₦airaland Forum

cjrane:
I am from the Niger Delta region and i know i am Biafran and it's got nothing to do with oil, but everything to do with my freedom and freedom for my children from Fulani domination.

So why not restructure Nigeria and for once let it function as a true federal state if those in the north truly love the Niger Delta? So that the oil will be in the hands of the owners?

It's amazing that the north that only want forced unity with the hated south because of OIL will be the ones talking here.

Bros it is safe to say that since 1961, the crude oil from southern Nigeria has been owned by the northern region of Nigeria yet the demand for Biafra is as fresh as in 1967. The creation of 12, the boundary adjustment program and 1999 constitution have made sure that no crude oil lives in Igbo land yet the people say take all the crude oil and give us independent Biafra as homeland.

StateNews:
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Sovereign State of Biafra and one or more questions still linger. I will not delve into the more contentious questions, but for the sake of improving the relationship between the Igbo and their Yoruba neighbors, let me touch on one or two areas where, if the truth is brought to the fore, the relationship between omo Oduduwa and Ndi'Igbo could be improved.
Firstly, why do Ndi'Igbo still believe the false stereotype that the omo Oduduwa (Yoruba) are cowards? This is simply not true and the facts do not support this belief.
In the history of Nigeria, only two men have returned to Nigeria to face almost certain death even when they had the option of a very comfortable political asylum abroad. Both of them are Yoruba. In 1985, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida toppled the Buhari regime while Major General Tunde Idiagbon (mixed Yoruba/Fulani) was at Mecca yet Idiagbon returned.
In 1995, Olusegun Obasanjo (pure Owu Yoruba) was accused of planning a coup by the blood thirsty tyrant, Abacha (if you do not like that truthful description of Abacha or if you believe that 'Abacha did not loot', you can go and join him where he is) while he was away in Copenhagen. He returned to face almost certain death.
What more example of bravery can there be than these two shining ones.
Furthermore, there is the apocryphal example of Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi who chose to die with the Head of State, rather than abandon his guest, which he was at liberty to do. I am hard pressed to believe that if it was vice versa, Ironsi would have done the same for Fajuyi, but then again, I may be wrong.
I admired Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu for his guts and stubborn determination during the events leading up to and during the civil war, but I was disappointed that he fled Biafra when the end came. I wish he remained.
I also admired the Right Honorable Nnamdi Azikiwe, but Chief Obafemi Awolowo would NEVER have abandoned his people as Azikiwe did when he defected to the federal side during the civil war.
Awolowo was in prison because of his people and he could have been released had he compromised his beliefs but he stoutly refused. That is courage not cowardice.
I have been in direct communication with General Yakubu Gowon whom I admire but he did not return to Nigeria after he was accused of being behind the Dimka coup.
All things considered, Fajuyi, Obasanjo and Idiagbon are probably the bravest Nigerians ever. They are (were in the cases of Fajuyi and Idiagbon) certainly braver than Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who was safely in London waiting for Joe Garba and co to topple Gowon.
Even with the sullying of his name as a Quisling in the pages of history, it is on record that of all the first republic politicians that were killed in the January 1966 coup, only Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region, put up a fight. He had a rifle and exchanged gunfire with Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi and his men. Akintola, a civilian, injured the trained soldiers and was only killed when his ammunition finished. And even at that he did not cry or beg!
Ndi'Igbo may do well to remember how Wole Soyinka, at great risk to himself, traveled to Enugu during the height of the civil war crisis to persuade Ojukwu against secession. Soyinka had nothing to gain. He did what he did as a humanitarian in support of the Igbos, an act for which he was arrested by the Gowon led Federal Military Government and thrown in jail for 26 months, 22 of which he spent in solitary confinement.
These facts of history prove that the stereotype of Yorubas as cowards is false. Every ethnicity has cowards and brave men. As we celebrate #BiafraAt50, I hope the Yoruba and Igbo can find common ground and unite as Southern Nigeria's two main ethnic nationalities otherwise the South will continue to be politically disadvantaged even when it is the most educationally advantaged part of Nigeria.
It is true that the Igbo are marginalized in Nigeria, however, I am of the opinion that a lot of the blame for this can be laid at Ndi'Igbo's doorstep.
In my opinion, and remember this is an opinion not a fact, the major undoing of Ndi'Igbo is their misunderstanding of the term strength.
Ndi'Igbo erroneously believe all strength is physical. They do not seem to realize that strength is your ability to assert your will on earth and that that ability may not always be physical. The proverb-discretion is the better part of valor-is not understood by the Igbo. They tend to be reactionary and consider pausing to study a situation before you respond (not react) as cowardice. One or two of them may get it, but as a race in general they do not.
They do not consider diplomacy as a first step. To them it is weakness and makes you an efulefu! If they have an enemy, they are not able to suppress their emotions and work with those they do not like. They must make their hostility obvious to the person they do not like and being aware of the dislike, the person is armed against them. In an organization, others may be sublime and discrete in their scheming, but the Igbo are more likely to be obvious and in your face about theirs and end up causing unity amongst their enemies in plotting their downfall.
As a general rule, Ndi'Igbo have very little humility and are very proud individually though there are few exceptions and I must single out my friend Emeka Maduewesi as one of those exceptions. An epitome of a gentleman! Another example would be Uche Chuta. May God throw up leaders like Uche in Igboland!&
For example Since 2010, my white beard has been my trademark. In fact Punch newspapers refers to me as 'the white bearded Omokri'. Yesterday (May 30th), my grandfather called me and asked me to shave it off because he does not like it. That same day, I obeyed him. I obey my grandfather at 43 the same way I obeyed him at 3. I am very successful today and I trace my success to the upbringing and prayers I got from my father and grandfather. No money ritual is as effective as a prayer and blessing from your fathers. I may be wrong, but I am not sure that a father or grandfather can have this type of influence on an adult financially and socially successful male in Igbo land. What I did may even be construed as weakness.
In my opinion, Ndi'Igbo are also individually more intelligent than their neighbors (I call it as I see it) but they hardly use their intelligence to unite and have one leader, one goal and one destiny. Because of this, even though they are more intelligent, they are almost always doomed to serve those that are wiser than them because wisdom is superior to intelligence.
The Igbo also appear to value leaders because of the leader's personal attainments in life and so money gives you more leadership credentials than wisdom or age. They forget that a rich man may have more clothes than an elder but cannot have more rags than him. They overestimate the power of money and underestimate the power of wisdom.
