrote a lot of literature in which he explained that Aniomas are not exclusively Igbos. I have read it both online and in public libraries in Benin. Rather than deny it, it is more honourable for you to prove Osadebe wrong with superior arguements or accept it.
Your arguement about oil fails the test of holistic analysis. There are Igboid tribes cut into Benue State. I have a petty trader opposite my house here in Lagos who falls into that category. Was that also because there is oil in the land of those Benue Igboid people? I also heard the people of Ugep in Cross River State are Igbos. How does your oil theory explain that too?
The fact that Aniomas were deliberately excluded from the 1967 Biafra map by Ojukwu might just lend credence to Osadebe's position and detract from your claim that Asaba is a serious IPOB focal point. Also the fact that the committee set up by GEJ to look at the possibility of creating one more state for Igbos was chaired by an SE man who rejected the suggestion that it be Anioma state on the grounds that it would mean 7 states for the SS also weakens the theory of brotherhood between Igbos and Aniomas and indeed the entire SS. Why would an Igbo man reject the creation of Anioma state if truly the SE and SS are brothers?

Ngozi123:
They are not of Igboid stock, they are pure bred Igbos. I don't care what identity issues some of claim to be going through, they cannot deny their heritage because of oil. Can an Nsukka man declare that he is not Igbo anymore without being laughed at? What you said about the Anioma dialect is untrue as it's actually a lot easier for many Igbos to understand than someone from Abakaliki, for instance. It's funny that you mention Osadebe because he is actually my distant uncle, on my father's side, and I come from the part that you're talking about. I don't know any Onitsha person who has denied their Igbo heritage. We're very proud to be called Igbos. You've exposed your lack of knowledge on this delicate matter and I would prefer it if you stop referring to the South-South and South-East as completely different entities as it's an insult to both regions.

Thanks in advance.

I am from the South-South and I am not in any way Igbo. I don't understand Igbo and I have never spoken it in my life. So also with most other SS tribes. But your insistence on the sameness of the SS and SE is an insult to me because I can't see what links my tribe with Igbos. We are neither historically nor culturally connected with Igbos. When you want to link Igbo with the SS please restrict it to the Igboid tribes (who even reject it though) and stop this your irritating generalization. We have itshekiris in the SS and they have no single link with Igbos. So with Binis and all the Edoid tribes in Edo and Delta. Same with the Efiks, Ijaws, Ogojas, and so on. In fact the itshekiris are ethnologically closer to Yorubas, but Yorubas don't because of that claim that all the other SS tribes are their brothers. In fact they don't even claim itshekiris are their own within the SS.
The examples I gave of Aniomas rejecting Igbo identity were not my own creations, so your accusing me of knowing nothing about Aniomas is illogical. You should have rather accused Dennis Osadebe and those my two Anioma acquaintances of ignorance since I only reported what they said. And if you meet that Asaba man I quoted above you can't stand his intellect in proving that Aniomas are not Igbos. He will defeat you hands down with very powerful empirical illustrations. If you doubt it I can furnish you with his number so that you call him and suggest he is Igbo and then hear his reaction. I don't know how you brought oil into this discussion. What concerns oil in this issue?
And most importantly a people know themselves more than others know them, so they should be allowed the right to say who they are. I can't claim to know you more than you know yourself, Can I?
Brotherhood is not by force. Let others be whatever they want to be.

IPOBS and wailers will surely call Wike a traitor for this.

Ngozi123:
You said Yoruboid groups, not Yorubas. There are actual Igbos native to the South-South who share similar customs to those in the South-East so of course we'll call them our brethren. They're just as Igbo as the Igbos in Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia states.

