₦airaland Forum

Let him perform first, before we make such statements.

A murdered pregnant corps member’s last words

By Jude Atupulazi
May 7, 2011 10:21AM

Agnes Ezennadozie had called her husband, Peter, to alert him of what looked like trouble. “She called me and said ‘Honey, it’s like a riot is taking place’,” recalled Mr Ezennadozie, barely holding back tears. “I asked her how safe she was and she said they were at a police station. Later, she called to say the hoodlums were surrounding the station and I told her to run from there. As we were talking, I heard a scream and then nothing,” he added.

He called her line repeatedly without reply. Some two hours later, a male voice came on the line to tell him that the owner of the phone was seriously injured. He later learnt that his wife of three months had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre in Bauchi. He prevailed on the hospital staff to take his wife to a particular hospital in downtown Bauchi. From there she was moved to Abuja for further treatment. She died 12 days later.

Good programme gone awry

It was dreamed up as a scheme to engender unity among Nigeria’s youth fresh from the nation’s higher institutions. But the fate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) currently hangs in the balance as recent events threaten to undermine its continued existence.

Established in 1973 by the Yakubu Gowon administration, the scheme was also aimed at healing the wounds of a 30-month civil war which the nation had survived three years earlier. The scheme offered the fresh graduates the opportunity of serving the country outside of their states of origin. There is no doubt that many would not have known about the different cultures in the country if not for the scheme.

However, in recent times religious and now political crises in parts of the country, especially the north, have turned what was supposed to unite Nigerians into an objectionable venture.

This latter development was poignantly brought to the fore by the senseless killing of many innocent youth corps members in some northern states, especially Bauchi and Kaduna, by gangs of youth protesting the loss of their favoured candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, at the just concluded general elections.

The protesters descended on the hapless corps members who served as ad hoc staff for the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission. When the dust settled, there was general weeping and anguish by a shocked nation. Many of its youth had been slaughtered like animals in the course of serving their fatherland.

In the midst of all this is the very heart-rending case of Mrs Ezennadozie, who was carrying a six-week old pregnancy after her wedding in February this year. Mrs Ezennadozie, who hailed from Achina in Anambra State, died as a result of the first degree burns she sustained in Bauchi when the hoodlums invaded and set fire to a police station where the corps members had fled to for safety.

Indescribable pain

Mr Ezennadozie wondered what his wife had done to those who murdered her to deserve such a fate. He wondered why Nigerians, especially northerners, had no wish to, in his words, “Stop the rubbish act of killing innocent people because of religion and politics.”

“How can someone just kill an innocent girl? The federal government should stop this act of northerners,” he said. As a solution to that, Mr Ezennadozie is of the opinion that those from the north should serve in the north while their southern counterparts should serve in the south. That way, he said, “if the north wants to kill its own children, it would be their choice.”

While receiving the remains of Mrs Ezennadozie at Government House last Thursday, the state governor, Peter Obi, said, “Today casts a pall of darkness over Anambra State as we receive the corpse of Mrs Ezennadozie who as you know was among the corps members hacked down in their prime during the post-presidential election crisis that engulfed parts of northern Nigeria.” He regretted that the late Agnes Ezennadozie paid the supreme price while answering a call to national service.

“Unfortunately, a programme designed as a veritable instrument for national integration turned disastrous when uninformed youths hiding behind the veil of politics visited violence on fellow Nigerians,” Mr Obi lamented.

He called on the federal government to henceforth assure corps members outside the northern zone of adequate protection or nobody would be willing to serve again. “We will serve the nation but not at the expense of our lives. We must serve the nation but the nation must protect us, if not we will not serve. We must negotiate before you (corpers) get back,” the governor said, noting that he had asked the federal government to ensure that those behind the act do not go free.

He promised that his government would not allow the deceased’s family to walk alone and pointed out that the state government had fully taken over the funeral expenses of the slain corps member.

To scrap or not to scrap

Some who spoke to NEXT after the short reception expressed worry over the incessant killings in the North and called on the federal government to either review the NYSC scheme or scrap it. They echoed the widower’s line that those from the various zones should serve in their zones.

“The NYSC should not be abolished but that corps members should serve in their zones,” said Nkiru Orji, a journalist.

Tony Anyanwu, also a journalist with the Nigerian Television Authority, said that much as he sympathised with the deceased’s family, he would still insist that the scheme should be modified rather than scrapped. He however said that if the country was desirous of keeping the scheme, it must urgently deal with factors causing what he called “the incessant crises” and that offenders should face the law.

For Shadrack Nnanna of the National Orientation Agency, corps members should be allowed to choose where they would prefer to serve in order for them to accept their fate whatever happens. He suggested that, alternatively, graduates should be subjected to military training in lieu of national service and afterwards helped to settle down in society afterwards as is the practice in Egypt.

Given that many parents would not want to give up their children to another horror similar to the post-election violence, the likelihood of the runaway corps members across the nation returning to their host states in the north continues to look bleak as the programme totters on the brink of total rejection by Nigerians.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5698255-146/story.csp

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PhysicsMHD:
wtf


kick him out


How can he be a legitimate ruler if the people don't want him

They are a conquered people. They have to submit to their new rulers, just like the Yorubas of Kwara had to do so.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
Denis Diderot

Uncle Tom African Leaders:

Mobutu Sese Seko
Blaise Compaoré
Yakubu Gowon
Jonas Savimbi

The way some of this Africans call any African product "Ibo made," is very sad.