If the Igbo can learn humility and practice diplomacy and discipline themselves to have one leader that they listen to in good and bad times not because he is always right but because he is their leader, their marginalization will end and their dominance will begin.
These are merely my opinions which may be wrong.
Now that I have touched on Ndi'Igbo, perhaps I may also touch on the South in general.
There are four things that the South has to understand about the North.
One, there is no such thing as Hausa Fulani. It is a myth. There is Hausa and there is Fulani.
The second thing is that the Fulani are not our enemies. They are our rivals for power. Once we make this paradigm shift, our attitudes to seeking political power will change.
The third thing is that the Northern elite are experts at brinkmanship.
A perfect example is the recent ranting by the chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, the cantankerous Ango Abdullahi, who says that the North is prepared to split from Nigeria.
When at Chief EK Clark's 90th birthday in Abuja, Ango Abdullahi said "I come from Kaduna State, the population according to the 2006 census puts us at 6.3 million. And if you look at the resources that come from the so called federation account to Kaduna, it is one quarter of what Delta gets", what Nigerians should understand is that he was only playing the game of brinksmanship.
Kaduna contributes only 0.1% of the funds that enter the Federation Account and gets 1.4% of the monies that leave the Federation Account.
Who should complain between Kaduna and Delta?
The fourth and final thing is that too many Southerners are filled with hostility for the Hausa people. Unbeknownst to but a few of us down South, there are very few actual Hausa people in the North.
Hausa is more of a language than a people. Most of those we in the South label 'Hausa' in the North are a motley crew of various minority ethnic groups who are bound together by a common lingua franca-Hausa.
For decades before Independence these minority groups had been dominated by the Fulani and when Independence came they thought that the more exposed Southerners would come and hand them a hand of fellowship and deliver them from their oppressors but to their shock we greeted them with hostility and sometimes open hatred and a wise sage like Sardauna Ahmadu Bello opened up his hands to them through his policy of One North and empowered Northern minorities like Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sunday Awoniyi and co.
Who knows, he may have done the same with the South and created a truly 'One Nigeria', if his life had not been tragically cut short in the coup mistakenly called Nzeogwu coup but which was actually masterminded by Emmanuel Ifeajuna with Nzeogwu being slightly more than a pawn in the game.
Ahmadu Bello was not a tribalistic leader. But he was a regional leader. He was suspicious of Southerners in general and he had something akin to disdain and maybe even contempt for Ndi'Igbo. It is an inconvenient truth that cannot be denied. Even his hardcore followers cannot deny this. He is caught on video articulating this view and these videos are now on YouTube.
Some of Sir Ahmadu Bello's successors have built upon the foundations he laid and have matured to be great patriots.
For instance, despite what the media has written about him to exaggerate his faults, the fact remains that former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is one of the most patriotic Nigerians alive. Only President Olusegun Obasanjo can be said to be more patriotic than General Babangida in contemporary Nigerian history.
How do I mean? Consider this; In 1998 after Abacha died and Babangida's protege, General Abdulsalami Abubakar became head of state, President Babangida engineered the shift of political power from the North to the Southwest and specifically to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
For those who think that he had to do this let me ask you a question: What would have happened if the 1999 Presidential election had been thrown open to all and sundry, and not just restricted to the Southwest, and a Northerner like Atiku Abubakar or some other credible Northerner had won?
Would the Southwest have seceded? Would there have been war in 1999? Would Nigeria have gone the way of Rwanda? No, no, no!
There would have been a great discontent in the Southwest, but as long as the results were free and fair, there would have been little the Southwest could have done to change the situation.
Now let me ask a hypothetical question: Placed in that same situation, with Igbo dominance in the military and in government, would an Igbo leader have ceded power to the Yorubas to compensate them for an event like June 12 knowing that even if he did not there was little they could do by way of taking the power from him?
Even an Igbo man would agree with me that this is very unlikely.
I do not need to ask the question of whether or not a Yoruba man would do this because General Olusegun Obasanjo had already done it in 1979.
It is this statesmanly humility, (having the power to do something that would favour yours and your people's cause, yet having the conscience and discipline not to do it because it is against the principles of natural justice), that Ndi'Igbo lack in sufficient quantity at their leadership levels.
The above reason is why power continues to elude them. It is more than physical. It is spiritual. As James 4:10 says "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
This humility is ingrained into Yoruba and Northern youths from infancy. In the North, youths squat to greet their fathers and their male elders. In the Southwest, children are taught to prostrate for their elders as a form of greeting. Banky W, is an international star but when he met Dele Momodu, he prostrated before him. Long before him, Sir Shina Peters did that to King Sunny Ade. I doubt that an Igbo man can even muster enough humility to prostrate before his own father how much more an elder! He would consider that as foolishness.
And there is nothing unGodly about this. It is not idolatrous. Many Igbos like to claim Jewish ancestry. Maybe they are right maybe they are not. But Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation. In Genesis 18:2 the Bible records that "Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground."
Look at that "bowed low to the ground". Abraham prostrated!
That act of humility does not take anything from you. But it gives everything to you. You see, a man's greatest pleasure and need is not money or sex. It is to feel important. It is to be respected.
Both religion and science support this position. In Genesis 1:28 God gave man a charge and said "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion".
It is God Himself that put the desire in man to want to dominate, to want to be respected.
According to Sigmund Freud, man is dominated by two urges, the sex urge and the urge to be important. This goes back to Genesis 1:28 'be fruitful' and 'have dominion'.
Women by and large influence men through the first urge which Freud named 'Eros'. Men influence other men through another part of the male personality that Freud called ego.
Because every man has an ego (the only difference is in size) it is very difficult, if not impossible to influence another man without massaging his ego. Refusal to do so can only end in two ways:
Conflict: which arises when two egos collide and one refuses to bow to the other, or
Frustration: which arises when one person refuses to work on the ego of a man who has power over him.
And let me say that no one can have power over you except he was given that power by God which is why Romans 13:1 says "there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

http://www.statereporters.com/2017/06/03/igbo-can-learn-yoruba-fulani-power-reno-omokri/

