₦airaland Forum

Less than 24 hours after meeting with leaders of the NorthernElders Forum, NEF, on the possibility of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram sect, President Jonathan today approved thesetting up of a special committee with members drawn from the security agencies to discuss the possibility and modalitiesof an amnesty programme for the islamist sect.
The setting up of the committee was the outcome of a security council meeting today.iReports-ng.comgathered that the committee which work will be coordinated by the office of the National Security Adviser, Prince Sambo Dasuki has two weeks to submit its report.
The committee will consider the pros and cons of granting amnesty to the sect and then come up with the modalities forimplementing the programme.
The president had suddenly changed his hardline position at a meeting with the northern elders yesterday night when he mulled the possibility of amnesty for the sect members.

Governors Idris Wada of Kogi and Peter Obi of Anambra have called on the people of Odeke and Aguleri-Otu to exercise restraint, as their dispute over some oil wells would be resolved by the National Boundary Commission.
The two governors who addressed a joint news conference in Abuja, called on the communities to ensure good ghbourliness.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on April 3, the twocommunities clashed over the oil wells being harnessed by Orient Petroleum Company on the boundary coastal community of Aguleri.
Wada, while briefing newsmen on Thursday, said the people must exercise restraint as the issues in contention over the border dispute were been resolved by the NBC.
``The proper demarcation of the boundary is on the directives ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan.
``That both governors will ensure a peaceful and equitable resolution of the dispute that will benefit the people and further good neighborliness.
``Both governors also call on those trying to cause disaffection between the two brotherly states, with a long affinity to desist from such attempts.
``What Nigeria needs now is peace which will attract development,’’ Wada said.
He described as ``false’’ recent media reports excluding NAN, stating that 400 houses were burnt in the clash.
According to him, only five houses were torched, adding that thefracas were ``completely exaggerated’’.
``For emphasis, neither Kogi nor Anambra States reported any loss of life, contrary to media reports that 57 lives were lost.
``In fact in addition to the five house that were burnt, another four motorcycles were destroyed during the fracas.
``We are taking inventory of the losses from both sides and we want to assure the people that compensation will be paid,'' he said.
Also answering questions from newsmen, Obi explained that the Aguleri-Otu people in Anambra East were peaceful people, saying that the presence of adequate armed policemen would help boost the peace.
``We are prepared to wait for the outcome of the demarcation of the place,’’ he said.
On the allegation that the fight might have been responsible for the evacuation of the site by the Oriental Oil, Obi said ``it was flood that rather made production impossible for now and not the clash''.
He explained that the company was due to return to the site to commence production as soon as possible.

Samoa Air has become the first airline in the world to introduce a ‘pay as you weigh’ system – charging passengers per kilogram rather than per seat.
The company claims their system is fairer than simply charging per seat, and that many families with children are benefiting from the scheme.
Under the new move, passengers input their weight into the airline’s online booking section.
Rates start from around 70p a kilogram for the total weight of the traveller and their baggage for the shortest domestic route.
The price goes up to around £2.75 per kilogram for the longer route from Samoa to American Samoa.
Pilot and chief executive of Samoa Air, Chris Langton, told ABC News: “Planes are run by seats, not by weight, and passengers should be educated on this important issue.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is the concept of the future. We always weigh the mass that is on an aircraft… It doesn’t matter whether you are carrying freight or people.
“Anyone who travels at times has felt they have been paying for half of the passenger next to them. The standard width and pitch of the seat are changing as people are getting a bit bigger wider and taller than they were 40-50 years ago.”
Langton also told Reuters, “The industry has this concept that all people throughout the world are the same size”. “Airplanes always run on weight, irrespective of seats.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is the concept of the future. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family, or yourself.”
He added that it would raise awareness of public health and obesity issues. Speaking in The Sun, he said: “We have worked outa figure per kilo. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family or yourself. You can put your baggage on, there are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage or anything, it is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.
A spokesman for Samoa Tourism said he believed the policy would also help with safety standards.
He told The Metro: “When you’re only fitting eight to 12 people in these aircraft and you’ve got some bigger Samoans getting on, you do need to weigh them and distribute that weight evenly throughout the aircraft, to make sure everyone’s safe.
The subject of charging overweight fliers more has long been a controversial issue in the aviation industry.
Last year, former Qantas economist Tony Webber suggested heavier people should pay more to fly

