₦airaland Forum

They behaved in the same way that some of our own yoruba brothers and sisters have insisted on behaving in Nigeria today regardless of what is going on around them and despite the continuous provocations and insults from those that are not from our land, They continued to believe that they were safe in their artificial world where nationality or tribe had no meaning and where all that mattered was that they were Yugoslavian. Sadly they were also plagued with a set of weak-minded, intellectually-defective, cowardly and visionless political and military leaders who could not muster the courage to accept the unfolding reality and who failed to appreciate the fact that the manifestation of weakness simply attracts aggression. They did not learn the basic lesson of statehood and history which is that in order to avoid and deter war you must prepare for it.

When Tito died and the civil war eventually broke out the Bosnians paid a terrible price for their lack of foresight and understanding. They were slaughtered like flies by all the other ethnic groups for a long period of time and they were not in a position to defend their own people because they had no arms, they had not prepared for war and there was a United Nations arms embargo put in place which prevented anyone from supplying arms to them. They were literally sitting ducks as their civilian population and women and children were slaughtered before their very eyes or raped and taken into slavery. It was so bad that after some time the U.N. was compelled to lift the arms embargo just so that the Bosnians could acquire weapons to defend themselves and their people. They lost so many and this was the terrible price that they had to pay for their indolence and their lack of understanding of what was unfolding in their nation long before the war broke out.

It was a failure of leadership on the part of the Bosnian intelligentsia elite and political leadership who were so eager to prove to the world and to their fellow Yugoslavians that they were good liberals that always put the interest of Yugoslavia before their own interests as Bosnians. This was regardless of the fact that no other nationality in that country thought that way or did the same thing. It is my prayer that the yoruba people and the leadership of the yoruba nation learn the lessons of Bosnia and do not make the mistakes that the Bosnian leaders made before the war broke out in Yugoslavia in the name of liberalism or anything else. If they do we will all pay a terrible price and may God forbid that.

No matter what lies ahead for Nigeria, we the Yoruba, must be ready and we must be in a position to defend the people of the south-west and their interests in the event of war or conflict. Let me make this clear. This is not a call for violence because I do not believe in violence and I abhor bloodshed. As a matter of fact, I am a pacifist by nature believing more in the power of the intellect than the power of the gun. However I do believe in the right of self-defence. .

We must not, in the name of liberalism, generosity or accommodation be found wanting in this respect. We must find the courage to accept the reality of the Nigerian situation and in order to preserve the peace and ensure the security of the yoruba people and defend our illustrious heritage we must prepare for the very worse and indeed any eventuality If we were to do anything less than that our forefathers and our children would never forgive us and our people will pay a terrible price.

It is left for groups like yours to spread the word and to get the message across to our people. As Iago said in Shakespeare’s ’Othello’, ”tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus” and as Cassius said in ‘Julius Caesar’, ”the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings”. By the grace of the Living God and the power of He that sits above the circles of the earth and rules in the affairs of men, we the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria, awa omo karo jire, have never been and will never be underlings. It is left to you and I to ensure that.
Let me end my speech with the words of one of the greatest yoruba men that ever lived. He was a man that is largely uncelebrated but that contributed more to the welfare of the Yoruba and their destiny than most. His name was Sir Adeyemo Alakija and he, together with a handful of other very well educated and prosperous lawyers and businessmen in his day, were the patrons and financiers of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa. It was Alakija that supported the young Obafemi Awolowo and backed him to become the Secretary General of Egbe Omo Oduduwa which was founded in London in 1945. He was one of the richest men in his day and he certainly knew what to do with his money. Without him and a handful of others the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, and later the Action Group (which was founded in 1951), would not have had the necessary resources and funding to fight the NCNC in the Western Region and defeat them. In 1948 at the inaugural conference of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa in Ile-Ife Alakija said:

“Henceforth the Yoruba people will never be relegated to the background in the future. The object … is to create and actively foster the idea of a single nationalism throughout Yoruba land and to co-operate with existing ethnic and religious associations in matters of common interest to all Nigerians. We shall oppress no one and would not allow any one to oppress us.” -

This surely was a man of great vision and understanding. What was true for that time is also true for today. A word is enough for the wise. God bless the sons and daughters of the Kurunmi Front, God bless the yoruba people and God bless Nigeria. Shalom.