Please can somebody tall this loafer that Biafran issue or agitation does not predicate on the power to govern the cesspit called Nigeria. It is about compatibility or lack thereof.

Oyiboman69:
The goals they want to achieve with new Biafra – Tanko Yaksai

dailytrust.com.ng

Jun 4, 2017 2:04 AM

Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai, a former Special Political Adviser to former President Shehu Shagari, spoke on why the agitation of Biafra continued to attract attention, why it is impossible for the Igbo to secede and why they will be better off in Nigeria than Biafra, among other things.



Why is the agitation for Biafra gathering momentum in recent times?

Well, the agitation for Biafra started soon after the demise of Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi. So the name is not new. The only difference is that the old Biafra actually was intended to occupy the whole of southern region. 

It was a scheme for getting the entire southern Nigeria to break away. The intention was to block the North from access to the sea. If that happened, the North would be starved of many things coming from the port, including fuel and imported items we rely upon. So that was the old Biafra. Because of that, when they were preparing to declare Biafra, southern minorities from the present day Cross River and Akwa Ibom led a delegation to the North to plead with General Hassan Usman Katsina, the then military governor of Northern Nigeria, to plead with the central government not to allow Biafran secession to succeed because, according to them, if it was allowed to succeed, they would remain forever as second class citizens in what would be known as Biafra. 

The young men are not agitating for the five Igbo-speaking states to constitute Biafra, rather, they are thinking of the old Eastern Region, with the four minority states, together with five majority Igbo-speaking states. You don’t dismiss idea by a wave of hand. But the practical aspect of it is very difficult because all along there has not been love lost between the Igbo and their minority.

In fact, when Nigeria was to be granted independence and constitutional conference was held in 1957, the minorities in the East complained of oppression and marginalisation by the Igbo. They wanted their interest to be safeguarded in an independent Nigeria. It was agreed that a special arrangement would be made to protect their interest, and it was made with the creation of the Niger Delta Development Authority which was put under the care of Shehu Shagari, who was then the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.  It was decided that the development of the Niger Delta shall not come from the Eastern Region, even though they were located under the old regional government. 

I don’t think it is possible for the minority to go into any political association with the Igbo.

This agitation started right from the time of Obasanjo, with Uwazurike as its leader. Now, I think Uwazurike has realised that it is an impossible task to realise their dream; that is why he is more or less quiet. This young man, Nnamdi Kanu, was just a broadcaster. I don’t know whether he was under Uwazurike or on his own, but he was not a leader on his own. He was a broadcaster. I believe he got some of their people in the United States, collected their money and set up a radio station, which I think is being broadcast from America and beamed somewhere in West Africa. The boy became popular after his arrest. I think what they are trying to do is to develop the agitation into a political movement and try to gather support from the Igbo and any of their sympathizers.

This agitation for new Biafra came at a time when the Niger Delta people are agitating for resource control, and at the same time, the South-West, who are more interested in brewing trouble in the country, joined forces with them to change the whole issue into restructuring. So there is now a connection between the agitation for restructuring, the realisation of Biafra and resource control. They started during the 1994/95 constitutional conference, where they were holding regular meetings. At that time, every week, the minority from the East would meet with Igbo, and after that, they would meet with the Yoruba. All these three ideas emanated from former Vice President Alex Ekwueme. 

This is the situation now.  The issue to be addressed is whether the present Biafra would include the former Eastern Region, whereby the four minority Igbo-speaking states would join forces with five Igbo-speaking states and form new Biafra? That has not been spelt out. The only thing I heard was that Rivers would not be part of the Biafra; I think Akwa-Ibom too. But it is not clear yet whether the four minority Igbo-speaking states have openly declared that they are not going be part of Biafra. This is the immediate challenge the agitators for new Biafra will face. But grant it that Biafra will materialise; everybody is aware that the major ethnic groups in Nigeria are Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. 

The minorities are everywhere and our minorities are not distinct; we are interwoven. Even the North-Central, which is the official area regarded as the Middle Belt, is made up of six states. Four of the six are Muslim majority; they are Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi and Kwara states and the minority elements left in Plateau State, for instance, are themselves fighting one another. In addition, they don’t speak with one another except in either Hausa or English. None of them can speak with the other in their own native language, and all of them were at loggerheads with the Tiv. Initially, when our committee was asked to recommend creation of states, we intended to create Middle Belt state but when the idea was put forward, the people of Niger said they were out of it; the people of Ilorin said they were out of it and the people of Kogi also said they were out of it. So the old Plateau had to be merged with Benue and made one province while other provinces were regrouped.

So, the reality is that the three major ethnic groups, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, need Nigeria. Every one of them needs Nigeria. Let’s start with the Yoruba. Most of the industries are located in the South-West, mainly in Lagos, some in Ogun and some in Ibadan. According to a letter written by the late General Adeyinka Adebayo, the industries in Oyo are owned by Lebanese and Indians, but 70 per cent of the industries located in Lagos State are owned by Igbo. So the industries that are manufacturing goods in the South-West and some in the Eastern Region have the whole of Nigeria as their market, a market of about 200 million people. If there is no Nigeria, there would not be that market and what would be the consequences of lack of market? 

