₦airaland Forum

gidgiddy:
We currently dont have any Regions, the constitution does not recognize anything called South/South, South/East, South West.

Im not about what Ironsi, Im interested in what he did. In military rule, there is limited autonomy, military rule is not democracy

What matters is if it was Ironsi who ended Regionalism. Ghana had many military leaders who grabbed power to the centre, but Ghana still practices Regionalism because none of its military rulers ever abolished the Regions they had and created states, like Gowon did. So when civilian rule returned in Ghana, they simply did away with the various decrees military rulers made and restored the autonomy of the Regions

But because Gowon had abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states, there was nothing to restore in the case of Nigeria because the Regions were long gone

Gowons Decree 14 totally destroyed Regionalism. He abolished 4 Regions that had resource control under Ironsi and created 12 powerles states that had no resource control and had to rely on the centre

Gowons Decree 14 ended Regionalism in Nigeria

Likewise, we never had regions under Ironsi because his constitution didn't recognize them. The arguement that what Ironsi said is different from what he did portrays him as a confused weakling. However, we know that a decree takes effect at once. Check Ironsi's national broadcast and see where he himself said so. I hope you know that a decree is different from a promise. The states created by Gowon had more autonomy far more than the provinces Ironsi created. Gowon's States were not reporting to him at the center unlike Ironsi's provinces which he ordered to be reporting to him at the center. I repeat again Ironsi was the one who abolished federalism, if not why was the reversal of all Ironsi's decrees the first item on the agenda which all the would be participants in Aburi meeting mutually agreed to?

gidgiddy:
The argument is not if Ironsi instituted Military rule, he did. The arguement is if he is the one who removed Regionalism

Pictures of Gowons Decree 14 that were attached clearly shows that it was Gowon who abolished the 4 Regions, created 12 states(which subsequent military rulers tripled to 36 states) and removed resource control

Without a doubt, it was Gowon that abolished Regionalism

This doesn't still explain what Ironsi meant by the bolded lines. We are not talking of regionalism in the simplistic sense of the mere existence of regions but in the sense of their independence and autonomy. We presently have six regions in Nigeria, namely SS, SW, SE, NE, NW and NC but does that automatically translate to us presently practicing regionalism? A big no and that is because those regions only exist on paper but are not recognized as federating units. This same scenario was exactly what obtained under Ironsi hence it was actually him who stripped the regions of their autonomy by breaking them down to 35 provinces which began to take orders from the center and also report to the center. Then he declared that he no longer recognized the regions as federating units. Gowon on the other hand created states and restored to them the same powers as the regions were before Ironsi came.

gidgiddy:
Educate your self with this thread of mine

https://www.nairaland.com/5690269/how-gowon-introduced-unitary-rule/1#116514356

The contents of that thread are mere opinions which are surely tilted to favour the respective commentators' personal sentiments. But here are the raw contents of the gazette of Ironsi's own broadcast. So tell us what exactly he meant by the bolded

Ironsi's Broadcast to the Nation banning
Political Parties and introducing Decree No. 34, 24 May 1966.
www.dawodu.com


Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number of territorial areas called provinces . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria.
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council.
All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. [The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.

ebufa:
Ironsi did not abolish the regions........he instituted military admins in the regions....it was gowon and awolowo who created the 12 ststes ....effectively burying the regions....afonja lier...!!!

Here is a narration from Philip Asiodu an Igbo man who was part and parcel of the events of those times. The account here is was also published by an Igbo man owned newspaper, The Sun:

Let's see if they will call Philip Asiodu an Afonja again.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/impunity-killing-nigeria-phillip-asiodu/

Note where the report reads:

Emeka Ojukwu and myself were very good friends in school, Kings College, Lagos, and Oxford University. In fact when the coup happened, he wanted me to join him in Enugu and I told him that I was not a regional man. And Ojukwu told me ‘we shall abolish the regions within 6 months’.

ebufa:
Ironsi did not abolish the regions........he instituted military admins in the regions....it was gowon and awolowo who created the 12 ststes ....effectively burying the regions....afonja lier...!!!

Ironsi's Broadcast to the Nation banning
Political Parties and introducing Decree No. 34, 24 May 1966.
www.dawodu.com


Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number
of territorial areas called provinces. . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria.
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council.
All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. [The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and
Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.

Wahala90:
Not true. Watch this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yth7MB2axOo

Ironsi's Broadcast to the Nation banning
Political Parties and introducing Decree No. 34, 24 May 1966.
www.dawodu.com


Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number
of territorial areas called provinces. . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria.
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council.
All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. [The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and
Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.

Wintertime:
Eastern Region Lt. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Mid-Western Region Lt. Colonel David Ejoor

Western Region Lt. Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo

Northern Region Lt. Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina

So Army officers were premiers? Were Akintola, Ahmadu Bello, Dennis Osadebe and Michael Okpara military officers? You are confusing military administrators appointed over groups of provinces for regional premiers.