Mr. Fani-Kayode delivered this speech to the leaders of the Yoruba Nationalist Group, The Kurunmi Front, on 17th September 2013
source: http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/144901-struggle-dreams-femi-fani-kayode.html

Blessed be the name of the most high God, the God whose I am and the God whom I serve, blessed be His holy name forever.

Mr. Chairman, permit me to declare all protocols observed. I thank the leaders and elders of the Kurunmi Front, which is fast becoming one of the leading Yoruba nationalist groups in our country, for the honour and privilege of inviting me to share a few words with them today. I am simply overwhelmed by the number of people here from all walks of life. What has made me worthy of this great privilege I do not know but I pray that I do not disappoint you or let you down by what I shall say here tonight.

Permit me to get to the point. Once upon a time there was an obscure little man who wrote a book that inspired the German people and lifted them up from the shame and degradation of their defeat after the First World War. That book and the philosophy that it enunciated gave them hope and delivered them from the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Vesailles in 1919 which effectively turned Germany into a weak, crippled and beggarly vassal state. That man’s name was Adolf Hiteler and in 1934 he was elected in a free and fair election to lead the German people. In 1923 whilst he was in prison and long before that election ever took place Hitler had stirred up the passions of the German people and replaced their despair with hope by writing his famous book which was titled ”Mein Kampf” which, translated into english, means ”My Struggle”. Hitler’s ”struggle” and ”dream” moved Germany from the shame of defeat after the First World War and transformed her into the greatest political, economic, industrial and military power on the planet in his day in just a matter of ten years.

His views about German nationalism and the rightful place of the German people in the scheme of things fuelled the pride and inspired the vision of every single German of his day. Consequently they sought to transform the world and establish a new world order which would have placed them, as members of the supposedly superior Aryan race, above all others. Thankfully they failed, though it took a Second World War, violent resistance from the whole civilised world (less Japan and Italy) and a casualty list of 50million dead (20 million of whom were Russians) to stop them. The Aryan race was eventually subdued, peace was returned to the world, history was written by those that won the war and the horrors of the Nazi’s were exposed whilst the atrocities that were committed by the Allies themselves were covered up. For example we know about what the Germans did to the jews, the slavs, the homosexuals and the gypsies at Aushwitz and the other concentration camps. Yet how many of us are aware of the atrocities committed by the Allied Forces during the bombing of Dresden where, according to some estimates, close to half a million German civilians were killed and a whole city levelled to rubble in just a few nights. Again how many of us know about the bombing of the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans with nuclear weapons which resulted in the greatest and most devastating single massacre in human history.
You may well ask what is my point here and what is the relevance of all this to our collective struggle? Permit me to answer that. The first point is that history is always written by the side that is victorious after any struggle or any war and the loser always becomes the demon. Very few people get to hear the loser’s story and all trace of anything that is good or wholesome about him or his cause is wiped out and buried in the rubble of history. The morale of the tale is simple and clear- never lose a war and never fight a war that you are not sure of winning. The second point is that German nationalism, as enunciated by Hitler’s vision in ‘Mein Kampf’, was a very powerful tool which had it’s finer points and which served the interests of the German people by waking them up and causing them to rediscover their own sense of pride, dignity, self-respect and indeed greatness. I am not a supporter of Adolf Hitler and neither am I a racist or a nazi. I do not believe that one race is necessarily superior to another but I do believe that we are all very different and that some races have greater strengths in some areas than others. I also take great pride in the fact that I am a Yoruba man and that my race is second to none and has proved that over and over again during the course of world history.

The contributions of the Yoruba to a greater and better Nigeria cannot be disputed and our ability to tolerate the views and excesses of others, even where those views and excesses are detrimental to our own collective interest, are well known. Yet, like the Germans after World War 1, we are beginning to forget who and what we are, where we are coming from and what we are meant to be. That is what the centralised, unitary and hybrid state of Nigeria, which was essentially conceived and established by the post civil-war military powers that were, has done to us. To get us out of that terrible mindset and psychological retrogression is my objective and my own ”struggle”. It is my own ‘Mein Kampf’ and my own dream and I urge the Kurunmi Front and indeed all yoruba nationalist groups including the Odua Peoples Congress, the Odua Liberation Movement, the Odua Descendants Union, the Egbe Omo Yoruba, the Odua Solidarity Forum and others to help me to berth it by spreading the word.