First, the goods cannot be sold, there will be no production and there will be unemployment, and the people that are employed in industries located in the South-West are largely Yoruba. The day there is no Nigeria, there will be massive unemployment in the South-West. This is apart from the food and livestock they are getting from the North. If there is no Nigeria, they will not get them, and if they are going to import, it will take time and will be costly. By nature, they cannot grow livestock and some food items in their area. The geographical situation in South-West is different from that of the North; the animals they are growing do not enough meat and milk, unlike the ones in the North.

For the Igbo, at present there is no village where there is a flourishing market where you cannot have the Igbo conducting their own businesses. And they are living in peace; nobody is harassing them. They live within thousands of other ethnic groups and nobody is attacking them. It is a well known fact that the business of building materials is surrendered to Igbo people, as well as electrical appliances, fittings and spare parts. Commuter transportation; those luxury buses that are plying our roads from one state to another are owned by the Igbo. The day there is no Nigeria, the Igbo will have no alternative than to relocate to their states. And with the hate speeches being circulated on the social media and other platforms, it is impossible to have a peaceful dissolution of Nigeria.

That is the take on the Igbo and the Yoruba people. We the Huasa Fulani too need Nigeria. I have sat alone, without reading any book and said to myself: “What do we need from Nigeria?” And I have come up with five things we really need Nigeria for. One, we have no way of having immediate access to the sea than from Nigeria. If there is no Nigeria, we have to go to Libya, and there are no enough roads to achieve that. 

Two, we need the current oil revenue. In Nigeria, only six states can survive with the oil revenue they are getting. There are four oil bearing states that cannot survive with the quantity of oil located in their areas. These states are Abia, Imo, Ondo and Edo, they have oil, but it is not as much as they could rely on for survival. But Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom and one other state can survive with the oil located in their respective areas. So, during the first Biafran agitation Ojukwu entered agreement with France whereby he gave concession for the entire oil and gas resources in the Biafran region. If Biafra succeeded, there was no way the Niger Delta people could claim ownership of oil and gas located in their areas. 

Three, the North also needs education. Today, in most of our universities the lecturers are mostly from the South - even the students. We need education and we cannot get it without teachers, so we need Nigeria to get teachers from southern part of the country to come and teach us. 

Four, we need the technical know-how the South has. So we need them for that. 

Five, we also need the South for investment. The only northerners that have huge investments are three - Aliko Dangote, T. Y Danjuma and Alhaji Abdulsamad Isyaka Rabi’u. But if you go to the South you will get thousands of them with huge capital. 

So, the three major ethnic groups need Nigeria because everybody is benefiting from Nigeria. For the Igbo, if there is no Nigeria, there will be no market for them to do their businesses. At least if you take the North, you are talking of 55 per cent of the population of Nigeria, which is about 100 million out of the 180 million of Nigerian population. The Yoruba also need market because their industries cannot sell the goods to themselves. By nature, the Yoruba man likes the Hausa man more than the Igbo man and the Igbo man likes the Hausa man more than the Yoruba man, yet the Yoruba are now trying to convince the Igbo to forget aganist the Hausa. 

The Igbo, unfortunately, are lacking in diplomacy. This is the weakness of the Igbo and that is what the Yoruba are capitalising on to manipulate their way of thinking. During the first declaration of Biafra, it was a public knowledge that when Gowon sent Awolowo to persuade Ojukwu not to embark on secession, they met on the River Niger bridge and discussed. Later on, the media said that according to unofficial report, Awolowo assured Ojukwu that if they seceded, the West would also secede. When he came out, he declared publicly that if by any act of commission or omission the East was allowed to go, the West would follow. This is the public announcement he made and the record is there, which means the West would also secede from the rest of Nigeria. The Igbo believed in him and Ojukwu told all the Igbo to go back to their respective areas. At that time, the Igbo were holding various positions in government, but they all left. When they came back after the civil war, they found that the Yoruba had occupied their positions, and till today, they have not regained such positions, and they will never regain them.

https://dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/the-goals-they-want-to-achieve-with-new-biafra-tanko-yaksai/200428.html

This is ranting of ant.

SirWere:
*sighs*


If we attach the same importance to condemning bad governance as we do to this LGBTQ issue, we wouldn't be in this shoddy state we're in.



I have given up on explaining to people that Homosexuality isnt a disease. This country is way too riddled with senseless folks to even attempt to begin.

As you can see, even the so called Educated are supporting their acts on this thread.

What hope is left for this country

There are limits to stupidity. Which school taught you to become gay or lesbian? What crappy education are you on about with respect to homosexual life style? There is no form of education in a dead-end life style. Take homosexuals to an Island and go back 80 years or more, I bet you will not hear word spoken by a human in the place. The fact USA and Europeans are stupid in certain instances of life does not compel everybody to cow-tow to such stupidity.

clevadani:
Before you start screaming, I am from the southern part of Nigeria. I know that you'll start presenting me stats from waec, neco, jamb etc. This would also be my first reaction if I see a thread with this title. But after reading Tanko Yakassai's interview, my views changed. But thinking about things critically, how did they manage to create a never ending war amongst themselves?
The south had gained nothing by being joined together with the north. And it is obvious there is nothing to be gained from them. I know some people will start mentioning meat, population, etc. Of what use is an uneducated and unproductive population? I was all for one Nigeria but after reading that interview and reading about how a governor is determined to spend over 500m to build mosques, it is obvious they are not ready to start living in the 21st century.
At this point, sw, SE, & ss leaders should stop the blame game, and start aligning to sever the south from the parasites in the north. It is obvious that everyone is on an edge right now. Biafra, oduduwa republic, ND republic, restructuring, regionalism, resource control etc will never be possible without an alliance in the south.
Let the insults begin

You could not be faulted in which ever way you decide to slice it. They are very tactical hence it takes intellect to get others to do your bidding thus getting the foolish southerners to join in the fight against Biafra in 1967. Nigeria has never and will never be the same since 1967.