Ironsi's Broadcast to the Nation banning
Political Parties and introducing Decree No. 34, 24 May 1966.
www.dawodu.com


Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number
of territorial areas called provinces. . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria.
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council.
All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and
Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.

hammer567:
TINUBU URCHINS ARE MARRIED TO LIES...




BLINDED BY HATRED.




TRIBALISM EATEN DEEP INTO THEIR HEART.



WITH RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY, RENDERED THEM BRAIN DEAD.



GOWON REPLACED REGIONALISM WITH UNITARY FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH THE FIRST 12 STATES HE CREATED.



IRONSI DIED LESS THAN 6 MONTHS IN OFFICE, THEY NEVER GAVE HIM A CHANCE TO DO ANYTHING, AND THAT INCLUDES LAWFULLY PROSECUTING THOSE ARRESTED FOR COUP.

If only you knew that Gowon made decrees which reversed those of Ironsi and returned the regions back to status quo ante from the groups of provinces Ironsi had broken them into.
Go and read Ironsi's national broadcast of May 24 1966 and see how many times he refered to the regions as "former regions" and then declared that Nigeria from henceforth ceased to be what is called a federation hence her official name stopped being Federal Republic of Nigeria but now just Republic of Nigeria. Then as if that wasn't enough he declared that he had set up a committee to draft an entirely new constitution for Nigeria.
Philip Asiodu, a honest Igbo man, would later testify that shortly after Ironsi seized power, Ojukwu told him in confidence that he and Ironsi had concluded plans to abolish the regions latest within six months.

Wintertime:
If history is to be teach in every school. Each school will have a different side of history


Now they lied the man whose tenure didn't last and after his death

Each region still has their premier leader

Yet they accuse Aguiyi Ironsi

Please who and who were the premiers of the Northern, Eastern, Midwestern and Western Region during and after Ironsi's reign?

phyl123:
Obaseki is trying to make it a better place but he is meeting a lot of opposition and it seems as if the people don’t like progress that’s why Benin city looks like something that was forgotten in the 18th century.

Obaseki is not really making any sincere efforts. His problem is that he simply doesn't know how to work with people. He is at war with everybody. He fought his former party and initially people believed his former party was the problem. Now he has been fighting his new party and already on his way to a third one. When a particular person continues to have problem with everybody then it simply means that person is actually the bad one. There is no single person or group Obaseki has been able to maintain a positive relationship with for long. So how can such person be said to be meeting opposition when he is the one opposing himself? Did I hear you say people hate progress in Edo State? So only Obaseki loves progress out of the over 5 million people in Edo State? What kind of progress is that one? Before Obaseki was imposed on Edo State by Oshiomhole, there was a lot of visible progress being made by that very Oshiomhole which an overwhelming majority testified to. How come Oshiomhole was not opposed?

phyl123:
Then do something about it.

I wish we had more leaders like obaseki Nigeria would be a better place.

Has Edo State become a better place since 2016 when Obaseki started ruling there?

overall90:
Azikiwe schooled in the US and happens to be the most exposed amongst the nationalists.
He saw how vast,diverce and prosperous the US was and had the same vision for Nigeria, unfortunately he forgot he was dealing with the black race and not white people.

But while schooling in the US he, with his own eyes saw Americans practice strict federalism and resource control without any of them advocating for unitary system disguised as call for one-America. Moreover, he read Anthropology from the University he attended in America and in the course content he learnt that a government defined by a very strong center and weak subnational units is very dangerous for an ethnically diverse nation, yet he returned home to preach government of a strong center and advocate one-Nigeria. Then how did what he did amount to an attempt to replicate back home what he saw in the US as you are labouring to have us believe?

rippa:
Niger delta oil money was looted and the rest spent on Lagos.

