Ibime, just an innocent question cos I don't know but I beleieve you should know.

Are there any similarities between the Ijaw in Okirika and the Ijaw in Warri ? Do you have the same culture and do you understand each others dielect (even with some difficulty).

What makes some kalabari say that they are not Ijaw, do they not have common culture and Language ? Apart from beign water people and fishing, what other factors define the Ijaw nationality?

Beaf, kudos for avoiding the childish bait. The trap set for you was dead on arrival.

The introduction of his VP will signify the strength of his wisdom as an incredible leader.
IBB at his best can not be matched by any of these candidates.


*Unity
*Economy
*Education
*Medical
*Infrastructure

Are you sure ? All those areas went down hill during IBB. Endless strikes by lecturers, doctors and NASU. The beginning of infrastural decay and very bad policies. Wasted a lot of money on phoney transition to civil rule. The hyper escalation of curruption to a whole new level. He wielded absolute power then, why did he not achieve good development even by executive fiat ?

I can understand why people see IBB as a credible opposition though. The other aspirants have remained invisible and need to up their games. However, should IBB get there, just rest assured that he wont leave in 2015 and he would try to become a life president in 2019.

Jonathan in my opinion, has not shown any sign of leadership. He gives the impression of a dead wood and a liability, who is bent on maintaining the status quo.

I am still leaning towards Jonathan though because I like continuity.But continuity of what exactly ? If his dealing hands remain unseen and if he doesn't change his game, then another person gets my vote and that includes IBB.

ezeagu:

The examples you gave are not fully comparable to this topic, like for the Romans, not all British people were in contact with them, same as the Arab's, they didn't completely wipe out cultures. Then again in Bonny for instance the Ibani language still exists. You also have to consider the uses of a language that makes it more useful, for Igbo in these places it was a suitable language for trading all over the area.

Maybe the examples are not fully comparable, but still a useful analogy.

By the way, Roman influence on Britain (Brittania to the Romans) lingered into the late 18th century. They ruled Britain and collected taxes for 400 years and their influence lingered at least 1200 years after their departure.

If you were learned but did not know Latin (Roman official language), even after the Romans had left, you still lacked education in old Britain. All official scripts were also written in Latin including the magna carta.

The evidence as regards Roman influence is all very clear when you go to Central London and you would see many buildings with Roman inscriptions on them and no English translation to match. Even their old law books and maritime books had a lot of Roman phrases and paragraghs transcribed to English.

The Arab conquests were always total and the wide spread use of their language would testify to that. Yet the conquered groups maintained their languages.

Yes, Igbo could have been a trade language, but it would have remained a second language if there were no people who were there as first set of inhabitants/migrants and spoke it originally.

Furthermore, it is very strange that original inhabitants would lose their language entirely, to slaves or few strangers.

Not even a brutal occupying force is always able to annihilate the culture and language of the occupied territory, worse case scenario is the establishment of a bilingual society or the absorption of the occupying force.

Look at Fulani conquest with all their ferocity, they adopted Hausa as their official language, even though they were in charge.

The Romans walked the face of Britain for 400 years and English survived.

The German/Brits enslaved South Africa for God knows how long and the best they came up with was Afrikaans.

Arab, the "take no prisoner" of them all colonised the Arab world, yet their local languages survived.

Hm mm, na wa.

Abam (near Abiriba and Item) were the real war people in Old Bende . They did war for a living and were often hired as mercenaries.

The link below is a brief history of King Jaja (a little bit long and may be a spambot victim).

http://biography.yourdictionary.com/ja-ja-of-opobo

Quite interesting to find that the two prominent canoe houses were led by Igbo people. By the time Jaja was "dashed" to the Anna Pepple House, Madu was the head of that house while  Oko Jumbo (another igbo) was the head of manilla Pepple House.

Madu died and his son (Alali) took over the leadership of Anna house. Alali died and left the house indebted to trade partners to the tune of £10000-£15,000.

Jaja, who had become an astute business person stepped up and took leadership of the house, paid off the debt in two years and prospered even more to the displeasure Jumbo , his arch rival.

A fire mishap which gutted Bonny, left Jaja in a vulnerable position and Jumbo attacked him then. Jaja left Bonny with his followers, accepted defeat very quickly and retreated to a virgin land which he called Opobo in Honour of erstwhile King Opubu.

Within two years, he declared independence, cut off Bonny from major trade and 14 other houses in Bonny moved over to Opobo in subservience to him. Bonny was finished. Jaja continued his march to prosperity until the British betrayed and sent him on exile from which he never returned alive.

That Igbo is widely spoken by natives in Opobo, is no coincidence. The founder (Jaja)was Igbo and took many Igbo along with him. That Igbo is also widely spoken in Bonny is also not a coincidence. Is it not curious that the two houses, who played a major role in shaping Bonny had Igbo leaders ? The other houses were not major players in the local politics, if not, their leaders would have been known as well and it won't be surprising to find that a good number of them were Igbo as well.

What happened to Mbari cultural centre and amphi theatre ?

PapaBrowne:

[size=16pt]Hmmmm!! Nigerians are Socialists!! We all need classic re-education to erase this socialist syndrome from our psyche![/size]

We want free Education. We want free healthcare. We want cheap transportation. We want subsidized fuel. We want free infrastructure. And we want cheap housing.