Built2last:
Till we get electricity right. Nigeria should forget development. 80% of our development is tide to it. Modern trains are impossible without electricity.

India has it in theor constitution that every newly elected leader must add 5000 megawatts to existing power generation.

Until the cesspit called Nigeria is disintegrated, the moronic contraption should forget development.

Jokers are usually cowards too.

bantudra:
bakassi was not a loose....bakassi is still nigerian........

you ipobians can not set us up against cameroon,it will not work....

Ceding Bakassi to Cameroon was collusion between Gowon's government and Ahidjo's government in lure that Cameroon should block Biafra from receiving arms through Cameroon. IPOB is not setting up anybody.

Larmont:
DUDE I WILL DESTROY YOU WITH FACTS!!
You thump us in Education?? Joke of the century! The best schools are in SW...UI, OAU, UNILAG ETC NO IGBO university is in top 5! What about Private universities? They are mostly in SW and the best! Covenant, babcock,bowen,Abuad,Jabu etc... SW is the most educated region according to UN report for 2012.. According to NBS report on education for 2013-2014-2015 SW is the most educated region.. Ogun state alone has more Tertiary institution than the most of the East together if not all...SW universities have more professors lecturing than professors in the East.. Oau has the highest number of employed Profs. OPONU what aspect of education are you bleating about??
Wealth?? Mike Adenuga is the richest yoruba man about 5.8billion usd the richedt igbo man isnt even as rich as our richest woman.. Folorunsho Alakija... Check Richest kings in Africa... Olugbo in ondo state is the second 300million usd followed by late HRH oba sijuade... Check richest pastors in the world...Yorubas again,
For poverty rate in Nigeria SE is the poorest in the South.. With Ebonyi i guess the poorest state in South... SW has the lowesr po erty rate in Nigeria...For health? Have never checked! I SAY WHAT I KNOW! FOR sport? Football? Yes but other aspect like tennis, field event Yorubas dominate.. Sport does not end on Football..Even at that players like Alaba david who is Yoruba has been more successful than any igbo in football.. Present IBF Heavy weight champion is a Yoruba man/british
Development and achievements....DONT EVEN GO NEAR IT! CHECK OUT MY CLAIMS I CAN ALSO GIVE YOU LINKS....NOW GO TO BED

Loud mouth!!!!

Mune:
Many southerners in their bid to antagonise the north will say all type of baloney in their bid to join the northern Nigeria bashing club.

Many are doing so out of ignorance or perhaps like sticking their head in the sand pretending to see willful ignorance.

The north has so many potential to explore in the event of the eventuality.

As for now, we choose to be the underdog and the punching bag of you southerners.

God bless Nigeria! Lets make Nigeria great again by exploring what unite us not divide us.


http://abbasgarba..com.ng/2017/05/the-poor-north.html

Why is this event of the eventuality not now? Northern region of Nigeria is very rich yet drag feet when the opportunity comes for them to enjoy their wealth exclusively. Certain sections of the country do not want any form of compatriotism with people from northern region hence demand for homeland distanced from the cesspit called Nigeria. Please go and enjoy the riches of northern region of Nigeria.

telltimes:
Dear Biafran Messiah,

I would have been happy if you were born a man of war, perhaps into the creek like Asari Dokubo or Tompolo or many others who are good with getting what they want with guns but alas you are not, you are an activist searching for freedom perhaps the Messiah but if you get that freedom have you ever thought of the fact that forces will be in play, that this so call militant leaders will arise against each other, that Civil War will break loose, I know they call you the Biafran Messiah but you may end up becoming the Biafran devil. I have nothing against you nor your struggle, it is a good thing and in fact that is one of the fundamental of federalism, but your approach to freedom is bizarre, sometimes it baffles me if you are actually for the average or poor Biafrans, I still don’t know the motive behind the sit at home order given to those who must work to earn their daily bread(money) while you stay at home to enjoy the money given to you by a former governor, it would have been an heroic deed if you share the money to those people, at least to feed on, thus as far as am concerned, you have just starved your people and let it be known that the king of the Jews (Christ) fed people out of little. As for the sit at home protest Nigeria did not feel it, you only halted the Igbos economy, you will only succeed in reducing the Igbo states allocation, and you will only succeed in destroying the wealth you need for freedom.

Honestly, you are missing steps to winning a good fight, the best shot is at your disposal, you are here at a time when every region is calling for restructuring, why not take a step at a time, go for restructuring and if your people cannot successfully govern and satisfy your wants, then your cubicle is not worth to become a nation, Yes I repeat, if restructuring does not work, Biafrans will not work.

Let me admonish you don’t think the “Let my people go” phrase can do the magic, damn it! you want to be like Moses? you think there is a promised land to go to? kindly answer it, did Moses get that No, God got that freedom for Israel, pharaoh refused and he even pursued them until he perished, this was because God had destined freedom for Israel.

Mr Kanu, for drawing out a map for Biafra Republic on states who have refused to be part of Biafra and people who don’t want to be called Biafrans I see you as a collectivist, I do not consider collectivists as ‘sincere but deluded idealists’. The proposal to enslave some men for the sake of others is not an ideal; brutality is not ‘idealistic’, no matter what its purpose. Never say that the desire to “do good” by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity is a good motive. Again, you want to disenfranchise the Igbos, you asked them to destroy their PVC, to me it sound like destroying my ticket to silverbird cinema and yet I want to watch the movie “freedom at the cinema” it will cost me. It may take years to pay the price, at least that PVC may earn your people an Igbo Presidency.

Finally, let me implore you to retrace your steps and do things right, as it stands nobody is against you nor Biafra, you are your own enemy.

Thank you!