The Yoruba have always thrived on a plurality of opinion. That is our way. We debate and discuss all things and we hardly ever agree on anything. There is nothing wrong with that provided we do not lose sight of the fact that we have a common cause and purpose- and that cause and purpose is to protect and preserve the rights, dignity and integrity of our people in a wider Nigeria and to ensure that our values and divinely ordained destiny to be the first in all things in our nation is not thwarted. Nigeria is NOT and was never designed to be a hybrid state where we were meant to forgo our primary identity, forsake the vision of our forefathers and forget our fundamental differences with other nationalities. Nigeria was meant to be a federation in which there was unity in diversity and in which each of the various nationalities and tribes was guaranteed, by law and the constitution, the right to develop at their own pace, the right to preserve and nurture their own cultural heritage and the right to a certain degree of autonomy and separate development. That was the ethos and understanding upon which our nation was founded and it is my view that that ethos and understanding must be nurtured, preserved and handed down to the younger generation of the Yoruba if we are to survive into the distant future as a people and as a race.

We must not give an inch and we must not allow our benevolent disposition to others to become our albatross or the vessel of our own undoing. Be good and be kind to those from other climes and nationalities and be gentle and generous to those who derive from a deficient culture and that have no history. Showing kindness to such people in the name of God, of fraternity, of national cohesion and of nation-building is indeed a virtue and we must continue to do that. However we must never forget who and what we are- proud sons and daughters of Odua that share an ancient and noble heritage and that come from a long line of innovators, great warriors and noble emperors and kings. Unlike some other nationalities that reside in the Nigerian state, the 50 million people that make up the Yoruba nation can trace our ancestral roots and heritage for many centuries back. We know that we existed as a distinct and clearly defined race as far back as 3000 years ago and we were loved, honoured and respected by many all over the Middle East, the Sudan, Egypt and north Africa for our numerous contributions to science, the arts, religion, philosophy and all manner of human endeavour.
We must never forget and we must never sacrifice that noble heritage or that concept of who and what we are on the alter of a new Nigerian state where we are, more often than not, envied, despised, held down, held back and cheated by so many others that do not understand and cannot possibly fathom our ways. Worst still some of our very own have begun to espouse the ungodly philosophy of the mongrel nation where they regard themselves as being Nigerians before being a Yoruba. Such people despise and seek to demonise those of us that are Yoruba nationalists even more than any non-Yoruba seeks to do. They are the enemy within- misguided souls that have forsaken their noble heritage and racial foundation for a pittance and that have been hopelessly seduced by the Nigerian dream of a harmonious peaceful, happy and functional multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state which is simply an illusion and which does not exist. Such a state exists only in their minds and in the minds of those that sought, and failed, to establish it.
We must not only guard against those from outside our shores that covet our land and that happily proclaim that even one inch of Yorubaland is “no man’s land” but we must also guard against the misguided few from within our own ranks that seem to agree with them. Such people are the enemy within. They are filled with more error and poison and are more dangerous than any outside aggressor or indeed the snake that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There is nothing more pitiful and repugnant to me than a self-hating yoruba man who joins forces with outsiders to disparage his or her own. As far as I am concerned such people are to be pitied and are hardly ever worthy of a response.
The good news is that they are very few of them in our ranks and the overwhelming majority of our people have fully espoused the Yoruba nationalist philosophy and imbued the Yoruba nationalist spirit. It is that spirit and that majority that will keep the flag flying, that will keep our hope alive and that will lead us into the glorious future that the God of Heaven, who alone rules in the affairs of men, has promised us. This is an eternal covenant and it shall not be broken. The vision may tarry but it shall not fail, for it is for an appointed time. As surely as night follows day, God shall honour His word, He shall grant us our hearts desire and He shall liberate us from the cruel chains of the Nigerian state which seek to hold us in eternal bondage and perpetual servitude. Our hope and glory reside in our own hands and in the power of our God. We must take that glory and live forever in honour because it is ours to take. We must pray for it, fight for it and stand for it or we shall live forever in eternal shame.
Permit me to end my speech with a few words about the war that took place and broke up the eastern European nation of Yugoslavia into five different countries in the 1990′s. For many years before that war broke out many saw it coming because the country, much like Nigeria today, was badly divided on religious and ethnic lines. Many called for a sovereign national conference to settle their differences at the time or for a peaceful and orderly break up of the nation along ethnic lines but the die-hard centralists and unitarists, led by the all powerful dictator Col. Broznan Tito, silenced their voices and, more often than not, locked them up and gave them long sentences in jail for expressing their desire to break up the Yugoslavian state. Every single one of the 5 major ethnic groups that made up Yugoslavia, except for the Bosnians (who happened to be muslims), began to prepare for war and to stock up massive arms catches and stock piles long before that war eventually broke out simply because they all saw it coming.
The Bosnians however always hoped for the best and they were by far the most open, accessible, accommodating, friendly and tolerant of all the ethnic groups in Yugoslavia at the time. They allowed the Serbs, Croats, Kosovars and Monte Negrans to live in their territory without molestation and they regarded themselves as Yugoslavians before being Bosnians. It even got to a point that some Serbs were claiming openly that parts of Bosnia was actually Serbian territory simply because so many Serbs had moved there and contributed to it’s development. Sounds familiar? Yet the Bosnians did not complain because they believed that their liberal and accommodating disposition was a mark of civilisation and they refused to accept the aggressive nationalist philosophy that the Serbs and the Croats in particular had wholeheartedly espoused.