Yet we are not willing to pay taxes or tolls or health insurance!!

The truth is development comes with a huge price. Lagos state for instance has an infrastructural shortfall worth hundreds of billions of dollars. This money will not come from the sky. People are going to have to pay for it somehow or else there would be no development.

All the beautiful countries we all love to talk about pay massive taxes, huge bills and mega tolls. In London there is something called Congestion Charge. To drive your vehicle in the congestion zone, it would cost you  £8 per day= 2000 naira. If you fail to pay the charge, you will be fined btw £60 and £120= 15,000- 45,000 naira. In addition to that, many londoners pay almost 40% of their wages in taxes. When they get home, they also have to cope with massive utility bills. Add that to the fact that they have to constantly pay for health insurance.


[size=13pt]If we want development, we must be ready to pay for it!! Period!![/size]
It is not government that brought you to this world. They are not your father!! Nigerians should stop expecting Government to do everything including putting food on your table all for free.

You only put toll gates on brand new roads and bridges. If for any reason, you have to expand and toll an existing road, then you must provide an alternative route and consult with the people and get their opinion on the expansion and tolling of the existing road. No one expects to get all things for free, but no one wants to be exploited either.

You said that if people could not afford the charge, that they should move to the other side of town. How laughable and childish. You want people who were rightly given a good access to other parts of the state for free about 27 years ago to now move to another part of town, just because other people arrived the area and paid infrastructure dev. taxes to someone (govt) who decided to blockade everybody including the original residents unless they paid  toll fees each time they used the road ? Clap for yourself !

You referred to UK and mentioned health insurance. You do not need a health insurance in order to access NHS services as long as you have a right to be in the UK, including foreign students. Health insurance is by choice . In the congestion charge zone in London, not all roads are chargeable, as there are congestion charge free routes within the zone.

ezeagu:

The railway had to go through Umuahia to collect agricultural produce, as this was a major place for this type of trade, nothing Enugu had to offer compared to Umuahia in terms of market, there are other towns like Okigwe and co the railway could have gone straight past.

Trace a line from Enugu to PH and you will find that Umuahia falls within the line more or less. The railway line detoured to the left from Enugu to Afikpo Junction  before correcting itself again towards Umuahia and to PH. I went to school in north and I used that line millions of times from Kano to PH and I can still recollect how long it took from station to station.

I am not arguing that Umuahia was not a trading centre, but that the railway made Umuahia grow into a town centre,you can take it anywhere. By the way, what could Umuahia have been trading that was more significant than the export status given to it by the railway, which made it possible for people to bring their palm oil to Ogba mmanu for transport to the north and to the sea port in PH ? You think that if the railway station was at afor Ibeji or orie Ntigha (two equally big markets in close proximity to Umuahia) instead of Ibeku, that Umuahia would still have out-grown those towns ?


The name Umuahia, has nothing to do with the fact that Umuahia was a trading centre. Are you planning to tell me the history of Umuahia or what ?

ezeagu:

No, Umuahia, as even indicated by it's name was and always was a busy trading post in the area as a home to a host of trading communities, the railway itself bends for Umuahia, the planners could have had other places more important if Umuahia was not significant.

I know Umuahia was a trading post, afterall I am from Ibeku and my house is between Old Umuahia and Umuahia Ibeku train stations and the railway crosses our ama.

The railway gave Umuahia a boost in trading and made the town to flourish.

Enugu also had significant trading (orie Emene) but it was the coal mines that defined the town and the railway traversed Enugu because of the Coal. The railway did not bend for Umuahia.

Take a look at PH -Enugu express way and you would notice the same pattern. Umuahia is along the part from Enugu to PH. If anything at all, the railway bent for Afikpo junction which was an emerging town at the time.

Paddy lo, I am for true federalism, where there is a structure of how money should be shared from the federation account. We already have that structure in place and I detest spending of money by executive dictatorship. Yes the money should be shared without with holding/diverting any amount until the sharing or spending formula is revised and backed by law. Anything short of that is criminal and dictatorship.

No federal government will engage in reckless gambling of common wealth on foreign investments when the local economy is suffering. Unitary governments may do that but not a federating body.

No one has the right to freeze local or state government funds from the federation account, even if there was a ton of evidence that the money was being misappropriated by the state governors and local government chairmen. We have a structure for dealing with theft and the judiciary should be empowered to deal with those.

If the aim of the SWF is to create a foreign investment platform for the government, I strongly oppose the idea. The federal government should first of all create an asset management bureau if there is none already, reconcile all its assets and investments, identify all the liabilities and invest in our own economy for added value.

I disagree with u. . the investment is for unborn generations and for when the oil money will finish. . .whats the point of eating everything today,what about future generation of Nigerians. , are u so selfish that u don't understand that if this fund had been set up in 1980 like other OPEC countries did

we would not be in this situation today. . .?

Are you so naive as to think that we are where we are today as a result of not having an SWF account ? Corruption and embezzlement of public funds have kept us where we are today. And who informed you that if we had set up such funds in the past, that it would have been so sacred that no one would loot it or even sell what ever investments that was made in the past ?

