₦airaland Forum

babaearly:
I strongly feel the president has personality issues to tackle, issues stopping him from doing his work. is it the juju in aso rock or his alleged drinking habit or another thing? time will tell

Who can blame him? I would be drinking as well if I had to worry about Northerners who are standing behind me with knives sharpened.

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=715773.msg8741137#msg8741137 date=1311009206]. . .said with the tonque in cheek!

The[b] unity stops with Ezeuche.[/b][/quote]Na so?

Desola,

Dem send you? I did not say anything and you still wan beaf? Listen well well, am concerned for Lagos.

Some people may see GEJ as a mistake, but I see him as a blessing. Many of us knew, by electing him, he may be the last president of a united Nigeria.

How hard is it for to get photo updates? Do we not have Nairalanders who live in Asaba or Onitsha?

Following in the steps of Okorocha. Good job Fayemi.

Andre Uweh:
Ndigbo have always believed in Onye aghala Nwanne ya. As a result, Ndigbo have numerous town unions in Borno state and this town unions have played a great role in the evacuation of her people in this troubled region. Ndigbo do not need fed or state govts to come to their rescue. May God continue to bless Ndigbo worldwide.

That is very true. But T.A. Orji to his credit did evacuate Abians as well.

Boko Haram: S-East govs task Northern leaders

By KINGSLEY OMONOBI AND TONY EDIKE

ENUGU- THE five governors of South East, Sunday, called on stakeholders in the northern part of the country to tackle the current wave of insecurity in the region arising from the violent activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram just as Minister of Police Affairs has summoned the Inspector-General of Police and the top police hierarchy to a security meeting over Boko Haram.

Gov Kashim Shettima of Borno State has also said that the government will provide the military Joint Task Force, JTF with rules of engagement to discourage soldiers from breaking the rights of the people. The governor had earlier accused the JTF of excesses during their operations to counter Boko Haram uprising.

https://vml1.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/South-East-Govs.jpg

Speaking with British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Sunday, Governor Shettima expressed opposition to the calls for the withdrawal of soldiers from the streets of Maiduguri, while appealing to the residents who were trooping out of the state not to leave. He also urged Boko Haram to lay down their arms and open up lines of communication, saying the government was ready to meet their reasonable demands.

Meanwhile, human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana has called for the prosecution of immediate past governor of Borno State, Mallam Modu Sheriff for his alleged involvement in the extra-judicial killing of Bako Haram leaders.

Rising from a one-day meeting in Enugu, the Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Anambra Sate, Mr. Peter Obi urged the stakeholders in the north to do everything possible to tackle the current security challenges in the zone.

The governor, who did not give details of their discussion at the meeting, stated that the brief meeting, as usual, deliberated on issues affecting the zone.

“It is a very short meeting and we discussed issues affecting the South East geopolitical Zone. We are committed in working together,” Obi added.

The meeting was attended by governors of Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Ebonyi states. Abia State governor, Theodore Orji was absent at the meeting.

Minister summons IG, top Police hierarchy to security meeting

Following the frightening security situation in the country occasioned by the Boko Haram bombings and attacks in parts of the country, the new Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd) has summoned crucial security meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim and the top hierarchy made up of DIG’s and AIG’s at Force Headquarters, Abuja, today.

The meeting, according to Vanguard’s investigation, will deliberate on concrete steps to be put in place by the Police towards checkmating the menace of terrorism and restore confidence in the citizenry. It is also to re-assure the people that the Police is up to the task of tackling the Boko Haram threat.

Vanguard was told that the meeting which is the first since Olubolade assumed office a week ago, will signpost the direction the minister intends to go, especially as Olubolade’s reappointment and deployment from FCTA to the Police ministry underscored President Jonathan’s resolve to tackle police challenges headlong.

It was further learnt that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji and some critical directors will be in attendance at the meeting which will also find ways of fine-tuning the police operational methods.

The precarious financial situation of the force which is threatening to disrupt Police operations nationwide, will also be discussed Vanguard was told.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/boko-haram-s-east-govs-task-northern-leaders/

I would compare Dr. Michael Okpara with Awolowo, because his achievements can be still seen throughout the East.

-Revolutionized agriculture in the East
-Industrialized major cities in the east which include: Enugu, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Aba and Umuahia.
-Championed educational and infrastructural development in the East.