Please if you are have someone, who has been told to come for an interview in an oil and gas company today, saturday 14th of september 2013, please dont go. They are all ritualist and kidnappers. These are the numbers they are using. Just call them and tell them you want to join the crew going for interview today. 08032966558 - mr shefunmi and engnr pascal- 08037449197. They are highly networked. They have representative in virtually every area of lagos. They will tell you to wait for a bus to pick you up in a particular area to join others. Also if you have someone who has this morning already gone for an interview,please alert them, they are ritualist. Please spread the message.
Thank you

Just when you think the peoples democratic party (pdp) will concentrate and channel all its energies, in resolving and salvaging the remaining of its beleagueredly self inflicted and implosive schism that led to the now break away faction, tentatively nomenclasized as the 'new PDP' (nPDP), spearheaded by seven renegade governors, the very loquaciously shambolic pdp national publicity secretary chief Olisa Metuh (witheout a mettle) spewed another sequence of overt gilbrish to herald his charade of a re-election for which pdp is yet to recover.
His latest incoherently intemporate verbosite against Governor Tunde Fashola is to surrepticiouslyyet subtle (to him anyway) attack him, and in the process announcing his second coming as the arrow head of pdp spin doctors.
For Nigerians, his outburst expecially when it is unnecessary is not new. This is characteristic of his ignominous reign before he was forced to resign along other pdp NWC. His unbriddled urge to juncket his tongue for no just cause, is a further demonstration that metuh is still a rookie in his newly found assignment despite his previous stint at the job.
It has become symtomatic of most pdp lackeys, to display their vile, nauseating and deeply repugnant verbiage against fashola, even when it is obvious the discussion has nothing to do with governance in lagos.
The mechaniacal silence, by the highly and innately articulate Lai Mohammed, the APC publicity secretary, is the least expected yet very tactical. He must have felt among other things, that metuh chose the very wrong personality and tactics to kick start his second coming. This, i must say, has really worked judging by the tens of objurgators that have voiced their displeasure.
In his interview of september 10, 2013 with journalist in abuja, perchance, still basking in the euphoria of his bogus mini convention, he was asked;
What is your view on the six governors that broke away from the mainstream of your party?
Metuh: As governors of our party, they have done so well in their respective states. They have used the resources available to them judiciously for development purposes. My grouse with them is that they should have shown same commitment used in developing their respective states to the development of our party. No doubt, the PDP is proud of them, the only challenge before us is that they should show commitment and love for the party too. As far as I am concerned, when one looks at the popularity being enjoyed by Governor Babatunde Fashola in Lagos, one will want to believe that he is the best governor in the present dispensation whereas he is not, compared to some of the PDP governors. With the high Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, in Lagos and the publicity enjoyed by the Lagos State government, I didn’t see the effect when I arrived Lagos. It is almost 10 years that I left Lagos, but I have not seen much difference.
In the light of his response, it is starkly conspicuous that the question was copiously clear and had no nexus with fashola. He however, chose to link the response to BRF using implausible sophistry and subterfuge with deeply routed and sited hate, odium and animosity against the governor.
A proper decryption of his response, a fallacy ad hominem, the following should suffice.
1. While the pdp goverment at the center wallow in intellectual indolence completely bereft of how to raise the nations revenue outside oil, fashola has raised the IGR from a paltry 600million naira a month under his immediate predecessor to 30 billion naira a month in ten years. That is almost 400% increment.