The term "Yoruboid" does not méan non-Yoruba but means Yorubas Who have undergone some cultural divergence from thé parent stock. Most of thé Igbo groups in thé SS are called Igboid groups as they too have evolved and diverged from thé parent Igbo stock. In fact some of thèm claim they are actually non Igbos but that acculturation caused their identity crisis. I have a friend from Asaba in Delta State Who passionately resents being called an Igbo person, and has inculcatéd that into his children. Each time I ask him why, he argues that Aniomas are Bénin Kingdom emigrants whose culture got swallowed up by thé Igbo culture due to physical proximity and the fact of being outnumbered by Igbos. He also adds that if he decides to speak his real undiluted dialect the Igbo man will be lost in confusion. There is another female neighbour of mine and a native of Kwale here in Lagos who disparages and mocks some yorubas as ignorant when those ones call her omo Igbo (meaning Igbo woman). Dennis Osadebey wrote a lot of dissertations in which he explained that some Aniomas are Igala migrants, others are Benin migrants while just very few are Igbo migrants. So as long as these people refuse the Igbo identity, then there might be some level of element of truth in their claims.
Even Ojukwu too once argued that Onitsha people are descendants of a Benin Kingdom migrant. So how do you reconcile all these with your position?

HIGHESTPOPORI:
Zombie 90percent of Apc members were in PDP dat was in power for 16yrs

How did you arrive at your 90% figure? Please explain.

Ngozi123:
Your mentality is exactly what the governor was talking about. How can your people be too 'important' to do such work, is this not the epitome of laziness? Btw, this is coming from someone that doesn't believe that all, or even most, Bayelsans are lazy.



@Deadlytruth
What are you talking about? You do know that there are Igbos native to the what is the present day South-South, right?

So those "native" Igbos of the SS make up thé entire SS? You have forgotten that Thérè are also Yoruboid groups in thé SS. Now does that automatically also méan that all other SS tribes are brothers to Yorubas? What kind of logic are you trading héré?

hardcorevin:
if he is athief,what is Amechi,Fashola and tinubu?..Maybe high way Robbers??

Are Amaechi, Fashola and Tinubu being tried in any court for funds diversion like Dasuki currently is?

crazymod:
You misunderstood my comment..... Thats my region, i was born in Benin, Bendel State, and i live in abroad. We don't believe in Govt. hand out.............. Other tribes including Edo that dont wait for govt. are great people.

I was trying to tell OP that Ijaws are lazy.....
It is difficult to locate Ijaw youths in abroad and it is also difficult to locate a shop or business in Nigeria owned by an Ijaw youth.

Alright I get you now.

crazymod:
It is a known fact that Ijaws are lazy.
1. How many of ijaws own shop or Business compare to other minority tribes?
2. How many Ijaws are registered owners of oil rig at their backyard?
3. How many Ijaws can survive without govt. help?
4. How many Ijaws struggling for a living in abroad? excluding the ones studying abroad.

5. Ijaw youths believes in militancy to be rich while the Edo youths believe in uptown. (abroad)
6. Igbos youths believes in business ventures while Ijaw youths believes in igbesu and destruction.


7. more than 2/3 of the population of Ijaw youths including Tony Barcanista are on govt. payroll for doing nothing.
8. Name one heavy-weight prominent Ijaw man apart from Jonathan and Alamiesaya?

9. IJAWS STARTED KIDNAPPING IN NIGERIA .
10. IJAWS INVENTED "JOB TRADE" IN NIGERIA. they prefer to sell their job opportunities than being employed.


WITH THESE AND OTHER POINTS, I HOPE I AM ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU THAT IJAWS ARE FANTASTICALLY LAZY.

The Edo youths who prefer uptown (abroad), did you hear that they go abroad to sit idly over there and wait for governments there to give them free moneys? Whoever decides to go uptown is even more hardworking than an average Nigerian because uptown work is very demanding and less paying ad therefore not meant for lazy people.
Check all businesses and corporate enterprises in Nigeria and then mention just one which Edos don't have their fair share in. Edos were the first to realize that nigeria does reward hardwork and thus decided to trip uptown even through Sahara Desert en route to Spain. Which lazy people take such extraordinary risk?