I will hold my comment, until I get more information about this situation. This does not bode well for Nigeria if this is indeed true.

Onlytruth:
I am quite pleasantly shocked by Victor Umeh's straight talk here.
Some idiotic Nigerians on nairaland would say he is "insensitive" in his approach.

Meanwhile millions of Nigerians are dying while the national opinion leaders make "guarded" (read self deceiving) statements.  

We need this "straight talk" in Nigeria. Some people need to come embrace reality.

Dr. Michael Okpara was truly a great man. I have some old pictures of him with my grandfather, when he was in Enugu. That man did a lot for the East regardless of tribe.

We can’t run away from Sovereign National Conference –Umeh

Following the results of the April elections in which the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), made remarkable improvement in the South East the reputation of its National Chairman, Sir Victor Umeh, has received a huge boost. Umeh is however not carried away by the remarkable outing of his party as he makes informed analysis of knotty issues confronting Nigeria, including, ‘Boko Haram’ menace, state creation and national minimum wage. He recommends convocation of Sovereign National Conference (SNC), as a platform for addressing some of the issues, in this dialogue with Group Politics Editor, EMEKA ALEX DURU. Excerpts:

[img]http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Thumbnailer.aspx?image=\\fsvs02\target02\347050\www.inlng.com\web\content\\\DailyIndependent\resources\images\Politics180711%20.jpg&width=380&height=230&suffix=_thumb[/img]

The elections are over and the political parties, including yours are taking stock of what happened. How would you access the performance of APGA in that outing?

I will describe APGA’s performance as a remarkable improvement in the sense that before the general elections, the party had only one state under its control - Anambra State. At the National Assembly too, we didn’t have much presence. It was the same for the State Assemblies. After the general elections, we were able to record remarkable improvement. We had an additional state - Imo State where APGA won the governorship election. We won a senatorial seat in Imo State in the person of Senator Christy Anyanwu, two House of Representatives seats in the state. In Anambra where the party has remained strongest since registration, we won five seats in the National Assembly. We also won the majority in the state House of Assembly for the first time, winning sixteen seats. In Imo State, we won about twelve seats in the House of Assembly and we had some members of the PDP defecting to APGA after the inauguration of the State Assembly. We also took control of the Imo State House of Assembly. That gives you a picture of the resurgence of the fortunes of the party. With that, the party is now better projected to the Nigerian political scene. A party that controls two states government in Nigeria cannot be described as a small party anymore. In Anambra State where we have had a turbulent past because of the inability of the party to have people in the State Assembly based on fraudulent elections, we were able to, for the first time, elect sixteen members of the State Assembly, including taking the leadership of the House of Assembly. We are very excited about this because if you juxtapose it with our performance in 2007, we had no member in the State House of Assembly. That was largely because of the tsunami fraud that took place in the 2007 elections. We have a clearer picture right now and we are going to build upon it to take the party to greater heights. Generally speaking, I would say that we are not so down after the 2011 general elections. It could be better. I am not saying that we have attained our peak. We still have a lot of places to go through. APGA will begin to celebrate after we win elections in the entire South East and other states in the Federation.

Was this what Governor Peter Obi meant when he described what was happening in APGA as a movement?

It is a reawakening so to speak. APGA had remained a movement right from when it was registered but a number of factors had stalled that movement from gaining the proper momentum. In 2002 when the party was registered, it was embraced with a lot of prospect by the people of the South East but due to the terrible nature of the elections in 2003, all the victories recorded by the party at the polls were denied the party by INEC largely because of the attitude of the imperial president we had at that time, General Olusegun Obasanjo, who saw APGA as an affront to his political interest. APGA was a party that after registration was set to be crushed by the authorities at the time, so it was very difficult for the party to rear its head up in 2003 despite the massive electoral support and votes the party received particularly from the South East. That unpublished policy of the authority then to trample on APGA and get it crushed was largely responsible for the stultified growth the party experienced between 2003 and up till 2011 when we had the first liberal democratic election. In 2003, APGA won virtually everywhere in the South East, but none of those victories, as I said, was recorded for the party and that was why in Anambra State for example, Peter Obi who won the governorship election in 2003 could not assume office until 2006. He first had to go through the courts to get him pronounced winner of that election. The same Obasanjo ensured that he was impeached again barely six months after assuming office, through his political godsons. We had to go through the courts again to get Obi back to office after an illegal election was said to have been conducted. It has been a very torturous journey for the party in the only state we managed to secure court endorsement in the governorship election through Governor Obi. We continued in that form till this year. The party was able to spring up from Imo State, making it two states for the party.