With regards to the future of the children, a good national insurance scheme would secure that, but then again,that would need to have a legal force.

EzeUche22:

Actually it is the other way around. Umuahia was the first industrialized town in Alaigbo if I am not mistaken. Even before Enugu. When Umuahia was industrialized, Owerri was just a backwaters town.

Umuahia has never been more industralised than Enugu. Enugu was the main reason why Umuahia had any significance at all, because Umuahia was a railway town and the railway was built in the first place because of the Coal mines in Enugu. (No coal in Enugu, no railway in Umuahia - simple)

Umuahia, Enugu , Owerri and PH started urban lives at about the same time, circa 1908. They were all railway towns except Owerri, which was a junction town that also started life at about the same time, but railway was the advantage the other towns had over it.

Umuahia was a major commercial hub before the war with the likes of John holts, UAC doing business there and it was bigger than Owerri before the dynamics shifted in favour of Owerri when  Imo state was created.

Sam Mbakwe tried to develop Owerri, Umuahia and Aba simultaneously and was doing a good job before Buhari and co struck. Owerri was well planned cos it was built from the scratch. There is extensive underground (deep under)sewer system in Owerri all linked together and I don't know of any other place in Nigeria with same system. He built something similar in Umuahia but not as extensive.

Everywhere in Owerri looks like a housing estate and all houses are in line , ordered and the streets are mainly straight and broad. Next to Abuja, Lagos and maybe Enugu and PH, I doubt there is any other place in Nigeria with more good hotels.

Umuahia is my roots and it has the potential of being finer than Owerri if you like houses on hills and valleys like me but not today.

paddy_lo:

@Gbawe and others

Jonathan has proposed the set up of a Sovereign wealth fund. .$1billion of this money was withdrawn for that purpose

Now this $20billion u talk of is from 2007 till now. .

well the blame rests on yaradua,and the world financial crises.

However even if u look at it. . its about $6billion a yr shared btw the 36states and FCT in 3.5yrs

So go to the states and ask them what they did with it.  .

Am sure states like Lagos,Akwa ibom and co have done well with the dough

other Governors might have done poorly. . . .

I dont buy this arguement of waste,because to start with,the ECA has no basis in law
The states can rightfully demand that the money is theirs and they even took OBJ to court

Now this is why Jonathan has made the SWF a priority,to be backed by law
that way in the future,no-one can withdraw money anyhow

so tell me again what the problem is?

Is it easier to push for a new law to back a new account or to create a law to give force to an existing account, which already has a structure ? Who says that we need to create an account for investment purposes anyway ?

A federal government has no business investing tax payers money in overseas companies with no solid investment in the country. If the country had a lot of money to spare, they would divest their foreign reserve into two or three currencies and bonds from reliable countries like USA .

May I remind those talking about Dubai that Dubai is an emirate which controlled by a few families who own the wealth of the land, therefore they can afford to invest their money in whatever way they deem fit, even to the point of near bankruptcy.

Jonathan has proposed the set up of a Sovereign wealth fund. .$1billion of this money was withdrawn for that purpose

Is it not laughable that you would on one hand say that ECA is not backed by law (which I agree with) and on the other hand try to justify the withdrawal of money from that account for the purpose of funding an account that is not yet in existence ? An account which might not make it past the first hearing at the houses of assembly. The tail does not wag the dog neither does the cart drive the horse. What's the hurry ? Why not wait until the law backing SWF come into force before withdrawing money to fund the SWF ? You accept that the money rightly belongs to the federating units, but you advocate the spending/with holding of that money by executive fiat/dictatorship.

A SWF on the other hand is like an Investment account,which allocates capital to various asset classes. .e.g,stocks,bonds,Infrastructure etc
so when the SWF is set up Nigeria might find itself,buying into companies like GOOGLE,Holding Hong Kong bonds that yield 5% -6% and so on. .or an Infrastructure bond for road building in lagos

so you get a return on your investment in form of dividends and interest

If the purpose of the SWF was to able to fund federal investments in companies like google, barclays, et al; Some of us would rather see any excess money invested in our downstream economy, funding local projects and acquiring stakes in local technological industries who are not able to expand their business due to funds, but are keen to exchange a stake in their companies for funds. Furthermore, who says that those foreign companies might not go burst soon after the investments ?

Gbawe:

My brothers/sisters, you should all learn to ignore Beaf . He is a dangerous example of what is wrong with Nigeria . I.e a believer in the notion that "as long as me and my people are in power" blatantly obvious misrule is acceptable. Jonathan continues to show, by the day , that he is a shameless stooge who stands for nothing in particular. It will be Beaf alone , along with 'rented crowds', that will be in Mr.President's corner soon .

Look at the simple actions of David Cameron (UK prime Minister) compared to that of Jonathan . Cameron chose to fly on a commercial flight so that the people of the UK can see that their leader is in their corner in difficult times (credit crunch + reccesion + poor property market + unstimulated lending market/environment, et al) .

Jonathan , as the leader of one of the most poverty-stricken nations on Earth, who badly needs to win an election on merit and with the clear signal he is a departure from past leaders , chooses to insensitively augment an already bloated Presidential air fleet !!! Incredulous !!!