You are obviously living on the agelong propaganda against Lagos. First and foremost, criteria for the size of federal allocations to states have always been landmass, number of LGAs, and relative non-viability of the state. Now how therefore could Lagos with the smallest landmass, highest viability status and just 20 LGAs have received most of the Niger Delta derived federally allocated revenue than states like Kano with 44 LGAs and almost ten times landmass of Lagos, Akwa Ibom with 33 LGAs with at least twice Lagos Landmass, Rivers and Delta with 23 and 25 LGAs and at least four times the size of Lagos, Jigawa State with 37 LGAs with almost nine times the landmass of Lagos, etc all combined? Lagos Port revenue is taken 100% by the federal government and shared to other states including those of the Niger Delta you are talking about. Lagos Generates 55% of the total national VAT revenue which translates to about nearly two trillion but it doesn't get up to 20% VAT revenue allocation.... meaning that the balance of over 1 trillion from Lagos is shared to other states including the Niger Delta ones. Essentially, what Lagos Generates for the center is far more than what it receives from the center, so how is Lagos being developed with money from any other state on the overall? From 2007 till 2014 when crude oil was selling high in the international market, the budget of Lagos ranked on the same level (N400 to 500bn) with those of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States but with the crash of crude oil, these Niger Delta states budgets struggled to remain in those regions while that of Lagos continued to increase so much that as of today it had reached 1.6 trillion while Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa are still stuck at less than 500bn. That is to tell you that Lagos economy has always been diverse enough never to depend on crude oil allocation. The industrial base of Lagos State was built long before unitary system came. Even Kaduna State which never was federal capital at any time always had a far larger revenue that each of the Niger Delta States owing to the highly diversified economy composed majorly of textile industry which unfortunately began to close down due to the birth of terrorism in the North. But even with that Kaduna still remains among the top ten in terms of IGR today. So how could it have been developed with Niger Delta revenue? Ibadan too had its fundamental infrastructural developments laid during the Region system when there was resource control and was for a long time the largest city in West Africa. Was Ibadan ever federal capital? Niger Delta's wealth was stolen by Northerners in collaboration with Niger Deltans themselves like Dan Etete, Don Etiebet, and recently Alison Madueke the mother of all. Even while Lagos State was federal capital, plans for a new federal capital, Abuja, was already conceived and a lot of Niger Delta revenue started being spent to develop it ahead of relocation of the government seat there..... meaning that Abuja had genuinely been the destination of Niger Delta funds right from when Lagos was capital. If you don't know, plan for Abuja was hatched in 1975 and from that moment whatever was left after looting of the Niger Delta funds, started being redirected develop Abuja in advance.
Even if we are to concede it to you despite you have not adduced any supporting facts, the question you have cleverly avoided is, how is it the Yorubas' fault that Azikiwe and his Igbos rejected and killed Awolowo's motion for shift of capital to their own Eastern Region and therefore leave Lagos undeveloped with Niger Delta money as you assume? Please answer this question this time.

rippa:
I wondered where u got your statistic of more yorubas supporting P.O. than igbos supporting tinubu.
That's an igbo group that openly declare support for tinubu.

That was Lagos branch of Ohaneze and not the entire group. Secondly, they later came up to deny the endorsement. See it in the links below:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/dailypost.ng/2022/06/22/presidency-ohanaeze-denies-dumping-peter-obi-to-endorse-tinubu/%3famp=1

https://guardian.ng/news/ohanaeze-denies-endorsing-tinubu-for-2023-presidency/
On the other hand the national body of Afenifere declared support for Obi and have not come out later to deny it.

https://leadership.ng/2023-why-we-endorsed-obi-ahead-of-tinubu-afenifere/

rippa:
If not for tribalism self, why will any reasonable human choose tinubu over P.O. after 8years of destruction APC did to this country.

You are already contradicting yourself. You have just argued that there are more Igbos supporting Tinubu than Yorubas supporting Obi. Now how then is it tribalism that very many Igbos, according to you, are supporting Tinubu? Are these Igbos now Yorubas again or Tinubu has become an Igbo man?
So Tinubu is now synonymous with APC? Funny. Can you in all honesty compare Tinubu's tenure as Lagos governor with Obi's tenure as Anambra governor? We should even wonder why any reasonable person will support Obi who admitted and tried to publicly rationalize his investing of Anambra funds into his family business in addition to not conducting LGA elections in Anambra throughout his tenure, sponsoring killings in Anambra, dividing the state along Anglican and Catholic lines, leaving no identifiable legacy project behind, quoting statistics and figures that are always wrong and bogus, repatriating non-Anambra Igbos out of the state, and till today maintains a chain of importation businesses while campaign about local productivity, etc. Are people not supposed to be examples of what they preach? How come the hype about Obi only began after the PDP refused to zone her ticket to the SS or SE?

rippa:
Here is fashola advising us not to vote old people, but now they are ready to throw anything to Asorock as long as the person has Yoruba origin. Nobody care about Nigeria again.

The Peter Obi you too are trying to throw into Aso Rock had been around since 1999 and is 61 years old without being any different from the politicians you have around today. So how are you any different from what you accused Fashola about? What spectacular difference did Obi make in Anambra? Can you mention at least two? If it were by youthfulness, then how come Nigeria is in a mess today despite being ruled mostly by youths since independence? Or are you not aware that Aguiyi Ironsi, Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari, IBB, Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo again, Yaradua and Jonathan got to power at the ages of 42, 30, 36, 36, 56, 41, 44, 51, 56, 66, 54, and 56 respectively?

rippa:
In 1999, the ibos collectively choosed Obasenjo over their brother, but u will never see yorubas mentioning it.