Is the party looking beyond South East?

The ambition of APGA is to provide leadership at the highest level in this country. Ambitions are dreams that need to be nurtured but actualising those dreams and those ambitions largely depends on the environment in which we are operating. We are very hopeful and ambitious that if we sustain credible democratic elections in Nigeria, APGA in no distant time will launch to the centre of Nigerian politics.

Many had expected that your party, given its support for Jonathan before the polls, would receive a very robust inclusion in his cabinet but we didn’t see much of you. What happened?

There is no doubt that we gave President Goodluck Jonathan a very solid support. Our support for him reflected largely on his massive victory from the South East because if APGA had stood against him in the presidential elections, I am sure the story would have been different. To that extent, we would say that we contributed to his grand electoral victory for which we are happy about. As to non-inclusion of APGA members in the cabinet as people expected, we in the leadership, I would say, are not crying because our primary objective was not to exchange our support for a few appointments. We gave him what can be described as an unconditional support. There was no negotiation that if he wins the elections, we would get certain key appointments. He was given unconditional support and no matter how anybody looks at it, you don’t negotiate after a battle. For the fact that the party did not negotiate with Goodluck Jonathan at that time, it is better we leave it at that. The appointment he has made, we left to his discretion and what he has done is purely an exercise of discretion.

Some other parties that supported the president without commensurate rewards are grumbling, how is APGA taking it?

I don’t think it is right to say they are grumbling. The National Chairman of the Labour Party that also supported Goodluck Jonathan said that they were not disappointed and that they gave him their manifesto and he assured them that he will promote their manifesto. If that was what they did they wouldn’t be expecting appointments. He also said that they were not expecting any appointment. I will not say the same thing. I will say that APGA expected appointment but we left it at the discretion of the president. There is no way you can deliver support in politics and expect nothing. We expected something really but what the president said he had given was the much he could give. We have noted that and what we would rather say is that let the people he has chosen do well for the country because if they perform well, members of APGA and Nigeria will participate in the democracy dividends that will come their way. Our party members, I must tell you, are not happy because as chairman of the party, there is no way I can pretend when things fall short of expectation. Our party members reach out to me through various means that they were disappointed with what the party has been given and I told them that we did not negotiate before giving that support. That being the case, we have to take it the way we have seen it, we cannot change it but it is left for the president to know that APGA provided him a pillar of support. We campaigned for him throughout our campaigns in the South East. It is for him to note that the general feeling of party members is that of lack of full satisfaction.

What would have turned out to be the glorious dawn of Nigeria’s democracy is being tainted by incidences of insecurity, how do you feel about these developments?