Mr.President insensitively approves billions for a 50th celebration for Nigeria when , if he is the right man for Nigeria , he should enjoin all of us to austerely focus on what is nationally important (such as our electoral civic duties) rather than encourage senseless profligacy that will make more elite Nigerians richer while increasing general poverty.

The same man approved of national honours for fraudsters, forgers and criminals !!!!

It does not matter to Jonathan's supporters , like Beaf , that Mr.President is now enjoying the support of the same evil men (OBJ, Danjuma, Anenih, Aondoakaa) who have shown consistently that they do not mean well for Nigeria. How can a "decent chap" feel comfortable in the company of so many overtly evil men ?

Aondoakaa (yes the same evil enemy of Nigeria who has been sanctioned by the USA) is now openly working for Jonathan .

There is so much more Jonathan is doing wrong !!!

Yet some folks still have the effrontery to show up here to support Jonathan . Clearly we can see that blind and obsessive love of region , ahead of Nigeria, will make some Nigerians support woeful leaders. They cannot see how they are pathetic , ignorant and unexposed local champions willing to ignore what is best for millions of Nigerians!!!!!

Ok Gbawe, now that you have highlighted the bad ways of Jonathan, could you also highlight the good sides to Atiku and IBB and Buhari ?

I am afraid other contestants need to up their game because they have been invisible.
The land consisting of only Jonathan and those three is akin to the land of the blind, and Jonathan as the one eyed man is king.

The truth is that Jonathan is fast squandering the goodwill and support many people had for him. In the months before the passing of Yaradua , whilst he was acting president, he showed lack of will and inability to assert himself in the face of severe onslaught on democracy and Nigerians by faceless people. He was eventually rescued because Nigerians showed unwavering support for him.

Like the op pointed out, while he has been busy clearing party obstacle (which is not bad) he is neglecting those that count,  the electorate ! Election is only but a few months away, no one knows whether he is going to contest because he has not deemed it necessary to declare his position and to sell his candidacy to the electorate.

There is a lot of skepticism on the ability of INEC to hold a free and fair election and it is business as usual in government.

While I concede that improving the availability of electricity is not a day's job, people have argued that he was heading the restoration of power supply while Yaradua was alive. Since we agree that things do not happen in a day or in a few months in Jonathan's case, I think it's now safe to ascribe some of the successes recorded within the first months of Jonathan to the slow works started by Yaradua. I will point to the "improved" power supply and petrol availability in reference to the above mentioned.

Yes, the first 100 days is always a yardstick for the likely direction of an administration, but all I have seen from Jonathan is the desire to placate the old school to ensure self preservation.

Going back to the Yaradua dead/alive -acting president saga, my submission is that Jonathan has not shown leadership, clear vision, sincerity, courage and the ability to stare discomfort in the face and call the shots. He relies on goodwill from people without showing why he should be carried all the time.

He has been carried so far and he should now stand and walk the walk and he might yet restore the goodwill he once enjoyed, otherwise, we do not need the type of leadership he has shown so far.

Good for the goose, good for the gander also.

The job itself is worth some amount and experience is also worth some amount. Siasia performed very well on his previous assignments for the country, therefore he has proved his capability in that regard.

Of course they are still negotiating but I want to see Siasia walk away with nothing less than N12M/month. If we were able to pay foreign coaches a lot more, why not Siasia ?

In football, no coach's initial contract should be set in stone and skewed permanently towards the demands of that coach. Permanent/Long term contracts should be based on the performance of the coach for that team and not past records, unless you were a dondada coach like Ferguson or Wenger.

NFA should agree to a progressive contract based on performance, and if Siasia delivers (discovers and nurtures local talents and wins games to the "sweetness of the eyes", his pay should approach or surpass Lagerback's pay. Yes $200k/month.

Football pay is not dependent on national income scale unfortunately, if not, there is no way Capelo would earn more than Cameron.

Double entry, Sorry.

Chxta:

The first Oba of Benin was Eweka who came to the throne circa 1200AD. Prior to him, the Bini have records for the Ogiso (rulers before the Oba) going back a further few centuries. What are you on about? Let's not be sentimental dear. . .

Chxta, I don't do sentiments. The only people in Nigeria with self composed written history are Kano-Hausa and to an extent the Sokoto Caliphate. Yes, Benin people do have a very good and admirable history, but the written records were not there prior to the arrival of the europeans. All the accounts were verbal prior to the arrival of the europeans.

I have been able to trace my roots to nearly 400 years and I have been able to establish that my kinsmen (lineage) have lived in our current location for that long and the reasons why they left our last ancestral home (about one mile away). I established that through an educated guess based on hand me down stories about who begat who and not written history. The person with written down history has a superior account of their history with regards to time and dates .