The reason why Prince Paul Ikonne lost was not because he was Ngwa. It was, because he was part of the wrong party. Plus, the Ngwa vote was highly divided amongst the other 2 Ngwa candidates that were running. T.A. Orji was able to mobilize his base, which is in Umuahia. As long as the Ngwa vote, even though they have the largest voting bloc in Abia remain divided, their only hope for a Ngwa governor is if they go through PDP.

Anyway, I am happy that OUK no longer has power in Abia. One small step. No one understands that OUK was the reason behind most of the kidnapping. He practically brought Abia to its knees and that is why we needed the military in Aba.

Well this type of paranoia is good. You can never be too careful.

Maybe Okorocha can build up APGA, because Peter Obi has been disappointing.

O dighi akwusi ikwu okwu.

EWU!

Hey bk.bum! Your girl looks like Ms. Piggy.

[img]http://2.bp..com/_aDSsKvJu0xE/TE4_ywaquDI/AAAAAAAACr0/8-FxxaAsdmY/s320/Miss_Piggy_In_Pink_165218%5B1%5D.gif[/img]

It shows that you can truly put lipstick on a pig.

You got that right.

Now where is my money?

https://img1.tvloop.com/img/showpics/dd/5d/l34c425e90000_1_10430.jpg

alj_harem:
kwezo nu

good people of igbo i salute u na

Si ebe a pua.

Sun of god:
Strengths - The South
Weakneses - The North
Opportunities - The South
Threats - The North

Very nice analysis.

This is horrible!

alj_harem:
everyone loves money

but in the case of southerners where they would kill there family and friends just for money is scary

don't u think, can you kill your parents for money ?

I don't even know who started that nasty stereotype, because I have never seen anyone committing such a ritual.

The question I asked is why are Igbo labeled with this stereotype, even though it has only been Northerners and people from the West who drained Nigeria of its wealth for decades now?

Sani Abacha stole billions of dollars and watched many of his people starve. How evil can you get?

Who doesn't like money?

Do our Yoruba and Hausa brothers hate money?

If so, why are they the main culprits for the billions of dollars that were stolen from Nigeria?

Rhino.5dm:
I guess Gov. orji is good man for Abia.
Dude you gat no shame.

Do you come up with this nonsense in your head?

Where have I said such?

Anyway, continue with your foolishness. You amuse me.

^^^

I have noticed the self-destruction mentality of many Igbos as well.

That is why we need to stand united against this type.

Pukkah:
MMIA is congested and creaking under the weight of use. It also has little room for expansion.

I don't mind a Lekki airport especially if they can secure private funding for it. It is a feasible project. And the issue of Tinubu is not a critical issue as the poster has made it look.

No it is not.

There is no need to be another international airport so close to MMIA.

There is no need for a second airport so close to Murtala Mohammed Airport, which hasn't even reached its full potential.

I see Abagworo is trying to provoke me. What is good for one state, may not be good for another.

I salute the good people of Imo State for throwing out a tout like Ohakim.

No need to cast stones.

16 die, 20 houses burnt down in northern Nigeria

(AP) – 3 hours ago
BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Police say attackers killed at least 16 people and burned down 20 houses in a northern Nigerian town with a history of sectarian violence.

The Bauchi state police chief told The Associated Press on Friday that the attack took place around dawn near Tafawa Balewa town.
Amanam Abakasanga said most of the victims are of the Sayawa ethnic group comprised mainly of Christians.

The Sayawas are in the majority in the town and its surrounding villages, but their traditional rulers have been of the predominantly Muslim Fulani ethnic group.

The Sayawas have demanded a separate traditional ruler, which has led to attacks and counterattacks over the past two decades.

Not to sound pessimistic, but I believe it when I see it.

All this wonderful news I am hearing, but we shall see in a few months to a year.

SEFAGO:
^ Africans are the one managing the funds though. I get your point though, the buck stops at oyibos table.

its just investments and they are trying to make money.

Look at what oyibo think of us:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/africa

It is a common theme, but once the reach the continent, there view changes and they catch the African bug.

That is why I like the Chinese. They do not care where they work in the world. It can be a rural village in Mali or a huge metropolis like Lagos. That is something to admire about them.

sulad82i:
Is this a sale of too many fields to handle for Shell, or Shell is trying to reduce its total stake in Nigeria?

I believe Shell is trying to reduce its total stake in Nigeria due to constant attack from militants as well as bad press abroad.

Shell to sell Nigeria oil field stake for $600 million

Friday, 06 May 2011

Kulczyk Oil Ventures and Nest Oil are understood to be the winning bidders for the OML 42 field. The consortium secured a 45pc stake in the block for $800m, including Shell's 30pc operating stake, according to a local community leader.

Shell and Kulczyk have declined to comment.

The field, estimated to contain 1.2bn barrels of oil, is also co-owned by France's Total and Italy's Eni.

Four of Shell's Nigerian blocks are up for sale. It sold the smallest of the four to Eland Oil and Gas and Starcrest Nigeria Energy in April.

The oil major has found tough conditions while drilling for oil in Nigeria, with regular attacks on its onshore facilities by militants protesting against the presence of energy companies in the Delta region. Sabotage has caused a number of leaks into the environment and the security situation makes cleaning up more difficult.

http://www.africainvestor.com/article.asp?id=8760

This is good news. I have some friends who work for the Carlyle Group.

enyojo:
[size=14pt]LET HIM TACKLE HIS INACTIVITY FIRST[/size]

[size=14pt] Shut up Biko![/size]