Which brother of Igbos featured on any ticket in 1999 which they voted against? Do you just love creating alternate reality? In 1999 there were two Yoruba candidates. One was preferred by Yorubas themselves and in addition he had a clean record as a public servant and held out a manifesto which could bring about a Nigeria that works for everyone. He was also the candidate of the NADECO which sacrificed and fought to get democracy returned. Igbos perceived perceived him as the candidate whom Yorubas really wanted hence voted against him to spite Yorubas despite he was actually better and more suited to bring about the new Nigeria for which we fought against military rule. The other one was a member of the very militaristic Northern Oligarchy Oligarchy which had milked the country and especially the Niger Delta dry and destroyed the country with over 40 years of monumental looting. In addition he mocked the struggle for democracy while it lasted hence the Northern Establishment chose him as their reliable stooge and lackey, and Igbos voted for him because they knew he wasn't loved by Yorubas. So how does that amount to Igbos supporting Yorubas in 1999? If anything, their reason for voting Obasanjo was that he was the face and candidate of the agelong Igbo-Hausafulani political complex which had been existing since independence. Remember the ideologically bereft NPC-NCNC governing coalition Igbos went into with Hausafulanis at independence which ended up so misruling the country that it attracted a bloody coup staged by Igbo soldiers trying to correct Azikiwe's blunder but did it very badly hence culminated in a war in which their Hausafulani political partners wasted over 3 million innocent Igbo civilian lives?
That was what they repeated again in 1999 and even in 1979 as NPP went into alliance with NPN hence Ekweme became slave partner again with Shagari a Fulani man just like it was in the first republic. So how is it the fault of Yorubas that Igbos choices aimed at spiting Yorubas have always boomeranged on them? In 1993, even Northerners admitted the truth that Abiola was far better than their own brother Alhaji Bashir Tofa as far as hope for a better Nigeria was concerned hence all voted for him but Igbos purposely voted for Tofa not because they were genuinely convinced he was better but because they wanted to just vote against a Yoruba man. How on earth could any sensible person have preference a barely educated Tofa to Abiola who was a first class Accountancy graduate from University of Glasgow, Scotland?

rippa:
They are quick to judge what the igbos did not do.

At independence, Awolowo's proposal for an AG-NCNC coalition which would have thrown up Zik as prime minister and him finance minister under him was rejected by Azikiwe and Igbos who preferred the NPC-NCNC coalition in which Zik would be a figurehead Governor General whose only duties would be the commissioning of public toilets and acknowledgement of cheers from school children doing match past on independence day anniversary celebrations. Why don't Igbos ever tell you this each time they complain that Yorubas are working to deny them of presidency?
In the recent PDP primaries, The SE went there with 150 delegates but in the results the two SE candidates got a total of 30 delegate votes. The rest 120 voted for Atiku after collecting dollars from him. Yet Igbos tell you that Yorubas are their problem and you believe.
In the Jos PDP convention of 1998, Alex Ekweme was already the leading candidate by opinion polls as he met all the PDP NWC criteria against Obasanjo who didn't satisfy a single one of it. But when IBB the co financier of Obasanjo's ambition flooded the convention with N5m per delegate, it was the Igbo delegates that rose and began to condemn Ekweme listing out the shortcomings for which he should not be fielded by the PDP and in the end they all voted for Obasanjo. Yet your likes continue to believe that Yorubas who were largely not part of PDP then caused Ekweme's downfall.
You need a referesher on how Igbos have always been shooting themselves in the foot only to point accusing fingers at Yorubas instead of their Hausafulani friends that always use and dump them.

rippa:
What about the igbos like Joe igbokwe that is a strong tinubu supporters?
In my street here, I can count upto 5 igbos that i have tried to convince to vote their brother P.O. but told me straight that I should rest that they are voting tinubu
Is what the Yorubas doing fair to them?
Why are the ibos in Edo, ondo, Ekiti etc living peacefully with their host?
As a Benin man you claimed To be, have u ever heard us quarrelling with the igbos?
The yorubas will use every opportunity to remind you that Lagos belongs to them as if dey had any meaningful contribution to Lagos development.
Lagos was developed by Niger delta oil money
And every Nigerians as been capital of Nigeria and no region can solely claim the development of Lagos