In the 7th century, Dala Hill, a hill in Kano, was the site of a group of a community that engaged in iron-working; it is unknown whether these were Hausa people or speakers of Niger-Congo languages.[2] Kano was originally known as Dala, after the hill, and was referred to as such as late as the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th by Bornoan sources.[3]

The Kano Chronicle identifies Barbushe, a priest of a Dalla Hill spirit, as the city's first settler. (Elizabeth Isichei notes that the description of Barbushe is similar to those of Sao people.)[4] While small chiefdoms were previously present in the area, according to the Kano Chronicle, Bagauda, a grandson of the mythical hero Bayajidda,[5] became the first king of Kano in 999, reigning until 1063.[6][7] His grandson Gijimasu (1095–1134), the third king, began building city walls at the foot of Dalla Hill, and his own son, Tsaraki (1136–1194), the fifth king, completed them during his reign.[7]


Gate to the Gidan Rumfa in 2005Muhammad Rumfa ascended to the throne in 1463 and reigned until 1499. During his reign, he reformed the city, expanded the Sahelian Gidan Rumfa (Emir's Palace), and played a role in the further Islamization of the city,[8] as he urged prominent residents to convert.[9] The Kano Chronicle attributes a total of twelve "innovations" to Rumfa.[10]

According to the Kano Chronicle, the thirty-seventh Sarkin Kano (King of Kano) was Mohammed Sharef (1703–1731). His successor, Kumbari dan Sharefa (1731–1743), engaged in major battles with Sokoto.

[edit] Fulani conquest and rule
See also: Fulani Jihad
At the beginning of the 19th century, Fulani Islamic leader Usman dan Fodio led a jihad affecting much of northern Nigeria, leading to the emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate. Kano was the largest and most prosperous province of the empire.[11] This was one of the last major slave societies, with high percentages of enslaved population long after the Atlantic slave trade had been cut off. Heinrich Barth, a classical scholar who spent several years in northern Nigeria in the 1850s, estimated the percentage of slaves in Kano to be at least 50%, most of whom lived in slave villages.[11]

The city suffered famines from 1807–10, in the 1830s, 1847, 1855, 1863, 1873, 1884, and from 1889 until 1890.[12]

From 1893 until 1895, two rival claimants for the throne fought a civil war, or Basasa. With the help of royal slaves, Yusufu was victorious over Tukur, and claimed the title of emir.[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano

Please don't say Wikipidia because I also read the history from somewhere else.

The best records in all of modern day Nigeria were kept by the Edo people.

The Hausa (Kano to be precise) kept the best records, more than anyone else in Nigeria. They have documented evidence of their history dating hundreds of years. They had scholars who were versed and they can give a good account of their history going back more than a thousand years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_dSLOKywk&feature=related Ikpirikpe ogu (war dance from Old Bende Axis from Ibeku - Abiriba)

Ibime:

^^^The story follows no logic at all. . .

If the body is already decomposing, how can they determine that the deceased was killed by blows to the body rather than hanging?. . . and how exactly did they come to their conclusion that the deceased was murdered?


Nigerian journalism leaves a lot to be desired. . . .

Forensic tests can determine how the deceased died and also narrow it down to the most likely object/weapon used for the murder.

I get you point though, how were they able to come to an immediate conclusion that the accused struck the fatal blow and faked his (deceased) suicide several days after the murder ?

Posted by: edoyad
Insert Quote
Okay, Andre says

Quote from: Andre Uweh on Today at 11:09:16 AM
That particular capo may be evil, but should not be a generalization. I know one capo in London who has used his law chamber to bring justice to so many Nigerians who have been denied justice in the UK without asking for fees.
Some have assisted Nigerians with getting jobs, accommodation etc. A lot of them are heaven sent.


then our linguistics genius follows with
. . . .

Quote from: Katsumoto on Today at 12:08:37 PM
Correct, I know so many capos and most are very nice now while there are those who choose to remain evil.


Now please, can NL please help me understand which of these two posters implied that most his "capos" are nice and helpful fellas ?

But our genius returns a post later to say he didn't say capo's are helpful and he only mentioned that "some capos" are nice. Mean while he forgot he started his post with "correct", in acquiescence to everything in the preceding

Edoyad, dat one na right under the bus you troway am. Sofly sofly make person no go hang himself.

People no know say sincerity na the only way to not get entangled in dem own web, because dem no need to remember the last thing dem talk in order to remain consistent. If dem send dem make dem go espionage , na so dem go just catch dem.

ndu_chucks:

Uncle Joe ko, auntie Jemima ni. Goodluck Jonathan has never campaigned for any elected office on his own, he has simply ascended to various offices out of coincidence. The man has no real vision to move Nigeria forward, if he does, he is yet to tell the electorate about it.

The earlier you people started demanding the very best leadership for yourselves, the better off incoming generations will be. Stop worshiping a visionless GJ simply because he is from your region, you should have been more sophisticated than that, by now. olodo.

Any fool can top the achievement of Nigeria's recent heads of state.

Please post links or text of GJ vision and plans for Nigeria or his master plan. This man is uniquely positioned to make some bold and positive revolutionary moves - my esp tells me that he is not a true leader who can do such.

I wonder what you people will do when sisi GJ announces to the world that he will honour the PDP power rotation agreement and wait until 2015.

Alhaji Ndu_Chuks, how far ? You have started using olodo as fullstop again. Anyway, Beaf is equal to the task.