With all the Niger Delta funds Dasuki diverted and embezzled, it becomes clear that the demand for the release of Dauski by the Niger Delta groups has exposed their agitation as politically motivated and not genuinely by concern for the Niger Delta Question. The group should be given its real name PDP Egbesu Lions. Nonsense. Release Dasuki my foot. Does one even blame them? Why would they not ask for Dasuki's release when their GEJ also released the Al-Mustapha whose Gestapo got their brother, Ken Saro Wiwa, killed in cold blood?
The same people who complained just yesterday that 90% of their oil blocs are owned by Northerners are today asking for freedom for a Northerner who too embezzled 90% of funds taken from Niger Delta to buy weapons. Funny and inconsistent clowns.

Goziehits:
R.I.P National Cohesion.

Was there ever national cohesion in the first instance?

I have read this thread and found hypocrisy and double speak running through most comments. The first is that the same people who claim here that Edo is not part of the SS let alone Niger Delta have quickly included Benin City youths and sited examples with them in their assertions that Niger Delta Youths are lazy. I don't know when Edo has suddenly become a Niger Delta State and part of the SS now again. I thought they say Edo is part of Oodua-Arewanistan Republic? So why site examples from it on the so-called SS/Biafra issues now?

Secondly I see comments from Yorubas giving instances of their first hand experience of laziness and work refusal among Ijaws and all SS people. The irony is that Yorubaland is the only part of Nigeria where youths, in the name of agbero, refuse to farm or do any decent and respect inspiring jobs but choose to seek and get the state government's support, approval and protection to harass motorists and extort them of the little profit they make all day, and in turn the motorists hike fares on commuters in order to break even after submitting the cab owner's daily returns. Is that what defines hardwork?
It is also only in Yorubaland that youths refuse to work (despite the countless industries in Lagos and SW generally) but choose to continuously patrol their neighbourhoods looking for a person buying land, building a house, roofing, etc so that they can order the process of negotiation or actual laying of foundation or roof rafters to stop until the person pays them the unconstitutional and illegal Omonile dues, which in some cases go as far as N150,000 before work can continue. I don't know any place in the Niger Delta or SS where that is done.
It is also only Yorubas youths that would, whenever there is traffick gridlock on a major road in Lagos, quickly get a stick or a long bench and place it across the alternative routes the drivers would want to take as bypass, and then illegally start demanding for N50 per driver before they'll remove the bench or stick to allow the driver pass. I have never seen an Ijaw youth degenerate to that level of laziness that inspires him to obstruct flow of traffic when there is no riot or demonstration.
Also, it is only in Yorubaland you'll buy a piece of land and after fully paying for it, you go away to raise funds to develop it and on return you meet someone else on that land telling you that the same Omoniles have sold the same piece of land to him. Is that not duplicity inspired by laziness? I don't know of any Niger Delta area where youths double sell or even triple sell land.
Yorubas were just only lucky to have Awolowo who was far sighted, realistic, principled, tenacious, pragmatic to the extent that he risked going to jail to see that Yorubas quickly got education and a good sense of enlightenment to rapidly develop ahead of all other parts of Nigeria. Why God decided to single out Yorubas for blessing with such a leader is what I have not understood.
Unfortunately we the SS were not so lucky except for having an Enahoro who however was not allowed to lead us (and set us up for better orientation than the one we currently have) in the Midwest area by our other leaders who sheepishly followed Zik in his fraudulent "One-Nigeria" fantasy.
For the Igbos; I have not really lived much among them in the SE to know them deep on first hand basis, but I place the blame of the laziness in Nigeria wholly on them because as at independence we were practising true federalism and resource control whereby each region retained 75% of its earnings to develop itself at its own pace. By that arrangement every people were hardworking and no one waited for federal allocation or other free funds as no region was constitutionally permitted to unduly benefit from another region's resources. So whoever was lazy in his region would die of hunger. That model was working perfectly until one arrogant Igbo Army officer who knew absolutely nothing about governance came and crushed and replaced it with unitary system claiming he was seeking some silly national unity and one-Nigeria inspired in him by that blind and myopic Zik. By how much has that rash decision really brought about national unity today in Nigeria?
If Igbos had left Nigeria's federalism as they met it all this laziness in the Niger Delta, SW, North and even SE would never have been known in Nigeria.