I can authoritatively tell you that the number of Yorubas supporting Peter Obi is far more than the number of Igbos supporting Tinubu.
In fact the whole of Afenifere has declared support for Peter Obi, but can you mention any pan-Igbo cultural organization that has declared support for Tinubu? There will never be such.
Then for the Joe Igbokwe you mentioned; Very many Igbos hate him and call him slave, fool, idiot, cow, traitor and loads of other unprintable names for supporting Tinubu but how many Yorubas do you know insulting and labelling any prominent Yoruba son like Doyin Okupe supporting Peter Obi? That is where the difference lies. Do you know how much Igbos hate Dave Umahi despite his stellar performance in Ebonyi just because they feel he must be supporting Tinubu automatically since he is of the APC? How many Yorubas have you ever seen expressing any hatred for Makinde and calling him a Saboteur for obviously going to support Obi? Do you recall how Igbos here on Nairaland insulted Edo State people continuously for seven years just because we refused to identify with Biafra? How many Yorubas have you ever seen insulting Edo people for rejecting Oodua Republic proposal?
Even the Binis who are historical stakeholders in Lagos don't go about calling Lagos a no man's land despite the assumption (though fallacious) that Lagos was developed with Niger Delta revenue, but Igbos who have no historical stake in Lagos are known to call Lagos a no man's land continuously.
And if they are justified to call Lagos a no man's land because of being once the federal capital, then why don't they say same for Calabar and Lokoja which were as well once federal capitals? Why don't they presently term Abuja a no- man's land given the fact that Abuja was wholly conceived and built with Niger Delta money unlike Lagos which existed many years before the discovery of crude oil?
In actual fact about 95% of what you call Lagos today were in the Western Region when the industries and infrastructure in them were built by the Awolowo led Western Region government with Cocoa tax revenue when we were practising true federalism and resource control and that time the Niger Delta was majorly under the Eastern Region where Igbos sat on their wealth leading to the rebellion of Isaac Adaka Boro towards Niger Delta Republic declaration.
Then considering the fact that Awolowo, in 1953, moved a motion in the parliament that federal capital be shifted from Lagos to either the Northern or Eastern Region to enable Igbos too enjoy whatever special advantage Lagos Colony was assumed to be benefitting from that but Azikiwe and his fellow Igbos in the parliament killed the motion for fear of losing the premise on which they were mounting pressure on the colonial overlords to declare Lagos a no-man's-land; how then is it the fault of Yorubas that Lagos ended up purportedly being developed with Niger Delta revenue when Unitary system came courtesy of Aguiyi Ironsi an Igbo man again? Under true federalism, Federal Capita presence doesn't confer any special developmental advantage on any state or city hence in the US where there is true federalism, States like New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, etc are far more developed than the District of Columbia which houses the Federal Capital. Now was it Yorubas that brought unitary system to Nigeria against our wish? Awolowo's conviction that with the true federalism in force then, neither Lagos nor anywhere else in Yorubaland needed federal capital status to develop was what made him push for the transfer of federal capital away from the entire Western Region to either of the other two regions. So why didn't Igbos grab the opportunity then if they were genuinely convinced that federal capital is a developmental advantage under pure federalism?
Yorubas have every moral right and authority to remind you that Lagos is their ancestral land. They didn't beg you to impose on them the unitary system which you think gave them the advantage over other states. In fact their overall leader Awolowo hated unitary system with a passion and wrote loads of books on why Nigeria must never experiment with it. He rejected federal capital but Igbos forced it down his throat. So how do you blame them for the negative consequences of what they disliked and tried all their best to prevent from happening? Put yourself in their shoes and see if you will accept exactly the kind of blame you are currently dishing out to them.

Igbos have also recorded problems in the other SW states you mentioned. Right now there are Igbos voted into the House of Representatives to represent some Lagos constituencies. Can same be said of any of the five Igbo states in terms of role reversal?

Lastly, Niger Delta oil money was mostly stolen by Northerners and stashed away in foreign accounts by them during nearly all the period Lagos served as Federal Capital. Aren't we hearing of trillions of Abacha loot and IBB loots from Niger Delta oil wealth? Does Lagos look like a place where such humongous amounts of money was spent in development?

rippa:
Lolzz
The joke is on you
I should pack out of Lagos as par who ur father is??
Lolz
Does Lagos belong to ur family members?
My friend I can stay anywhere i want in Nigeria as a citizen.
The earlier u learn that an igbo man is not your problem, the better for ur mental health.
Stop being foolish and get a life for yourself and your generation.
And please I don't hate Yoruba as a tribe o
I just pity the foolish ones like you that have refused to make use of the brain God has given them

I am from Edo State too, but I don't share your views because I know that as an average Bini person you will not tolerate it at all if an individual from another tribe even within Edo State comes to live in Benin City and right there begins to tell you to your face that he and his people developed Benin City, talkless of a someone from outside Edo State doing that to you right inside Edo. No one has any problem with anybody living anywhere he chooses but telling others you built their homes is simply going overboard. And have you ever asked yourself why it is only Igbos that have issues with their hosts in the SW, North generally and even sometimes in the SS? Igbos were given quit notice in the North some few years back. Have the Binis, Esans, Urhobos, Itsekiris, Ijaws, Isokos, Efiks, Ibibios, etc living in the North ever been given quit notice there? How come these other tribes are able to be at peace with their hosts outside home? In Lagos State in 2015 there were a lot of Jimmy Agbaje (PDP) supporters of Edo and other SS states origin but they were not threatened with Lagoon for supporting the party because they went about it decently without insulting the Yorubas. But the way Igbos supporting Jimmy Agbaje went about it was provocative enough to evoke such utterance from Akiolu. That is the difference. Mind you that Igbos committed the political blunders that plunged Nigeria into this mess it has become.

purefacti:
This time we will get it right even though what u said about prof nwabueze is hogwash

If you don't believe a claim, the decent thing to do is to ask for evidence rather than dismiss it as hogwash. And this is the same you praying to get it right. Where on earth do people get it right through the attitude you have just displayed?

Broveens42:

The earlier we end this union, the better for everybody.
You have written well, it's been hypocrisy all along.