- See more at: http://www.opinionnigeria.com/letter-to-nnamdi-kanu-by-micheal-a-adeniyi/#sthash.62oxUknn.dpuf

Why are these blockheads very ultra negative about Biafra? What if Biafra turned opposite of their wishes? Please be informed that the so-called war lords as you alleged and the idiotic imaginary civil war have no place in Biafra. If you and ilk do not have intestinal fortitude to stand up Oduduwa Republic from a dilapidated cesspit called Nigeria, I suggest you butt off Biafran issue.

Inferiority complex is inherent.

newlander:
What some people are saying about biafra and Nnamdi Kanu

What stream of thought even led you to conclude that Nnamdi Kanu will have administrative position in Biafra?

MasterclipHub:
Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says Nigeria cannot afford to disintegrate because the diversity of the country is admired by the global community.
He said with such respect, countries around the globe will be pained if Nigerians split.

Osinbajo, spoke in Cross River State on Thursday during a courtesy call on the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V.
His words: “Cross River State is so much an intriguing part of Nigeria and every part needs the other. We are greater together than apart.
“When people speak of Nigeria, it is because of its diversity. Unity is absolutely important because God wants us to be united”.
Osinbajo said the country has been able to manage its diversity so far, pointing out that crisis of any kind was not a solution to the problems of the country.
He assured that President Buhari’s government will continue to work for the interest and development of all sections of the country.
Osinbajo further pledged the support federal support for the construction of the super highway by the state.

Source: https://mastercliphub..com.ng/2017/06/nigerias-split-will-be-painful-to.html

http://www.mastercliphub..com

This is an imaginary crap. Who gives a hoot about the globe?

deomelo:
.


See ipob village square ignorance...

Afonja, please understand we are not talking about the wrestling match tagged Kiriji war.

Those dumbass Nigerians who have reasons to question Jan. 15, 1966 coup can have slight clue from the picture.

ourwale:
The desire of the Ibos,as stated by Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB to part ways with Nigeria interests me for several reasons. After all The Ibos have since the civil war lived by mending with the Nigerian state. Lives were lost. Rich people became average and poor while loss of properties was also colossal. This is not to mention the imminent losses they suffered with other southerners in the northern part of this country.
First, The Ibo people of south eastern people are undeniably the most entrepreneurial people on the west African coast. They stick to the age-long native business school of one-on-one mentoring and in 6 years of learning under an “oga” or boss, an apprentice is released with funding by the same oga to go into the business world and prosper without rivalry. That is not something easy for the people from my own part of this country. This is an economically liberating culture that needs no government to work!


The old Map of Nigeria. The South-south today today is not willing to secede with the Biafraian state!


Second, the drive of the Ibo businessman for sales, new market, international business and expansion is limitless. In the world of business, his drive for sales and new markets compels innovation so forcefully that the Ibo man is always expanding his business. He will start that business in just one shop but in 10 short years, he has bought the mall! He will strike deals with Chinese entrepreneurs to make same products right in Aba. Have you ever thought of it that if Biafra was a republic, Innosson will be an official vehicle there? You may have a second thought before importing clothes to Aba.

While Nigeria continues to dwell on crude oil like oxygen, the ibos have several non-oil related businesses. While the yorubas are unable to regenerate her lead business men like Nathaniel idowu, Amos Adegoke, Lekan Salami, Jimoh odutola and Theophilus Adediran, the igbos are already the ones paying 60% of Lagos tax. Anambra and Abia continues to lead in the senior school certificate examinations. While cocoa processing is almost completely dead in the southwest and the groundnuts of Kano are no more forming pillars, Aba and Onitsha continues to deepen in manufacturing and trade. The number of Ibo academics in Europe and the USA is also extremely notable. A coalition of them can form a think tank for a new nation.

This desired emergence is also supported by the international law that believes that you cannot force people to live together. If some set of people feels they do not want to stay with a particular set of people, they should have the opportunity of a referendum to stay away. The Ibos are not asking for any oil that is not on their own soil. They are not asking for any body’s cocoa, steel or groundnuts. They are asking to just be on their own and do their things their way!

However there are many other variables that the Ibo man must consider before secession. The first thing I ask is if there is ever a referendum conducted by Ibos that informed the decision. I do not see Ibos willing to leave Lagos and Port Harcourt in the nearest future. Ibos got so deep in Lagos to the point that, today you need to consider them to win governorship elections in that state. Infact, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu started the idea of appointing Ibo commissioners in Lagos. As a result, I believe so strongly that the Ibos that are clamouring for Biafra may be different from these Lagos entrepreneurs.

Second, if Biafra succeeds, Ibos should not expect a patting at the back from her old Nigerian neighbours should the wish ever come to past. The entrepreneurial spirit that makes the Ibo man work hard at expanding his business also may not be highly celebrated by other new republics. Expect the Yoruba to enact laws that will produce newer Adenugas and Otudekos. This possible legal and forceful exodus of the Ibo man from Lagos, southwest and other parts of Nigeria will be modeled and considered as new business opportunities in markets they once conquered. And whatever Lagos does, All southwest states will copy! Please keep in mind that Lagos will not feel this much as the population of Lagos is led by Ogun state indigenes. The population of Ogun state indigenes is higher than that of indigenous Lagosians. The population of southwesterners in Lagos is more than that of the 5 million Ibos in Lagos.

Please forget about intermarriage. Staying together as one is what promotes today’s benefits with its attendant consequences. Secession has its own too. Intermarriage has never stopped secession anywhere.

The Ibo man in his ever evolving spirit will end up finding new markets even though that may not be in the nearest decade. He may still have some losses too as the choicest of her Lagos and Port Harcourt properties may be sold at flat prices. There are few cities outside North Africa that consumes in a week what Lagos consumes in a day! Ibos will miss that!
`
Within the republic of Biafra, The Ibos may be compelled to learn how to accept new peoples. The idea of families refusing to sell lands to specific tribes in some parts of the east will have to stop. Large populations are needed for businesses to succeed and large populations are needed to grow large consumptions, manufacturing and sales. Trying to argue that the position of Ibo businessmen does not matter in this secession wish will be a toxic lie.