2. Metuh also posited that, he has not seen any change in the last 10years.
In as much i would not want to engage in the same platitudes as to stating the achievements, but it is likewise expedient to say, for contentious purposes, lets play the omnipotent and turn back the hand of time with the underlisted.
a. Were Oshodi, Obalende, yaba, surulere, ago palace, western avenue, apapa and lagos CBD etc the way they were 10years ago? yet the aorta of the nation's economy in terms of physical infrastructure (roads) the oshodi apapa port express way and Lagos-Ibadan road, two of which account for the largest intra and inter vehicular traffic respectively in the entire nation yet, they both remain impassible and parlous over 10 years of the pdp misgovernance.
b. Has he suddenly forgotten how filthy Lagos was 10years ago. Its unsanitary status and total lawlessness necessitated formal president Obasanjo to call Lagos 'a jungle city'. Yet the same pdp administration could not offer any solution either in policy formulation or finance except name calling. This singular action by OBJ, trended across the world which eventually led to Lagos being called the dirtiest city in the world.
If metuh could not truthfully see, then he must be suffering from an incurable serious glaucoma.
Also, he had hitherto, in one of his treatise, compared Lagos to oil-rich Niger delta states controlled by the pdp. He mentioned Akwa ibom. Without taking anything away from the acclaimed performance of Gov. Akpabio which i applaud also, the following axioms should be the metric.
The entire economy of Akwa ibom is a microcosm of Lagos. Just one Local goverment in Lagos is larger in GDP, population ditto infrastructuralneeds than the entire length and breadth of Akwa ibom. An instance is Apapa Lga. Out of six functional ports in Nigeria, 3 are in Apapa alone. A substantial amount of VAT collected by the FG in Lagos comes from that L.G.A, for which Lagos contributes 65% of the entire VAT.
This volume of trade has its own resulting and ever bourgening human, physical and economic infrastructuralburden that seriously bleed the pulse of the state without any corresponding benefit. No thanks to our jaundiced and lopsided federalism.
I challenge metuh, to name any other place in Akwa ibom outside Oron and Uyo that is worthy of mentioning. As such, there is no need for the baseless and illogical comparism.
Lagos today, is a very vibrant city-state with over 17million people. New York is a city of 10million people with a budget of 132.6 billion USD for 2012. Sao paulo is the financial and commercial capital of Brazil just like Lagos. Its budget averages 20 billion USD since 2005 with about 10 million people. The city of frankfurt is the financial center of Germany. It has the same GDP of 81 billion USD with Lagos. Its annual budget is over 40 billion USD. In Africa, johannesburg has a population of about 5million with over 6billion USD budget in 2012 among several well articulated aids from the central goverment being the formal capital. Lagos with a population of 17 million people (the 6th largest in the world), with no federal aid as the formal capital, has a budget of 3 billion USD in 2013. It takes a seldom ingenuity to run such an economy. Recently, Lagos emerged as the only city that is simultaneously implementing 5 major world class transport infrastructure.These are ikorodu- mile 12 expansion to 8lanes with a BRT in the median, lekki-epe 8lane expansion, lagos-badagry 10lanes expansion, 27km light rail with 13 world class train terminal and the mile 2, badore and osborn jetty.
There is no gainsaying, the PDP and its co-travellers along its intellectually effete president, see fashola's performance and the propensity of his emergence as the opposition presidential candidate as a threat. Hence, the unnecessary vituperation by the blabber mouth to commonize is achievement as nothing worthy of note.
I urge the PDP spokesman to look into his own eyes and remove the speck before that of another.
Else, we say anathema maranatha.