But you are fully aware that Igbos led by Azikiwe started that hypocrisy by way of chanting one-Nigeria and instigating the colonial authorities to arrest and punish all those who took exception to the hypocrisy back then. The worst part of the whole hypocrisy was that even after the massacre of the fellow Igbo brethren of the Zik-led Igbo army of hypocrisy in 1945 in Jos and again in 1953 in Kano, they even became more fervent in their agitation for one Nigeria as evidenced by Zik's public speech discouraging Northerners from their quest for secession in 1954. So now that that same army of hypocrites are yet to acknowledge and admit that they were actually the ones who perpetrated the hypocrisy that put us in this mess today, why should we take them seriously on their quest to seek what others had started seeking which they sabotaged?

wingmanIII:
Load of distorted junk. Very trashy tale

You could have easily proven it to be a trashy tale by simply penning down the superior contrary facts to the article if you really have any.

gidgiddy:
What Im saying is, why havent you all that have been in power corrected whatever Ironsi did in 56 years? If Ironsi's decree 34 was a problem, why didnt other military leaders like Gowon, Murtala, Obasanjo, Buhari Babangida and Abacha promulgate Decree that would return us to where we were before Ironsi?

Instead, all these men enacted decrees that abolished the 4 Regions, and kept creating untary states until we had 36!

From 4 Regions under Ironsi, we now have 36 states

From resource control under Ironsi, Federal government government is now controlling everything

From fiscal federalism we had under Ironsi where the Regions paid the government at the centre, we now have the reverse of the federal government at the centre paying allocation to 36 states

Nigeria has been centralised and unitarised beyond belief!

All those who came after Ironsi did far far worse. 56 years of total mess by other Regions.

Compared to what other Regions and ethnic groups did to Nigeria in the last 56 years, Ironsi was a saint.

The Igbos in those various governments frustrated all the attempts made to revert to pre-ironsi era. Right now Peter Obi, an Igbo man, is campaigning against restructuring meaning that if he gets to power he will further entrench unitary system but your silence about it is very loud. Why?

3ple9iner:
Bro try and understand his point and don't just rush to reply.

You are talking as if you are pained as current Nigeria isn't favouring you but wouldn't mind continuing like that if it favours you.

You are very correct. Peter Obi has just declared that the 1999 constitution is not our problem and his brothers have been hailing him and giving him kudos for that. What greater evidence does any right thinking person need to realize that Igbos wouldn't mind continuing with the present status quo now that it looks like their kinsman seems hopeful of becoming the president? It is now five days after Peter Obi made that nauseating and hypocritic declaration and no single prominent Igbo man or woman has come out to denounce him, rather they are all in questionable conspiratorial silence. Let me hear them allege marginalization against them or cry restructuring if Obi ends up losing next year.

gidgiddy:
Theres a problem here. An Igbo man has not led Nigeria since July 1966, thats 56 years ago. In the last 56 years, all other zones have at one time led Nigeria, either in civilian or military guise

The questions therefore are these:

Why is Nigeria of today worse than it was 56 years ago?

Why are we more divided than we were 56 years ago?

Where are have the 4 Regions that existed 56 years ago disappeared to, and we now have 36 states?

What happened to resource control that existed 56 years ago when Ironsi was in power?

Why is Government even more centralised than it was 56 years ago?

Those who are saying that Igbos derailed Nigeria 56 years ago have all had the chance to lead Nigeria, but things are far worse than than they were 56 years ago

You all have ran Nigeria into the ground for 56 years, messed the place up, but you people still go back 56 years back in time to blame Igbos?

What a shame

I just gave you one of the numerous examples of how the Igbos who participated in all the post-Ironsi government used their positions to further entrench unitary system yet you are still asking how come all other tribes have not been able to reverse Ironsi's denaturation of Nigeria with his Unitary Decree.
With Peter Obi presently campaigning against restructuring amidst cheers from his Igbo brethren just like it was with Azikiwe's resistance to federalism and secession clause, do you still need anyone to tell you that Igbos remain the biggest threat to restructuring and reversal of Ironsi's blunder?

purefacti:
you took the thought from my mouth
dear Nigerians allow us amend what we did wrong some times ago

In 1978, a chance was given by Obasanjo to Professor Nwabueze to correct that wrong given the role he played twelve years earlier in commiting that wrong. But as expected of the average Igbo man, he worsened it by further producing a report from his committe which recommend further centralization of powers and revenue, and that was what Obasanjo carried into the 1979 constitution which was replicated in the present 1999 version. So are you asking that Igbos be given another chance to fail us again?

Even the Peter Obi presently seeking to be president has just declared that he doesn't share the belief that the 1999 Constitution is Nigeria's problem but that corruption is it, and no Igbo person has denounced him so far but even applauding him as intelligent for that utterance and trying to rationalize it, yet you are laboring to have us believe that Igbos are sincerely interested in correcting the mistake they made that led us into this bottomless pit. You think you are talking to babies?

Notasyouthink:
Point of correction, Biafran soldiers were intercepted in ore on their way to dordan barracks which happened to be the nigerian sit of power as of then.

Stop lying thinking that you are dealing with your average zoo animal.

Are you suggesting that Osadebe House which Biafran soldiers invaded right inside Benin City was located along the Onitsha -Lagos Expressway to warrant the thought that their presence in Ore was as well for mere transit purpose?