People are saying that things have improved under Jonathan. I was in Owerri/Umuahia a coupla weeks ago and noticed an improvement in electric and petrol supply compared to about 6 months ago. That doesn't look like the result of lack of vision on Jonathan's part.

I think he should be given a chance to try his best.

I know that he has been on a political horse back all these while, but that doesn't mean that he is incapable of charting his own course. By the way, show me the alternative to Jonathan.

If the alternatives are IBB, Buhari and Atiku and Jonathan fails to rig himself in, I will personally lay ambush and give him 24 lashes with koboko custom made by Ndu_Chuks.

O.k just kidding, may the man with the most votes win. People deserve the kind of leaders they elect anyway.

sjeezy8:


you said Zik and okpara which means two peoples achievements combined - we are talking about One person's Achievements. and you are using two different people who headed the East.

Awolowos only was premier of the West -1952 to 1960- By himself.

you are saying Zik and opkara 1957-1967- Both together and after Awolowos time.
______________________________________________

If you compare dates even a blind man can see that Awolowo was years before both Zik and okpara - like really.
This is from your own statements. Its like your helping his argument that Awolowo BY HIMSELF had no equals, by you comparing Awolowo with- BOTH ZIK AND OKPARA.

If you have to compare Two people (Zik and Okpara) to one person (Awo) - doesnt that mean that individually the two you compared to Awo - arent equal to him?

Thats like common sense.

Zik (go and look up his profile) did his stuff while he could but Okpara achieved more for the eastern region. Nationally, Zik had more relevance than Awolowo. He was president and Awolowo was a back bencher end of. Even the Nigerian govt has confirmed that --- you only need to look at N100 and N500 to confirm that.

When asked about Awolowo's achievements other than a football stadium, a multi story building, University of Ife, TV station and free education, you were unable to provide any, yet you have the temerity to say he was the greatest leader Nigeria ever had because you live in your own little world.

Others advised you several times that he was not a national but a regional leader, you were still hell bent on eulogising him above more worthy leaders. Name his other achievements or shut it. I am not going to be sucked into an everlasting argument on this.

bk/babe97:

 . . . . . . And because of those achievements we say to u, Dear Sir, have a merry christmas!!! Freakn disgusting Ibo man! Noone is comparing your Mr Zik or Your Mr Okpara (whoever the hell he is) to Mr Awo: YOU IBOS ARE THE ONES CRYING ALL OVER THE THREAD THAT  MR AWO DID NOT DO ANYTHING FOR YALL!!! Do not confuse the topic, get it right in your head!!! Mr Zik/Okpara did all that, so why the hell are your brethrens crying that Mr Awo did nada for them? Is it just that Ibos are freakn greedy and ,as always, WANT IT ALL TO THEMSELVES? Is this why the rest of Nigeria scared of yall, your greed?!?!

Knob head, if you had any sense you would remember that I once told you that I would not descend to your level for any reason. I will advise you to go back to the cheap drugs you are taking and be happy.

babapupa:


All you did was assert the same thing we've been saying. You basically confirmed that Awolowo was a leader, he showed and paved the way for the rest of Nigeria. All the yeye in quick pursuit basically = follow follow.

pursuit = somebody with superior brains, intellect and strong leader dey ahead of you and your leaders.

Obviously, the man was ahead of Nigeria itself talk less of your villages back east.

He impacted the rest of the country because the rest of the country followed him and duplicated his achievements like you clueless pointed out.

He impacted your life because you just stated that your leaders pursued and duplicated his achievements. I don't know about some of you head in the sand Igbo people, it's either you're slow or just bipolar.

It beats me how some of you just dey talk with little or no common sense.


Jakande himself go slap you for putting his name ahead of Awolowo,  

I don't  like merry go round talks, but did Azikiwe and Bello also follow him with UNN (with branches in Nsukka, Enugu and Calabar (now UNICAL)  , the defunct Eastern Region University (now Forestry Institute)  and ABU ? Did Azikiwe also follow Awolowo with newspaper establishment and bank founding ? For the records, Western region followed the founding of ACB by founding National Bank.

He built cocoa house ? An ordinary  building for crying out loud and you want to compare that with the industrial and agricultural revolution by Okpara ? Tv station and stadium that others also built in the same era ? Free education that his people needed more than those that went to school in the eastern region regardless of cost ?

You  just stay in your small cocoon and imagine that is the extent of the world.

Without naming all the achievements by ENDC between 57 and 67 (zik/Okpara), if you can provide a few examples to replicate the following achievements , then your Awolowo tried for you. Also, besides Ibadan where else did he build anything  in the western region.

The projects executed by the ENDC during the period 1957-1967 include among others, AbaTextile Mills, Ltd, Aba; Nigeria Cement Company Ltd., Nkalagu; Universal Insurance Co. Emene Gas Plant, Niger Steel, Trans-Ekulu Industrial Estate, Trans-Amadi Industrial Estate and the Emene Industrial Estate. You have the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt and Enugu.