Ariani:
I can see that it's Niger Delta/ Ijaw bashing that is currently trending in Nairaland.

Funny that Igbo people that are always at the receiving end of this senseless bashing from Nairalanders have developed short memory and have joined Nigerians to continue the bashing of Niger deltans.

Ngwanu, make una continuu( in PEJ voice). Anya Nkiri
kam no.

That Igbos have joined the Niger Delta bashing all goes to prove wrong the recent perception that SS and SE see themselves as brothers. Some of us have always insisted that there are no brothers or sisters in Nigeria, but some others keep dreaming of such brotherhood. However whenever push comes to shove, the "brotherhood" soon unravels.

militarily:
apc don ruin edo state finish now.


Na to kick dem dry ass comot remain

If PDP was able to do just one tenth of what APC has done in Edo State so far, we would not have believed the ACN back then was an alternative. PDP's unfortunate 8 years can't be compared with ACN's (now APC) 8 years. During PDP times in Edo State all that used to be heard in the news about Edo state were things like "Anenih and Lucky Igbinedion met at a function but snubbed each other", "Lucky's father says a child who fails an exam should be allowed to repeat the class", "Lucky orders pensioners to sweep Osadebey premises before addressing them over their 12 month arrears", "Osunbor's faction of PDP holds parallel congress to Anenih's", etc. For 8 solid years there was no single news of any project being done or commissioned. And you believe Edo people will just return power to PDP when Lucky and Anenih still control that party?

Jesusloveyou:
which protest? the one that lasted for 30mins, when we protested 4yrs ago, it was from 8am-6pm, total strike, no movement.,

It is not the length of time a protest takes that matters but the message sent across by how vigorous the protest is. Even in 2012 the Edo version of the protest wore a very serious mood unlike those of other places where protesters were eating rice, musicians singing and protesters dancing and catching gifts from those on stage. In Benin all faces were strong and no one had time for the eating, singing and dancing which undermined the protest in Lagos.

its a sorry situation bro...Our leaders would always take us for fools...its a black african thing if you ask me...you would hear various foolish reasons why obj needed to be elected to rule nigeria in a democratic system of government like obj was our only hope as a country...now look at where we are...We started off democracy the craziest way and getting our senses back is now a problem...We are now stuck once more with an old general who once destroyed democracy...something must be fundamentally wrong with Nigeria and black africans...

Buhari's return to power also does not bother me because if Nigerians had abandoned primordial sentiments and mundane mindset and thus voted against OBJ in 1999 despite his credentials of having willingly returned power to civilians in 1979, then the fear of Nigerian voters would not have allowed Buhari (who even was a beneficiary of a coup that sent civilians out of power) to have ever contemplated returning to contest in a democracy let alone actually contesting thus asking for the votes of Nigerians who voted (as it would have been) against the OBJ who even handed over to civilians.
In the final analysis Nigerians are shallow minded, myopic, thoughtless and suffer from short memory hence when they vote they don't base it on lessons learnt (if they even do) from the past but on very meaningless excuses.
It was in 1999 I realized this. What happened then was that in my state (Edo) the campaign point being made for Lucky Igbinedion was that he should be voted in because while he was chairman of Oredo LGA earlier on he was so kind that he used to give his salary to market women as gift. People, including lawyers, philosophers, Teachers, professors, and Political Science graduates all fell for that campaign point all over the state. Then I pointed out the foolishness in the campaign by reminding them that they were busy talking of how Lucky spent on market women his salary which was his own private and personal money, but that no one was asking how he spent the revenue which accrued to Oredo LGA while he was chairman. Ironically enough that revenue was even the money that belonged to them the public and which they should have even bothered about rather than Lucky's salary that was not their business and negligible compared with the accrued revenue. And that is a state where people are said to be very smart. Now imagine the people of the acclaimed smartest state of a country being so thoughtless and shallow in thought. Then how terrible would it be with the dull states in that same country. That is why Nigerians are generally daft, shortsighted and too mundane in thought pattern to be able to put good governance in place.