Notasyouthink:
By saying that Igbos started political killings in Nigeria means, that you've acknowledged that most part of delta state is Igbo because that's where Kaduna nzeogwu who happens to be the leader of the coup comes from.

Secondly, do you know that about one or two Yoruba men were involved in the so-called coup??
What do you have to say about that??

The only Yoruba man in the plot was Adegboyega and in the execution of the coup he didn't kill anybody as he deliberately wasn't assigned any target by his fellow Igbo coupists who were in the majority in the plot.

Kingozymandias:
Unfortunately you are off the mark .. I am not from southeast

That doesn't change the fact that you are mistaken in all your claims.
Like I was saying: The Hausas didn't hold Isaac Adaka Boro from exiting Nigeria because as at that point in time, they themselves were pushing for Araba Republic over the gruesome murder of their revered Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa together with a lot of other high ranking military officers of their region e.g. Maimalari, Largema, etc by the Igbo coupists. So how could they have held Isaac Adaka Boro whose agitation was similar to theirs?
On your same pattern voting claim for the SE and SS; in 1993 Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta all voted for SDP Abiola while only Old Rivers voted for NRC Tofa similar to Igbos.
In 1979, Bendel (now Edo and Delta) voted for UPN Awolowo while old Cross River (now Akwa Ibom and Cross River) voted for NPN Shagari, and Anambra, Enugu, Imo all voted for NPP Azikiwe. So how does that amount to SE and SS always voting in the same pattern?

Kingozymandias:
[s][/s]

Yoruba man.

Tinubu will never rule Nigeria sir. We know your antics and behaviours. All because of Tinubu you came to open a thread to divide the SS/ SE. The sooner you understand one thing the better which is SS/SE vote is one block vote. We vote the same way. You call them minority we call them our equals. You yourubas laugh at us Igbos saying we are now a minority, but here is the thing we never saw ourselves superior to anyone

You failed because you didn't read about how the Midwest agitated and broke away from the Yoruba.. you tried to lie it was given freely when if only you had taken a moment to read you would have seen it wasn't..

No one owns Nigeria other than the Hausa so stopping Boro was not an Igbo decision but a NIGERIAN DECISION.

Sorry omoluabi you failed

These guys you are labelling Yorubas are full blooded Ijaws. Why not rather address the issues they have raised? Just because Joe Igbokwe your own brother (whom you know in real life) doesn't buy into the Igbo mainstream narrative, you Igbos label him a Yoruba
man hence the name Joe Yorubakwe your own very brother, Joe Igbokwe, why then should one be surprised seeing you accuse an Ijaw person of being Yoruba just because his narrative has a bad taste in your ears despite it being the unassailable truth? What has Tinubu's ambition got to do with this? Why bring Tinubu into it rather than simply counter his arguement with superior contrary facts if you really have any?
As a Midwest person myself, I can tell you that the OP is very correct as per his point which is simply that it was easier for the Edo/Delta people pull out of the West while it was impossible for the non-Igbo tribes of the Eastern Region to pull out of the East despite their huger attempts and stronger agitations. But you are trying to twist his words by accusing him of saying that the Midwest didn't struggle at all. Why are you this disingenuous?

Moreover, what your likes easily showcase is ignorance about history. The seeming sameness of voting patterns of the SS and SE is only limited temporarily to this present dispensation and occasioned by the SE's attachee efforts to the SS. In the first and second republics it wasn't so. It is not likely to be so next year because those from Rivers and Bayelsa will not likely vote for Peter Obi going by their body language now.

Papacypaul:
You are the idiot here, every civilized world build strong institution and not people alone. Institution outlast people. Nigeria doesn't want to build institution but come looking for leaders with "Messianic tendency" ,our brain has been damaged occasioned by religion into this a messiah thing ,every four four years only to be once again disappointed.
How will sane human say 1999 military decree is not our problem and you believe if you are sane yourself? When did people that made up of Nigeria sit and write the military decree because for a document to be term a constitution, it must be peopled.

Now ,to please Hausa Fulani slave masters, every southern presidential candidate will always pretend this Parasitic Unitary system of government Fraudgeria practice is not the problem.
Tell me a country on planet Earth that practice unitary system of government where there are 3 major Ethnic nation (without clear majority), it is not possible because there will never be basis for development ,it will be implosion here and there. For a Unitary system to work anywhere, there must be dominant Ethnic nation who will Lord over the smaller ethnic groups. Just like putting German,French and English together then expect the country to be great.

Many of you are retards anyway.