Glass Company Ltd., PortHarcourt; Cross River Mills Ltd.; ENDC Filling Stations;

Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria; Progress Hotel, Enugu; Catering Rest Houses, Enugu; Livestock Project, Ukpor; Boatyard, Opobo; Eastern Regional Medical Centre. Others are African Real Estate and Investment Company; Niger Steel Company, Emene; Niger Cement Company; African Continental Bank; Odagwa Rubber Estates at Odagwa, Oji River , Ndi Oji Abam, Elele, and Biakpam; Oil Palm Estate, Eket; Cocoa Estates at Obudra, Ikom, Boje; Cattle Ranch at Obudu,

Industrial clusters at Enugu, PH and Aba, Golden Guinea brewery Umuahia, Ceramics industry Umuahia, Calabar Cement , etc.

EzeUche:

Dr. Michael Okpara was a better leader than Awolowo if you want to compare tribal chieftains. I support revering Okpara more than I would ever revere the "Great" Zik of Africa. But to say Awolowo had no equal. Please!


"Dr. Michael Okpara, a strong advocate of what he termed “pragmatic socialism,” Dr. Okpara reasoned that Nigeria’s salvation hinged on agricultural revolution. To this end, he acquired and managed a large farm in his hometown; thus inspiring many Eastern Nigerian leaders to take up interest in farming. Apart from revolutionizing Agriculture in Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Okpara has to his credit the industrialization of such notable Nigerian cities as Enugu (Eastern Nigeria’s government seat), Port Harcourt, Calabar, Aba and his hometown of Umuahia. He also championed the educational and infrastructural development of Eastern Nigeria. Successive Eastern Nigerian leaders (governors of Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Ebonyi, Imo, Bayelsa and Enugu states) have yet to build upon the selfless leadership and accomplishments of Dr. Okpara."

Dr, Okpara did not even have a house to his name by the time he left office. What a man, but we still are not going to say he was the greatest.

When Malam Umaru Altine (from sokoto) became fought for election and became the first lord mayor of Enugu, FACE did not sponsor him neither did FACE sponsor Azikiwe in the west. He who dares wins. If you want something you ask for it and look for support.

Anybody is free to be the governor of Abia state as long as they live and do their business in Abia, afterall what did we benefit from Kalu and Orji ?

Usually, I do not have time for round abouts so you have tried in that regard. It's good you are taking a bow, but my points have been made.

Back to topic. Awo was a great leader only to Yoruba people. Okpara and Mbakwe were eons ahead of him in achievement, but I would not call them the greatest Nigerian leaders because their areas of influence did not extend to all parts of Nigeria.

Katsumoto:

Whatever rights you think Zik, or anyone else for that matter, had, the fact remains that Yoruba sons rejected him as their leader. They decided to go for a Yoruba leader and going by the way events played out, they made the right decision.

Ok, you agree that he had the right to vie for that leadership, but he did not get enough support to sail through. That position is very different from "he had no moral right" to vie for leadership, when he already was a constituent representative, elected by people who unlike yourself see things beyond the ethnic line.

Katsumoto:

You seem to have gotten this argument mixed up somewhere. Did Zik not contest and win a seat in the Western House of Assembly? This discussion was centred on whether he had the moral right to be the leader of the Western house. I only responded to the points that you made when you entered the debate. The fact remains that a few Easterners won elections in the West. Yoruba people have the right to decide who leads them Yorubaland. If they do not want an Igbo man to lead/represent them, you can not fault them for that. Afterall, a non-Easterner did not lead the East and a non-northerner did not lead in the North. Also, Zik used Igbo numbers and influence to replace Eyo Ita who was Efik.

Did any non-easterner win any seats in the East or did any non-northerner win seats in the North? That Yoruba people were liberal enough to allow non-westerners to contest and win elections in the West should not lead to tham accepting a non-westerner leading them. I am not going to repeat this point again. If you argue otherwide, then I beg you to please convince one of your non-igbo friiends to run as governor of your state and also convince your kinsmen to vote for him.

By the way, George Galloway won the seat in Bethnal Green and Bow, an area with a high concentration of Asians, after campaigning for palestinian rights and being against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where anti-war sentiments were high in 2005. Little wonder he lost the election in 2010. Why did he not try his popularity in a predominanly english constituency in Surrey, Kent, or the west of England?

The Yoruba people had a right to decide who their leader was is very different from "why should Zik aspire to be that leader" and referencing the UK. Why did Michael Howard lead the English Tory party, even though he is at best Welsh ?

By your arguement, George Galloway shouldn't have contested in Bethnal Green because he is not "like them".

If the "Yoruba people were liberal to allow" non Yoruba to fight and win elections in their respective constituencies , do  you think that they would not like the constituency representative to lead the house with the hope that his leadership might skew some favours their way ? Also, if they showed acceptance of those people at constituency level, why would those people not be encourage to vie for leadership knowing that they already enjoy some trust and support.

I daresay that it is the responsibility of every constituency representative to vie to represent his constituency at the highest level, therefore Zik was very right to vie for that leadership and he also had reasonable support in that regard.

Katsumoto:

In UK politics, politicians have to go to constituencies, sometimes different from where they live or were born, to contest. But the central theme to all these is that English politicians contest in English constituencies while Scottish politicians contest in scottish constituencies. You asked the question about Tony Blair so why don't you answer it. Why did Tony Blair, who was a third generation English man in scotland, not contest in Scotland and you will finally grasp the point that I am making. I never stated anything about people contesting where they were born or where they live. My point is that people contest in the same region as others like them.