Samoa Air has become the first airline in the world to introduce a ‘pay as you weigh’ system – charging passengers per kilogram rather than per seat.
The company claims their system is fairer than simply charging per seat, and that many families with children are benefiting from the scheme.
Under the new move, passengers input their weight into the airline’s online booking section.
Rates start from around 70p a kilogram for the total weight of the traveller and their baggage for the shortest domestic route.
The price goes up to around £2.75 per kilogram for the longer route from Samoa to American Samoa.
Pilot and chief executive of Samoa Air, Chris Langton, told ABC News: “Planes are run by seats, not by weight, and passengers should be educated on this important issue.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is the concept of the future. We always weigh the mass that is on an aircraft… It doesn’t matter whether you are carrying freight or people.
“Anyone who travels at times has felt they have been paying for half of the passenger next to them. The standard width and pitch of the seat are changing as people are getting a bit bigger wider and taller than they were 40-50 years ago.”
Langton also told Reuters, “The industry has this concept that all people throughout the world are the same size”. “Airplanes always run on weight, irrespective of seats.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is the concept of the future. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family, or yourself.”
He added that it would raise awareness of public health and obesity issues. Speaking in The Sun, he said: “We have worked outa figure per kilo. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family or yourself. You can put your baggage on, there are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage or anything, it is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.
A spokesman for Samoa Tourism said he believed the policy would also help with safety standards.
He told The Metro: “When you’re only fitting eight to 12 people in these aircraft and you’ve got some bigger Samoans getting on, you do need to weigh them and distribute that weight evenly throughout the aircraft, to make sure everyone’s safe.
The subject of charging overweight fliers more has long been a controversial issue in the aviation industry.
Last year, former Qantas economist Tony Webber suggested heavier people should pay more to fly.

take dat: The religious BH did not start with GEJ but the political BH did. We have a government that has arrested almost 2000 BH suspects, yet no conviction and the only one that was sentenced bagged a three-year jail term while the heavyweights among them are granted bail. This does not portray a government that is serious about putting an end to the genocidal menace of these insurgents.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201205150760.htmlFormer head of state Muhammadu Buhari says the Federal Government is the biggest of three types of Boko Haram, referring to the sect that has waged a deadly campaign of violence for more than two years.
Speaking in Kaduna yesterday when he received a delegation from the Niger State chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change, General Buhari said also that the next general elections must be free and fair or else there would be serious crisis in the country.
"I will like to quote Professor Ango Abdullahi that said there are three Boko Harams, including the original one led by Muhammed Yusuf who was killed and his supporters tried to take revenge in attacking the law enforcement agencies and politicians.
"There is another developed Boko Haram of criminals who steal and kill, while the biggest Boko Haram is the Federal Government," Buhari said, without expatiating on the third category.
But his comments echoed suspicion expressed in some quarters that the Boko Haram violence goes way beyond the sect founded by the late Mohammed Yusuf.
Buhari said the North was not silent on issues of insecurity as claimed by some people but that the North does not own the police, soldiers or Central Bank.

Tolexander: April fool from GEJ!

We shall hear from Madam Patient when she comes for the thanksgiving.

From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha
No fewer than three persons have been reported missing in Aguleri-Otu, Anambra East Local Government during a bloody clash with its neighbour in Kogi State over boundary dispute. Sunday Sun learnt that about 200 houses were burnt and three people kidnapped, even as property worth several millions of naira were destroyed.
The Echonwa and Odeke people of Ibaji Local Government of KogiState allegedly invaded the Okpali and Okpeze Aguleri-Otu communities in Anambra East Local Government during which theclash ensued. Transition Committee Chairman of Anambra East Local Government, Comrade Chiedu Obidigwe, confirmed the attack on Aguleri-Otu people.
He, however, described the attack as unprovoked and an invasion on his people as they were not ready for war. He accused the KogiState government and Ibaji Local Government of fueling the war, adding: “I am personally accusing the Kogi State government andchairman of Ibaji Local Government of inciting their people against our people, as they have not done anything tangible to contain the excesses of their people. “The chairman of Ibaji Local Government has done nothing to stop his people from invading us, but I have day in, day out reached out to our people not to takeup arms to avoid outright war with the people of Ibaji and Kogi at large.
“We are not interested in fighting the Echonwa and Odeke from Kogi State. They have invaded us and as I speak to you, our people have been invaded at Okpali Aguleri-Otu, and Okpeze Aguleri by Kogi people. They are burning houses and chasing our people away from their ancestral homes and land in unprovoked attacks.
“Two of our people got bullet wounds; two motorcycles were burntwith property worth several millions of naira. As at now, nobody was killed and two people were arrested and taken to the police. “We are looking for two persons from our community and police are aware of that, and the only Army and police around that placeare from Anambra State.
We have not seen or heard that any Army or police from Kogi State visited there.” It was gathered that the two truckload of the Nigerian Army guiding the Orient Oil locations could not do much as they had no brief to quell the war-mongers.

saintneo: language is Hausa the general language. So far any 'tribe' in the north has an emir, this implies that they are under the rule of the caliphate.

lagcity: Oh Lord, let Kogi ppl win this war so that Yoruba ppl in Kogi can chop more oil money. After all, they are already calling us oil thieves, there's no point in stopping now. God bless Kogi State.