Rexyl:
workers in northern states have ignored the directives from the NLC national secretariat to go on strike but southern states are complying. What country that has divided within itself for certain interest!

It is called the North-South Dichotomy. Nigeria is not one and can never be one. Also in 2012 no SS state, except this same Edo, participated in the strike against GEJ for removing subsidy.
Only Edo sees things for what they are without sentiments.

dukie25:
The same way we are going to chase out Oshiomhole/Obaseki in September.

Dream on! We have not forgotten the monumental misrule that plagued our state for 8 years non stop under Lucky/PDP. Edo people don't have short memory like other Nigerians.

D2diff:
I don't care about why they voted for him however the man never danced to anyone's tune but the Niget Delta. He did not give a damn about anyone. SNC's interests is not synonymous to Nigeria's interest or his opinion.

He gave power to the north because that was the agreement. And OBJ dealt with them with Yaradua.


Can we please stop talking about this?

What Niger Delta's tune did he dance to when he refused to support resource control which was the Niger Delta's most prioritized demand? The Original agreement was to give power to Igbos after just one term and not the North. It was towards the end of his tenure he reneged and termed it a gentleman agreement between him and Igbos.
Of course SNC is not synonymous with the interest of the "One-Nigerianists" chief among whom OBJ is. And guess what.... The Northerners have become the advocates of "one Nigeria" even though Igbos introduced it. So one Nigeria is a now more of a Northern interest than Southern.
If you knew we should stop talking about this why did you pick up the arguement with my post in the first instance?

D2diff:
Trust me when I say I am not a fan of OBJ but to claim that that he was a stooge is extremely stvpid. In fact OBJ tried to do the exact opposite

I can see that you find it difficult to read between the lines. I said Northerners gave him power because they (Northerners) believed he would dance to their tune and haunt his own Yorubas. He might not have wholly danced to Northerners' tune, but he definitely did not give a damn about the pan-Yoruba interest of SNC as he too conducted a sham which he called a confab and which the most notable Yorubas ignored cos it carried no genuine regard for the SNC and restructuring which Yorubas had always demanded from Abacha days. Was his resistance to restructuring not in the interest of the North? Or you think Northerners love the idea of restructuring? Did OBJ not in the end give power back to the North through Yaradua after making Igbos believe that he would hand over to them? Do I need to give you a full semester lesson?

mark3009:
I am not a bayelsan but i would like to say that all states of the federation are lazy. If this was not the case all states would be able to adequately generate their own internal revenue and not depend on monthly handout from the federal government. There is hardly any state that does not have one form of natural resource but they are just too lazy too develop.

Actually all people's of Nigeria were initially hardworking and thereby generating their own revenue from resources domiciled in the regions while we practised true federalism and resource control whereby each region retained 75% of the revenue generated from its domain and remitted only 25% to the centre. The 75% revenue retention was a big incentive that inspired hardwork as no region was constitutionally permitted to enjoy another region's resources. It was the coming of the military in 1966 led by Aguyi Ironsi that changed all that and replaced it with unitary system which inspires laziness, looting, stealing, dependence on federal allocation, etc. It is abnormal for people to really work hard in an environment where they know that the revenues they'll generate from that hard work will all be remitted to the centre for everyone to share equally. That was how Ironsi ruined this country and veered it off the path of hardwork and disciplined citizenry.