We have so many causes to worry about the things happening in the country right now. The security of the country is very fragile. There is imminent threat to internal security of the country. There is nobody who can pretend that the spate of fear raging across the country now should be waved away just like that. Nigerians wake up daily and read about bomb blasts in various parts of the country. People have been killed and nobody knows the extent to which those behind this can go until bombs begin to detonate in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. People should not think that we are having a stable polity right now. We don’t know the remote causes of this but whatever is responsible must attract the attention of the government. Insecurity is a great threat to national development. Nigeria is being branded a terrorist nation now. We do not deny that. What happens in Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan, may happen in Nigeria. What happened in India, we are experiencing in Nigeria. If the country is seen to be an unsafe country it would have a heavy toll on foreign investments that will come into that country. No matter how much we try to assure foreigners that Nigeria is safe, they will take it with a pinch of salt. They read daily incidences of bomb blasts in the country. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, that is why this country, for so long has been standing on a keg of gunpowder. There are pockets of sectional grievances in this country and people should begin to realise that the only way to get this country on a sound footing is by addressing these pockets of sectional grievances in the country. I would say that I commend MASSOB because it is doing its own agitation without violence. I would tell you that the level of neglect from the South Eastern Nigeria is such that militancy should be happening as well. But because we have been able to tell our people not to toe that line of agitation, that is why you are not seeing bombs. There is no part of Nigeria that has the type of bad roads that the South Eastern Nigeria has had for the past forty years. It is a level of injustice that can provoke the people into violence but we have been restraining our people. I don’t know what Boko Haram is fighting for. The last time I spoke, I said that the government should not treat them with force. The defence chiefs have thundered out that they will crush them. I said it was a wrong approach to the issue. Despite that bold statement by the defence chiefs, Boko Haram are still killing people everyday in Nigeria. It is something that requires dialogue and psychotherapy. They must find out the people behind Boko Haram, they must get them debriefed. Some people must have set them on this line of action. Unless we go deeper and find out how they started their struggle, we cannot quell it by using arms. When people begin to kill as a means of justifying their struggle and they are ready to die in the process, it becomes very dangerous. When you are threatening to crush them with arms, you are now inviting them to step up their violence because they are ready to die. It is a cause of action they have chosen for themselves so the Federal Government must do a thorough check of the people behind Boko Haram. Some people have been put together and brainwashed into the struggle. They need to be debriefed. If you don’t debrief them, they will continue. The country is really going through stress right now. The government and the national intelligence must go deeper than they are doing now to unravel the causes of these uprisings in the country.

Part of the reason often cited for the crises is injustice in the system. Consequently, some people are calling for a Sovereign National Conference to look at the Nigerian federation. Do you subscribe to that argument?

I totally support a Sovereign National Conference. For any nation to live in peace they must look at their framework, how they are constituted and know whether it is workable. If it is not workable, the ideal thing to do is to do what is workable. If anybody says he wants to go, you allow the person to go. South Sudan has left Sudan and it was celebrated but before now, it had been civil war in Sudan. The only way to have peace is to allow people carry their rights by themselves. You can’t deny people their rights and expect them to be a part of a federation. The Nigerian federation is one that is laden with a lot of injustice. The way our federation is structured is such that there will continue to be strife in it. People fight for various reasons. If you are fair and equitable to all, may be this type of agitations will reduce but when there is a seeming imbalance with the way things are handled, the various components of the federation will continue to agitate for one thing or the other. If we have a Sovereign National Conference, we should be able to agree on the system of government Nigeria will operate if we must remain a truly united country. We cannot force people to a federation where they have little or no faith in.

Can’t the National Assembly handle the issues you are raising?

The National Assembly cannot deal with these. The National Assembly is operated within the framework of the false federation on which Nigeria is operating today. The country has been divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory but this balkanisation or fragmentation of the country into 36 states was done by force. The military created the states and the states are the basis of the federation, the states are the federating units. If you go to the constitution, it is written that the states are the federating units in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They were not created through civil means; they were created by force. The military used their powers to divide Nigeria into 36 states. In our democratic experience, no single state has been created in Nigeria apart from Mid-Western Nigeria that collapsed with the advent of the war. It is the military that gave Nigeria its federating units and that is why there is still agitation today from all parts of Nigeria for additional states to be created. For us, the south easterners, Nigeria is operating a six zonal structure where the people of the South East were given five states, the other zones got six states each with the exception of the North West that got seven states. Apparently the sixth state due to the South East zone was given to the North West. Because it was done by military fiat, there was no opportunity to oppose or challenge this type of injustice. It didn’t stop them. The military created 774 local government areas in Nigeria. If you look at the way it was structured, the South East region again got a paltry number of 95 local government areas. The South South region for example has six states and 123 local government areas. The South West has six states and 137 local government areas.