Yeske!:
I hope the whole world knows the Igalas started this fracas first because when Otu boys retaliate, people will term it land grabbing.

Alfamann: Yoruba

SONKOko: You need to change the way you think.

confusion247: OP don't allow yorubas and hausa/fulani hear you support biafra indirectly.

Frantz Fanon it was who said that “every generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it”. In the aftermath of the Kano terrorist attacks and the seven decades of routine ethno-religious mass killings in the North, ourgeneration must as Frantz Fanon said confront the unique mission of our time which must be fulfilled through the choice of freedom over slavery and of self determination over internal colonialism......................

There is no sane argument to keep Nigeria. It is a nation consumed by injustice, hatred, self destruction, it is also the mostfailed nation on earth incapable of providing the most fundamental right, which is the right to life without which any other right cannot exist and of providing the basic essentials such as electricity, pipe borne water etc. These are basic amenities that are taken for granted in the poorest African countries. In spite of being the 6 th largest oil producer in the world and the largest in Africa, Nigeria imports fuel. There is no other nation on the face of the earth with this level of failure. It is a nation that dehumanises her citizens and strips them of every human dignity. A nation that makes animals out of men. A nation that is at best a human zoo. There is a reason why Nigeriahas failed so exceptionally and it is her irreconcilable contradictions.

Any careful observer will realise that “one Nigeria” has always been a scam which even the loudest advocates do not believe in.It’s only been a convenient ploy to loot the nation. The so called one Nigeria leaders have contributed more to the destruction of Nigeria than anyone else. In anticipation of the nation’s eventual collapse, all of them are busy building their future outside Nigeria. These leaders send all their children abroad, buy housesabroad and stash their wealth abroad, yet these are the same leaders that sing “one Nigeria”. How long can we be fooled? Indeed is Nigeria not an already disintegrated nation? What is left of a nation where ethnic groups are returning to their enclaves because of ethno-religious crises or where a section of the country introduces sharia laws in violation of the constitution, or where terrorists bomb and kill innocents in churches and other locations on account of their religion and ethnicity? Must we wait for everyone to be killed before we realise that Nigeria cannot work?

Nigeria is a nightmare. We need to finally confront the reality of it’s impossibility as a viable nation and break-it up. The Scottish have just scheduled an independence referendum for September 2014 after centuries of union with Britain. In 1991, the Soviet Union, a nuclear world power disintegrated. In 1947, Pakistan seeking a separate nation for Muslims seceded from India. In 1993, following a referendum, Eritrea seceded from Sudan. In 1992 Yugoslavia disintegrated leading to more than 8 new nations. In 1993, Czechoslovakia disintegrated. In 1971, Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan. In 2002, East Timor seceded from Indonesia and in 2011 South Sudan seceded from Sudan. There is thus a long precedent of self determination by many nations around the world. Most importantly, none of the new nations have ever regretted their decisions to separate from their former nations in spite of whatever challenges they might be facing. There is no reason why the aftermath of Nigeria’s breakup scenario will be different.

The French live in France, the Irish in Ireland, the Germans in Germany amongst others, so why should so called Nigerians be forced to live with a myriad of disparate ethnic nations that is further divided along religious lines? Amongst former British colonies, three nations namely, Nigeria, Sudan and India were created with contradictions that made them impossible to function by particularly lumping significant Muslim populations with other ethno-religious groups. Out of the three, India and Sudan has disintegrated, only Nigeria remains. There is no nation in the world where significant populations of fundamentalist Muslims cohabit peacefully with other religions and this reality has been vindicated in Nigeria with the endless ethno-religious mass killings in the North. No matter how much we try to pretend, empirical evidence suggests that there will never be peace, harmony nor progress until there is a separation between the fundamentalist Muslims in the Sharia North and the rest. The route of disintegration travelled by India and Sudan must therefore, inevitably include Nigeria and the time is now.
Advantages Of Break-up:
(1)Accountability of Leaders
Amongst the many advantages of Nigeria’s break-up, the single greatest gain will be the possibility to hold leaders accountable in a new nation freed from Nigeria’s contradictions. It is no secret that Nigeria’s monumental corruption-patronage is fuelled and sustained by tribalism. It is impossible to effect the kind of radical and draconian measures needed to stamp out corruption without awakening the ghosts of tribalism. This is thesimple reason why there hasn’t been a Jerry Rawlings kind of revolution in spite of the monumental looting and destruction ofthe nation. It should be recalled that Major Kaduna Nzeogwu’s coup in spite of its shortcomings and excesses was fundamentally against election rigging-corruption, violence and misrule but the coup was defeated on the altar of Nigeria’s ethno-religious contradictions.