Reality is on the streets.


I do not think the Ibo businessman wants what the Ibo politician wants. I don’t think so.

http://instreaminnigeria..com.ng/2016/11/biafra-vision-reality-and-excitement.html?m=1

How many times have Nigerians tell indigenes of Republic of Benin not to cross the border? Are Nigerians really this slow?

I do fully understood that most dingbats from certain section of the Nigeria who have been busy calling for restructuring of the country cannot even comprehend the essence of it if stood up on the bridge of their noises. How could one feel twisted because of the so-called SEDC (south east development commission) yet idiotically shout for restructure?

banku:
It is no longer if Biafrans will leave but when and if they will survive without all of the old Eastern Region. There are there three types of agitations ringing from the former Eastern part of Nigerians: the 1) Igbo 2) Biafrans and 3) Ibo. Not all Igbo are Biafrans and some Igbo resent the label of Ibo while others far from the hinterland embrace it. Indeed many Igbo think this is a conspiracy after the War to divide and conquer them ideologically. In other words, there is no difference between the Igbo; Igbo is Igbo.

We have just witnessed some new development that only confirmed established facts. There are too many states created out of Nigeria, most of which cannot generate enough Internal Revenue to sustain themselves. While most of these states are in the North, some Igbo states also exposed their inability to do so. In Biafra, hopefully they would not be so fragmented and would survive on commonwealth.BIAFRA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE


The weakest logic demonstrated by latest shutdown of commerce is that Biafra will not get the old East. Unfortunately, the shutdown and loss of revenues only affected the same Igbo, most especially those that had to obey reluctantly and close their shops losing billions in trade and commerce. There is also the thorny question of what to do with Igbo that stay in Nigerians no matter what. While those in Biafra will see them as traitors, the rest of Nigerians will also be suspicious. Damn if you do damn if you do not.

Nigeria has no choice but to listen to the Igbo that wants out of Nigeria. Their voices cannot be ignored. Their indirect referendum, like Brexit, of shutting down trade and commerce, their livelihood, did not deprive the rest of the country. Nevertheless, it is an affirmation that Igbo local areas support Biafra. We know that in United Kingdom, some areas would want to be part of European Union and some areas want to be independent of the Union. Yet British Government at the center would wants all areas out.

Those who claimed oil was the root of all evils that has befallen Nigeria must reassess their thinking because oil would be archived in less than ten years when clean energy and electric vehicles take over. Nevertheless, the agitations for Biafra will not stop as an ideological sound reaching a deafening level to those that want to listen. When children of yesterday and grown men of today that have never been in the country or even speak the language take it up as a cause, we must heed to those at home.

There is no situation that is exactly the same, so referendum like Brexit may not be a perfect answer. Those of us that know the Igbo as children, brothers, sisters, wives and husbands have never seen such insults between ethnic groups, even before the War. We have not learnt from what led to the war and the words are getting to a point: where it may be better to separate peacefully than repeat the mistake of killing one another. Some Nigeria are actually daring Biafrans to leave or be kicked out!

What is surprising in all of these is the recent animosity between Igbo and Yoruba. It is surprising in the sense that Igbo or Yoruba blood has never been spilled in each other’s domain. Of course, the war itself was uncalled for; an exceptional circumstance no one in his right mind wants repeated. However, the owners of the future, that is our youths, have no respect for one another. Their fathers and mothers would recoil or cringe if they know the insults used against one another by the internet warriors.

Igbo were not strangers in Yorubaland. There may be others there before them: like cousins from Benin, Calabar, Togo and Ghana etc. Igbo rose amicably especially in Lagos where Azikiwe even represented Yoruba in Ibadan. Whichever tactics or method Igbo used in those days to be fully accommodated and accepted is what is obviously lacking today. This is apparent because no other ethnic group faces the same type of hostility Igbo now face verbally from their Yoruba hosts. How did we get here?

The case of accommodation in Northern Nigeria is more tenuous and even regrettable. Many Igbo have vouched for the safety of Yoruba and Hausa in their states. But they don’t have or attract the same number of Yoruba and Hausa willing to sojourn in Igbo land. While the name Umaru Altine, an Hausa Mayor elected in 1956 in Enugu always comes up; there are Hausa traders, Yoruba students and civil servants, it was not enough to guarantee peaceful co-existence; not only in Igboland but in Nigeria.

Nevertheless, the Igbo have suffered disproportionally in the North than any other group and that is undeniable. Unfortunately, as opportunities in Nigeria dwindled, Nigerian youths have abandoned their country in greater number than we have ever seen. They risk everything including their lives to get into any other country, no matter how rich or poor. Would Igbo risk their life to stay or cross back to Nigeria?

It is even more depressing when Nigerians risk death penalties in Asia countries, 419 and drugs peddling. While our youths have capitalized on these at home and tried to pin prostitution or drugs on an ethnic group, 419 on another, they are all known as Nigerians outside. It does not make any sense to turn 419, drugs and prostitution on one another when we know every corner of the country is involved though less so in the Northern parts. We have even seen grandpa and grandma used as mules.

Therefore, the attraction to move out of Nigeria and find solace anywhere will not stop after creation of Urhobo, Ijaw, Arewa, Oduduwa, Edo or Biafra Nation. The point here is that creation of each of these nations will not stop infiltration or crossing artificial borders created as a result of agitations. Indeed, it will make life more difficult for those that left since they would have lost the privilege of citizenships. There are fewer compelling reasons to amicably accept Biafrans, Arewa or Odua back once they leave.