You are indeed a great analyst.
The irony in all of these is that those who have been chanting restructuring in the past seven years, with the loudest volumes coming from the SE and SS, are surprisingly falling over themselves now to rationalize Peter Obi's statement that the problem of Nigeria is bad leadership and not the 1999 constitution just because Obi is their prefered candidate. Wasn't it this same line of the-constitution-is-not-our-problem-but-corrupt-politicians Buhari and some key Northern figures have been towing all this while and for which these SE and SS goons hate them with a passion and arguing that such opinion is fueled by their greed and desire to keep living off the resources of the South especially the Niger Delta?
As a SS native, I too have been an ardent crusader against Northerners over this theory of theirs that Nigeria's problem had nothing to do with structure but with corruption. But with the pouring out of my fellow SS people here defending Peter Obi for now taking this same pro-Northern Oligarchy position just in pursuit of political correctness, it had dawned rudely on me that the shouts of restructuring from the SS and SE was never out of a genuine conviction or commitment to it but just for political expediency. I therefore apologize to all Northerners I have been very critical of whenever they argued that those shouting restructuring were doing so because they lost out in the power game at the center. I now see that Northerners are correct and that Southerners, especially those of the SE and SS are shameless hypocrites and crass opportunists who don't really know what they want.
Gosh! How can anyone who went to a higher institution and claims some minimum level of intelligence support and try to justify the utterance that the 1999 constitution is not at the root of Nigeria's failure?

.

Indispensable85:
God bless you richly brother. Na mumu people just full dis nairaland. Do you know that one of the mugus was arguing that Tony kabaka defected to pdp last year? Lol.......

I saw it. He naively assumed that Tony Kabaka's posturing in that video automatically translated to defection to PDP. I just pray next year comes quickly for the next election results in Edo to shock them. They are too dull to even decipher that the slimness of Obaseki's victory margin against Iyamu was a testimonial to the fact that not an overwhelming majority bought into his Edo no be Lagos gimmick hence it will be very easy for APC to easily clinch majority sympathy again at Obaseki's slightest failure which is already in large supply currently in the state.

garfield1:
Same as oshio

Oshiomhole is from Etsako West.

Indispensable85:
Was he a military man before? Mumu talk.....
As we speak today oshiomhole is still the most popular politician in Edo State. He's even more popular now because of the dismal performance of obaseki. Did you listen to bus drivers during their protest last week? They were clamouring for oshiomhole to come back. Obaseki dey chop insult everywhere for Edo State right now.

Don't mind those clowns who are neither from Edo nor on ground in Edo but just parading their wishes as realities in Edo. People now feel so disappointed in Obaseki as they have realized he only fooled them with the propaganda that he wanted to work but Oshiomhole was stopping him by asking him to share money. They are now asking him why has he not commissioned a single project now that he is supposedly no longer sharing money as against his first term in which he even managed to do some substandard quality roads when Oshiomhole was pressuring him to share money as he alleged.
The new narrative his cohorts are trying to cook up now is that Dan Orbih faction is what is distracting him from facing governance and working for the people.
All he does now are audio projects like Edo North Airport, making AAU a multicampus institution despite owing the lecturers there for donkey months now, EMOWA, MOUs etc. Gelegele Seaport he promised since 2016 has long gone into voicemail. With all these and many other more failures some non -Edos on NL believe that the Edo no be Lagos hype is still on as if Edo State people can be fooled all the time. I will call them out on this thread after next year EDHA election.

Agboriotejoye:
Teasing how? Obaseki is with the Atiku camp in PDP. All this your shalaye about who brought who does not stand in the face of the political realities of Edo state. Don't forget Edo no be Lagos was last year and the main casualty was Tinubu who did a video asking the people of Edo to vote for his party.
The fact is, APC is now an anathema in Edo. You are either PDP or Labour. So as it stands, PDP is primed to win Edo while Labour will come second. Even Oshiomole's main thug Kabaka is now in PDP. Only Oshiomole is left in APC. PDP will get nothing less than 60% in Edo. Labour should get 35% while APC will get 5% . APC are 5%ters in Edo

Nearly all those who shouted Edo no be Lagos, Ogbane, Towargba etc are so full of regrets now that some of them initially decided to abandon PDP because of how Obaseki has so divided the party and made them a laughing stock in the state but immediately changed their minds on hearing that Obaseki himself is flirting with the idea of moving over to the Labour Party having lost all his suits in court to the Orbih faction of PDP. Right now PDP is more of an opposition party in Edo State while Obaseki himself is partyless. If you don't mind I can give you the Facebook names of some of the most ardent supporters of Obaseki in 2020 so that you can check their timelines from 2020 to the present and see how their opinions have totally changed to the opposite. One of them described himself today as a fool for supporting him in 2020. Others are now asking what he has done with the money he claimed Oshiomhole asked him to share and he refused. When last did you hear anyone in Edo State shout Edo no be Lagos? Such utterance is the most stupid and embarrassing to make in Edo State as of now going by what the PDP and Edo State people are passing through in the hands of Obaseki now. Did you hear Mathew Urhogide's latest speech about Obaseki? Remember he was one of Obaseki's ardent supporters in 2020? What about Dan Orbih himself who led Obaseki's campaign all over the 18 LGAs? What has become of him now? In fact the Edo PDP has admitted that accepting Obaseki in 2020 was a fatal mistake on their part. You think people are happy with Obaseki for fighting the Oba of Benin over artefacts or fighting the very PDP which saved him from disgrace in 2020?