Nigeria thus provides a tribal shield occasioned by her contradictions to leaders who conscious of this “ethnic immunity” engage in unlimited looting. Nigeria’s Break-up will remove this important tribal shield and render the leaders accountable to their people with the possibility of severe consequences for recalcitrant leaders.

(2) Job Creation And Opportunities


Many people still do not realise that Nigeria’s breakup will open up many job opportunities. There are presently 36 states and 774 local governments in Nigeria that have to be accommodated by restricted quota in federal jobs such as the Police force, the Armed forces, the customs service, immigration service, the SSS, NNPC, PHCN, Nigeria airways, Nitel, NAFDAC, foreign missions and other boards and parastatals. Sharing thesepositions between 36 states and 774 local governments’ means that very few people within any jurisdiction gets employed in these services. Since every nation must have these essential services, it means that Nigeria’s disintegration will open up thesejob opportunities to only people from the new nations. Rather than sharing these positions with a myriad of states and local governments, these positions and many more will open exclusively to people from the new nation creating a lot of job opportunities.


(3) Reconstruction and Concentrated Localised Development

One of the advantages of breakup is localised construction to develop the new capital city and other national projects. Unlike Nigeria where every development was concentrated in Lagos and now Abuja while other areas were ignored to the extent thatthere were even official policies of marginalisation preventing the development of an international airport and other capacity building projects in other areas, the new nations must necessarily build such important and capacity building projects as an international airport and other infrastructure for their capital and other major cities without let or hindrance. Other national development projects around the new nations will also naturally be undertaken creating concentrated localised development and the attendant job creation opportunities.


(4) Increased Resources, Membership of The UN and Direct Foreign Aid

In present day Nigeria under the parasitic monkey dey work baboon dey chop system, resources from the 10 oil producing states, 6 in the Niger Delta, 3 in the East and 1 in the West plus resources from customs and excise duties accruing from goods imported into the country and value added tax from consumption are the chief sources of resources distributed to the 36 states and 774 local governments. This system robs resources from those who generate it to fund those who contribute nothing. For example, the 12 Northern sharia states with the highest concentration of local governments in Nigeria that contribute nothing is funded to the tune of more than four trillion Naira or $40 billion annually. Nigeria’s Breakup will free these resources and return it to those who generate the resources.

Breakup will also lead to increased investments and exploitation of natural resources such as coal, limestone, crude oil and others in parts of Nigeria where such activity has not been allowed in present day Nigeria. Local taxes generated from customs and excise, value added tax etc will be for the sole use of the location from where it is generated. Many African nations such as Rwanda,Uganda, Tanzania etc that thrive solely on foreign aid are all doing better than Nigeria. Breakup will lead to the establishment of international finance, aid and political organizations such as the UN, IMF, world bank, WHO, UNICEF etc in the new nations which will in turn lead to direct foreign aid andintervention for the construction of critical infrastructure and other social programs.

(5) Localised Education And Industrial Policy
It is not for nothing that other African countries have maintained a basic standard of education while education in Nigeria has practically collapsed. Nigeria’s leadership was dominated for long by the North that had no desire to encourage education since their own people hardly went to school, they also never encouraged youth empowerment, since they have groomed their own youths to become poverty ridden-destitute almajiri’s. Since a man cannot give what he does not have, it was never in the interest or calculation of erstwhile northern leaders to invest in education or youth empowerment, which has now birthed the crisis of collapsed education, youth unemployment, poverty and social chaos in the nation. Breakup will make it possible for the new nations to articulate and develop a robust education and industrial policy that caters specifically to their needs, aspirations and addresses the problem of poverty- youth unemployment.


(6)Biometric ID Cards And Social Security
Whereas less endowed African countries are well organised with a structured ID card system and a database that helps in planning, security and general administration, the politics of population manipulation and fraud by the north induced northern leaders to block all initiatives for a secure civic registration ID card system in Nigeria. Breakup will make it possible for the new nations to create a comprehensive database with biometric ID cards that incorporates fingerprints, digital photographs and DNA profiles. An added advantage of biometric identification is the creation of a social security system that provides a safety net for the citizens.