Since there are few cisco certified internet expert (CCIE) in nigeria, please can anyone tell us the average salary of CCIEs in nigeria ditto the ccie training centers and the cost

The Lagos State Tenders Board has awarded no fewer than 69 capital projects proposed under the 2013 budget, which will gulp a whopping cost of N50.216 billion, although the state capital expenditure in the fiscal year was N269.376 billion.

The detail of the 69 contracts, which were awarded between January and May, was contained inthe Lagos State Government Procurement Journal, recently launched to deepen a culture of transparency and accountability in the state.

Some of the capital projects under the review include upgrading of roads within the Apapa Central Business District and reconstruction of Lagos House, Marina Phase II (external car parksand associated works) awarded to Julius Berger Plc at N17 billion and N640 million respectively.

Other projects listed in the journalinclude rehabilitation of Bishop Aboyade Cole Street, Sir Samuel Manuwa Street and Abimbola Awoniyi Close, Victoria Island, awarded to Hitech Construction Company at a cost of N2.06 billion.

Likewise, the state tenders’ board awarded construction of Josemaria Escrivia/Whitesands Secondary School in Eti-Osa Local Government to Rover ConstructionNigeria Limited at N1.02 billion to be completed in 12 months.

Also, the renovation of Staff Quarters at Epe General Hospital at N142.5 million; completion of the new Magistrate Court at Ogba at N583 million and completion of Adisa Ajibulu with Bridge in Oshodi at N840 million were also awarded.

While the reconstruction of Isashi Road in Ojo Local Government was awarded to CGC Nigeria Limited at N2.5 billion to be completed in 18 months, the completion of the rehabilitation of Obafemi Awolowo Road, Phase II in Ikorodu to Arab Contractors was awarded at a cost of N1.95 billion.

The completion of Ariyo, Ira-MuwoBridge in Ojo was awarded to Lopek Engineering and Construction Limited at N1.288 billion as the construction of Abule Ado Road, Phase II in AmuwoOdofin at N1.03 billion to Impact Solution Limited and the construction of Karimu Laka and Bamishile Street in Alimosho was awarded to Cedar Procuring and Engineering Limited at N1.12 billion.

Also, the construction of Ogunfayo Access Road/Chief Moshood Adebayo Road in Ibeju Lekki was awarded to Metropolitan Construction Company at a cost of N1.85 billion with 12 months completion, while the construction of access road from Badagry Landfill to Kese was awarded to Banci Nigeria Limited at N1.2 billion.
Source:
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lagos-awards-69-capital-projects-at-n50-billion/156349/

The bellicose nature and sheer crassness of these so-called rejoindersgoes to prove two things. Firstly that those that I have described as being collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways really are all those things and a lot more and secondly thatthey cannot put up any reasonable or serious argument to discredit or refute the message so instead they are attempting to destroy the messenger.

Meanwhile the two essays have been published in various newspapers in ourcountry and outside and it will continue to be published by others longinto the foreseeable future.

The message is clear and it is already out there. It cannot be called back in. The horse has bolted from the stable and the falcon has left the nest. No matter how hard those that are attempting to intimidate us into silence may try it will not work and we will not be cowed. The message is already out there and the genie is already out of the bottle. Those that seek to continue to denigrate and belittle the Yoruba and lay claim to what is rightfully ours should desist from doing so. They should grant us ourpeace and give us our due respect and they will get the same in return. If they do not do so those things will elude them and eventually history will repeatitself again in this country.

Meanwhile when anyone reads a rejoinder that addresses the issues that I raised in my essays and that havesome level of scholarship and intellectual content they should pleaselet me know and I may well dignify it with a response.