When the military decided to leave the stage, they prepared a constitution for Nigeria and made it impossible for states and local government areas to be created. In the constitution, it is clearly written that there shall be 36 states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and proceeded to list the states in an appendix. It also went on to say that there shall be 774 local government areas in the federation of Nigeria and proceeded in an appendix to list the local government areas and their headquarters. They went ahead to lay conditions for creation of states and local government areas. If you read those sections, the conditions are impossible. And because we elect people, the constituency delimitation was on the basis of these contraptions called federating units. Anything we want to do is on the basis of states, revenue sharing, is on the basis of local government areas. The people of the South Eastern Nigeria are the people that have been terribly locked up in this country called Nigeria and we are forced to remain in the federation because we cannot do otherwise. The military has done this, they have achieved their purpose and we are paying dearly for it. Through selective policies, our infrastructures have been abandoned by successive military regimes and civilian administrations. How will you force yourself to be recognised? How can you continue to remain in a federation like this where despite your internal strength, you are prevented from expressing yourself? This is the way Nigeria is moving. So the Sovereign National Conference is something nobody can run away from. For Nigeria to take care of its problems, there must be Sovereign National Conference. It is with a Sovereign National Conference that all the federating units, not on the basis of states created now, but on the basis of ethnic nationalities, a Nigeria can come together. Let there be a Sovereign National Conference of the 250 tribes that make up the country. These divisions the army has done are not the things holding Nigeria. The ethnic nationalities are the Nigerian people who can come together to say that these are what we want.

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=37366

I am tired of hearing this same topic. Why wont it collapse already?

Haters going to hate.

Zik is still known worldwide.

RoadStar:
He was not only Nigerias first president he was Nigerias first indigenous Governor General (A fact which is not well mentioned).
And he is the proprietor of the neo-black african political phylosophy known as Zikism. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zikism)

Dude your presido was named after the guy by his parents and you say he doesn't live in peoples hearts.
All the Military presidents including IBB and Abacha have taken turns to immortalised the guy (Unizik and Zik Airport) even though they are not even Ibo and u say he doesnt live in peoples hearts.

Dude I grew up in Benin-City which used to be part of the old western region, not even a single pathwalk was named after Awo, Awos name is so distant to them.

My guy wake up, the world is not Yorubaland.

Let them see this again.

I think Igbos should reexamine this man for what he stood for.

https://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/84/76284-004-742F84F8.jpg

FALSE PROPHET!

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=715299.msg8736629#msg8736629 date=1310945932]Remember when i propose a truce? Am just like a viral infections when i attack!? TILL DEATH.[/quote]I see you as more like a rabid dog who needs to be put down.

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=715299.msg8736602#msg8736602 date=1310945430]Ezeuche is a snake. Dont ever be decieved by his suger-coated venom. He is just a born bigot and you cant help him on that. My point also is why not call for the resignation of those theiving eastern governors that diverted the ecological funds to their personal pockets, yet he was gunning for BRF's head. The scumbag HATES everything WEST and he is always restless with any good news from the WEST.
He even went ahead by trying equates fashola with Okorocha when he was not able to stand heat.
Funny was that Okorocha Rochas is a product of the North he loathed the most but cant shamelessly admit to that, No any eastern politician worth emulating. What a scoundrel![/quote]Such words to describe me. 

Soyinka does not deserve this criticism. He is a good man.

What is wrong with Nigerians ridiculing good people?

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=715299.msg8736559#msg8736559 date=1310944417]An excellent question. How are you not a hypocrite, Uche?[/quote]For erosion which occurs throughout Igboland? A process that started doing the Palm oil trade?

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=715177.msg8736224#msg8736224 date=1310939942]Yeah i think the best way to quench fire is to add combustibles abi? You just confirmed that you are a bigot. If not, how do you find sleep at night with all your hatred and bigotry?[/quote]Coming from you? Hypocrite!

I support Southern unity to face a threat that continues to kill people annually in the name of religion.

If you do not like my words, then you can either ignore them, or hang yourself.

You do not represent the views of well meaning Yorubas who wish to foster Southern unity.

This is the threat to Igboland. 

https://www.wief.net/images/anambra_senator/roadside_gully.jpg

https://www.wief.net/images/ekwulobia_collapse/inlet_collapse-07.jpg

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=715299.msg8736125#msg8736125 date=1310938640]brother, with the pictures i just saw on the internet and my stay in anambra, i can assume that the erosion has to do with the topography and the geographical location of the SE and not just anambra but also enugu abia and imo

found out that there are highlands in the cross river, benue areas and because of that the land in benue, cross river are hard

but when going down, the water is meet with lose clay soil of those state and the rushing water can easy eat up the soil slowly

and as u righly said, the palm oil plantation could also have loosen up the soil more

SOLUTION

i think sand and rock filling would be a cheap and effective way of going about it

what do u think[/quote]You may be right. I do not know, because I do not know much about soil topography or agriculture.