(7) Convening Of A Sovereign National conference
For so long the sovereign rights of each ethnic group have been suppressed through the consistent refusal to convene a sovereign national conference by selfish northern interests who want to maintain the status quo of social, economic and political injustices. Breakup will make it possible for the citizens of the new nations to convene a sovereign national conference on the basis of equality and exhaustively negotiate a covenant or constitution of association that respects the autonomy of all constituent units and creates a harmonious and prosperous nation.
( End Of Marginalisation And Apartheid
Since the end of the Biafra-Nigeria conflict, marginalisation and apartheid has been the official policy of the Nigerian government towards some sections of the citizenry that resulted in the near total absence of federal infrastructure in their region and the near total exclusion of those citizens from the upper echelons of government. Breakup will bring a definite and final end to more than four decades of marginalisation.


Conclusions:

The advantages of break-up are so many that there is neither the time nor the space to catalogue all of them. The undisputable fact remains that Nigeria is an unworkable and irredeemable failure. If other less endowed African nations canhave basic amenities and a measure of peace while Nigeria does not, then there is something seriously wrong with Nigeria and it’s time to finally confront the reality of the impossibility of Nigeria as a nation. Except for those who have chosen collectivesuicide or perpetual slavery, I see no reason why anyone would want to be part of a nation where there is marginalisation, injustice, inequality, oppression, ethno-religious mass murders and a total lack of progress. A nation where if you live in the North you are segregated into strangers quarters known as “sabon gari” because the northerners consider you a stranger who should not live in their midst. The same Northerners segregate themselves into Hausa quarters when they move down south because they don’t believe they should mix with strangers and yet this is the country we pretend to be a nation.

Is it not also true that a Nigerian from the South is safer living in another African country or anywhere else in the world as a foreigner than living in the North as a Nigerian where he would sooner be murdered on account of his ethnicity and religion? Where then is the nation in Nigeria? The worst lie is the lie a man tells himself. Nigerians have continued to lie to themselves that Nigeria is a nation when the reality and all empirical evidence have consistently proven otherwise. As Fanon said, it’s time to undertake the mission of our generation and breakup this contraption. The mass killings in the North will never end andthere will never be peace or progress in Nigeria until there is a breakup and permanent separation between the Muslim North and the rest of the nation. It is the greatest yoke holding the nation down the lifting of which will herald freedom, peace, prosperity and other profound changes.

There are many ways, means and options to break up this hopeless and useless nation. One of them is simply to de-amalgamate the North and the South, others include scheduling a referendum or plebiscite on self determination. Forthe sake of our children and the coming generation, Southern leaders and all men of goodwill must come together to actualise this divine and necessary duty as a final solution to save our children from the burden of being trapped in such a tragic and nightmarish contraption. The time is now!

By Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
larry_peters@yahoo.ie

Information reaching 247ureports.comindicates that following the Impeachment of former Deputy governor of the state, Sir Jude Agbaso has by the state House of Assembly, Present Chief of Staff Prince Eze Madumere has been appointed as the new Deputy Governor.
Details later

ifeduba1988: it will be carved out from Virginia. According to CISA , igbos especially in the north, kano etc wil be airlifted to America, Virginia. Without visa

Bayelsa State government yesterday ordered the immediate demolition of one of its buildings located in Lagos State, where suspected terrorists were arrested last week by security agents.
State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Markson Fefegha, who disclosed this to journalists in Yenagoa, said government would erect a befitting building in the area, noting that government wasn’t aware of such building.
Fefegha said the state government had no knowledge of the suspected terrorists squatting in the building, stressing that it has no intention of sponsoring terrorists as a responsible government.
His words: “No responsible government could accommodate terrorists and miscreants in its building .We have no hand in terrorism.”
The commissioner said government has deployed a team of engineers to conducts an assessment of the property abandoned by previous administrations in the state.
Fefegha disclosed that the 3, 000 cultists have so far registered with the state government to renounce their activity by embracingthe state government’s amnesty.
Commenting on the arrested protesting jobless graduates, the commissioner alleged that the protesters had demanded for a monthly stipend which government described as unacceptable.
The commissioner allayed fears that the proposed bill on Public Information Management Committee to check rumour mongering in the state would not witchhunt any journalist.
He continued: “The main objective of the committee is to disseminate information in the state. The committee will work withrelevant agencies such as the National Orientation Agency, NOA, in the state. The committee will also reorientate the people.”
Fefegha, however, was silent on the proposed consequences of the bill when passed into law by the state House of Assembly