If it were so easy to define Biafra, Oduduwa or Arewa republics there would be one less obstacle. It is not. A referendum in the former Eastern part of Nigeria cannot gather enough votes for Igbo alone to capture the old Eastern Region. While sympathy for Biafra may be strong in some states, that would not be enough to commit all Igbo into Biafra. We must remember that before the war, Ojukwu asked all Igbo to return. He did not get all. Well-situated Igbo outside poses a big problem for agitation of Biafra.

Many Igbo are patriotic Nigerians that would not leave their country permanently for another or a new country. Their immense contributions and love of country are against separation. Indeed, mass boycott has created fear despite ECOWA! Igbo have been fully represented in government since Obasanjo’s rule. The Igbo voted for as representatives and senators can call for referendum if they think Biafra is the way to go. So far, none has rejected their post or form a Separation Party like the Party Quebecois in Canada.

Since these agitators cannot muscle other ethnics in the old Eastern states to follow them into Biafra, some people see them as wanting in both ways, in and out, looking for recognition as leaders. Some of them are seen as blackmailers looking for political positions and contracts. Once they get what they want, they become one of the looters sharing kickbacks. No one can differentiate Biafrans from other Nigerians at their parties for weddings, birthdays, remembrance and awards. They are fully represented!

We have seen other African examples in Sudan, Ethiopia and Somali with little amiable results. But this Biafra, they claim, is different. It is going to be like Europe where countries with less area and people are very rich. Some even claim they may become a satellite of Israel. Well, they need to go inside Israel and ask how well Ethiopians and Eritreans that gained access are treated. Like Party Quebecois, may mellow.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Thursday, June 1, 2017
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/251871/biafra-to-leave-or-not-to-leave.html#

Are you this slow? Biafra left Nigeria in 1967 and never returned. What stream of thought brought about the issue of "BIAFRA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE"?

LordOfNaira:
I wanted to ignore but I won't.

Go and read about the coup. SLK exchanged gunfires with the coup plotters.

Are you nuts? The Ogbomosho Tiger-faced loser called SLK Akintola simply committed suicide.

This is undeniably sensational and invocation of love and unity.

Restructure is a piece of mumbo-jumbo while secession is level-headed approach.

LordOfNaira:
The only target that fought back during the Jan 1966 coup was a Yoruba man, SLK Akintola.

SLK Akintola did not fight back, he simply committed suicide.

SirShymexx:
Interesting read.

He's right. Like I've been saying since I joined NL: I've NEVER met a brave Igbo guy and I've a few Igbo friends. Yes, I do know a couple of aggressive ones who can chat shitt and later apologise when they can't hack it. But bravery and Igbos, based on my experience, are two parallel lines that should never meet. However, conversely, Yorubas and Edos who talk the talk always walk it. The Yorubas who can't walk it, most times will never talk it to your face.

Then again, Igbos naturally are funny people and I'd give them props for being the biggest propagandists in the world. Igbos have an uncanny ability where they use propaganda to create a narrative that will look like the truth after a while. The same people who created the narrative that Yorubas are cowards and fictitious Igbo bravery, are the ones who created the narrative that Igbos are naturally light skinned and they're the most beautiful/educated/gifted Nigerians. They are also the ones who created a narrative of Igbos being civilised in pre-colonial Nigeria, when the reality is that they were mostly slaves and savages living in the forest. You just have to give the Nigerian Jews props for copying the modern day fake Jews in Israel to a T when it comes to lies and propaganda.

The fact that most people of Nigerian descent who dominate contact sports like Boxing and MMA are Yorubas should tell you all you need to know. No coward would go into a boxing ring or the octagon.

One Brigadier was shaking in his boots because Ahmadu Bello coughed. Also one Lt Col killed many Tiv men because Ahmadu Bello wished. But one young Maj. told Ahmadu Bello to kiss his ass when Ahmado Bello wanted him to arrest Tiv instead of NPC supporters (Hausa and Fulani) who were the main culprit of the so-called 1964 Tiv riot. This is a classical show of bravery by an Igbo chap.

Talking about boxing and Greco-Roman wresting, are you very young? When people such as Dick Tiger and Power Mike ruled the world in their respective sports, Yari.ba were urinating in their pajamas.

lexy2014:
so what's d true account of what happened between fajuyi, ironsi and their killers that fateful day?

I have already stated to read Eligwu's biography of Gen Y. Gowon and see the account of Lt. William Walbe who was in the room. Also seek for the accounts given by Lt Sani Bello and Flt. Lt Andew Nwankwo, who actually confronted the coup plotters, were in the room on that historic day.

edupedia:
....another useless IPOB fiction....the deeper their coma the more their yeye dreams....there was a sensible tribe...

Those who perpetrate coup do not give any options to those targeted. Have you stepped onto parade ground in your life? Yari.ba are known for fabricating imaginary fallacies. The crap about Lt Col. Francis Fajuiyi wanting to die Gen. Ironsi was laughable when it was first published in the western Nigerian regional government gazette in 1967 and till laughable today. I suggest you read Eligwu's biography of Gowon and get some education.

anyebedgreat:
Idomas are not part of Biafra, have never been and will never be. We have nothing in common with you people. Igbos are busy calling everyone in Nigeria fulani slaves meanwhile they are the ones begging for freedom. Is it not a slave that wants freedom? Truth is, you guys have no friends anywhere. Nobody likes you both home and abroad. Even South South doesn't like you so please change your ways.

It is safe to say you are one of the problems in Nigeria. Ndigbo are not begging for freedom but agitating for a nation state. After the reading the above crap, I came to conclusion that you are ignorant of the words such as "begging and freedom".

ChinonsoDike2:
What has the black race achieved on this planet? The race has a lower IQ average compared to other races. African countries are dangerous, cesspits that lack the rule of law. Blacks here in the US make up 13% of the population, but commit over 50% of the violent crime. Why should anyone be proud of being Black?! What has the race as a collective achieved?!

Hint: Nothing.

Arrant nonsense!! There is absolutely nothing such as black race. The world had one race and it is human.