Now you talk about Michael Howard whose dad was Romanian-Hungarian. The same Michael Howard whose father changed his Hungarian name, Hecht, to Howard after moving to England. So why did he change his name to an English name? Did he have a Wesh name or an English name? The fact is that many English people think Michael Howard is English. He even contested a seat in Liverpool twice but lost before contesting in folkestone and Hythe. The other fact is that it is easier for other nationalities to be accepted in England or Scotland as long as they act English

I really don't like round abouts, but I will obige you just this once. George Galloway is a Scot and has represented English and Scottish constituencies at different times, but you keep shooting yourself on the foot. Your question was why should Zik contest in the western region and referenced UK. The same you also confirmed that you could contest elections in the UK outside your place of residence or birth. Do you now see that it doesn't make sense to reference UK in support of your position ?

Are you arguing about acceptability or what ? Should Zik have had some prejudice for himself or are you saying that the westerners' prejudice on him was justified ? So it would have been Ok for Zik to have changed his name to Olumide in order to hoodwink people to accept him. Michael Howard's dad change of name was for reasons best known to him, afterall that Umunna guy did not change his name and colour to win. There are 5 Igbo councilors in my local authority some of whom were born in Nigeria, did they change their names or color to win ? How about that Yoruba mayor in Ireland, why did he not go back to Nigeria if he wanted to be a politian ?

Look for another angle, because even you have confirmed that anyone is fre to fight elections wherever he chooses to in the UK.

Katsumoto:

You are buttressing the point that I made without realising it. Did I suggest that Zik should have contested in the North because he was born in the North. I asked, 'have you observed an English man winning an election in Scotland or a scot winning an election in English?' The fact that Tony Blair, an English man, born in scotland but represented an English consitutuency buttresses my argument nicely. Why did Blair not contest in Scotland after all he was born there?

I thot someome might come back with that, so I also came up with Michael Howard to deter that person. So why didn't Michael Howard contest in Wales where he was born or not at all since he is Romanian by decent ? Tony Blair was at least a third generation Scot and you think he wasnt Scot enough to have contested in Scotland ? His dad was born in Scotland and was also adopted in Scotland. Michael Howard was only a second generation Welsh man.

Now to answer your question; I thought that it would have been obvious that they simply contested where they lived which were their defacto constituencies. The Milliband brothers represent different constituencies for the same reason. George and Jeff Bush were governors of two differents states at the same period for the same reason. Your constituency is where you live most of the times. Look for another angle on this one cos you can't provide a reason why Zik shouldn't have contested in western Region by referencing UK and USA, it simply falls flat.

To the ant on the table, the world is flat ! Lack of broad world view can only lead to ignorant statements/declarations.

Yoruba people revere Awolowo, and maybe rightly so in their opinion because he impacted on their lives thus : University in Ife, First TV stations in Africa, Liberty Stadium, Ikeja industrial estate,  and most of all, free primary education.

While all those achievements are laudable, declaring Awo the best Nigerian leader would be akin to the World series games in America where only American teams participate and are crowned world champions.  

Like for like, he was matched or even outshined by other regions at the time.

First TV Station : Yes, but in quick pursuit were Northern Nigeria TV by Ahmadu Bello and ENBC/TV by Okpara.

OAU: Before OAU, There was UNN. OAU showed up in 1962 alongside ABU and Eastern Region University (defunct after the civil war and now known as Forestry Research institute of Nigeria Umuahia.)

Liberty stadium : Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Tafawa Balewa Stadium (Altho not built by the regional govt). Enugu stadium developed from Railway playing fields.

Ikeja industrial Estate (Yaba and Apapa were built by the FG): In the east, there were industrial centres in Aba, Enugu and trans Amadi Industrial Layout in PH. Golden Guinea Breweries and Ceramics industry in Umuahia, Nkalagu Cement and erstwhile Calabar Cement factory were all legacies of Michael Okpara. I do not know about Bello, but he might have done something similar in the north too.

Free education: short lived, albeit commendable. It was only at primary level and was his prerogative.  The north should have followed suit in that regard, but the eastern region embraced western education with both arms and since people went to school in any case, the regional govt found it more important to channel their resources elsewhere. The records show that they did not lag behind in education as result of not following suit with free education.

In mordern times, did Awo really surpass Jakande ? Well, he did not surpass Mbakwe for sure.

Mbakwe to Imo and Abians was a god. In terms of layout and design, only Abuja beats Owerri. The streets are straight as graph. I don't know of any other City in Nigeria (apart from Umuahia to an extent) with a network of underground sewer system, which link all the drainage (gutters) in the city centre. The second state University (after Anambra) and initiative to self-tax and build Imo airport to mention a few, were all part of Mbakwe's legacies.

Yes, Awolowo was your god, but he can't be god to all.


To all those talking about contesting election elsewhere and using UK as an example, all I can say is that you shot yourselves on the foot. Tony Blair for instance was born in Scotland and represented an English constituency. Michael Howard was born in Wales to a Romanian father, represented an English constituency, was tory leader and could have become the Premier had the tories won. Examples abound and ignorance is no longer bliss.