The shameless and emotional thrash and disjointed verbiage that have been described as rejoinders so far are just not up to scratch. They are bereft of any scholarship and intellectual content. They also invoke pity in me forthe faceless plebeians that wrote themand those they claim to be speaking for. When the Igbo, or anyone else, finda real champion that can cross swords with me and give me a good run for my money someone should please let me know. I am itching for a real debate with a worthy adversary on this issue.

Like the great Achilles I feel that I have no match. Are there no Hector’s out there? Sadly it appears that my accusers, traducers, opposers and haters cannot find one. All they have istheir hate, their ignorance, their insults and their inbred crudity and vulgarity.

Source:
http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/142658-a-word-for-those-calling-me-an-igbo-hater-by-femi-fani-kayode.html

Those that call me a tribalist are simplymisguided. Perhaps they do not know the meaning of the word or its true import. Those that know me well can confirm the fact that I am not a tribalist, a racist or a bigot and that I consider such sentiments as being unworthy of a man of class, good breeding and culture.

I am however a firm believer in the propagation of truth and I appreciate the value and importance of history. Sadly many of our Igbo compatriots do not believe in that. For them history consists of only one thing- how other Nigerians have always marginalised them and treated them badly.

If only they knew their own history, where they are coming from, what theyused to be, where they were 100 years ago and what their forefathers did to the rest of Nigeria over the last 80 years they would know why they have always had such a hard time in this country.

Sadly because they don’t know any of these things they cannot learn from them. And if they cannot learn from them they will continue to make the same mistakes. That is why they can come to another mans land and territory and call it their own and whenwe say ”no” they tell us to shut up and call us tribalists.

I was not a tribalist when I wrote a tribute to Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu after he died or when I condemned the ’60′s pogroms that took place in the north in which their peoplewere slaughtered like flies.

I was not a tribalist when I wrote against my good friend Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima and child marriage in the north. Yet now I am a tribalist because Ispoke the truth about our history and who the Yoruba are.

I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh, an Igbo lady, who many years later married Ojukwu and who is now our Ambassador in Spain. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Chioma Anasoh, another Igbo lady, whoI almost took as a second wife.

I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Adaobi Uchegbu, another Igbo lady, who was exceptionally close to me and who is now at the National Headquarters of the ruling PDP.

I was not a tribalist when I wrote essays defending the rights of the Igbo and every other Nigerian nationality to exercise their right of self-determination and leave Nigeria if that is what they wanted to do. I was not a tribalist when I consistently wrote that Nigeria must have a Sovereign National Conference where the rights and obligations of all its various nationalities would be clearly defined and agreed upon.

I was not a tribalist when I employed more Igbo people as a Presidential spokesman and a Minister of the Federal Republic than even my own Yoruba people. I was not a tribalist when I wrote an essay, just two years ago, extolling the virtues of Igbo women and telling the world about their sudden and meteoric rise and howfar they had gone in the power circles of this country in the last 10 years.

I was not a tribalist when I condemned the bombing of predominantly Igbo and catholic churches and the killing of the Igbo and others by Boko Haram in the north over the last three years.

I was not a tribalist when I risked my life by consistently writing against Boko Haram and urging our President to do a better job at protecting the livesof all Nigerians even though I live in the north. I was not a tribalist when I wrote against political sharia in the late ’90′s and I participated in protracted and sometimes acrimonious debates with Islamic fundamentalists and islamists.

I was not a tribalist when I was in NADECO and when we fought against military rule in Nigeria. I was not a tribalist when I fought for a President from the south south or the south-east. I was not a tribalist when I wrote in defence of the Igbo when it came to the abandoned property issue. I was not a tribalist when I wrote about the excesses of the Federal troops during the civil war. I was not a tribalist whenI commended Azikiwe and the virtues of the NCNC in Nigerian history. I was not a tribalist when I wrote that it was unfair and wrong for the Federal Government of Nigeria to leave the Igbo with only 20 pounds each after the civil war. I was not a tribalist when many years ago I attended and gave my life to Christ in a church called TREM, which was established by a great Igbo man by the name of Bishop Mike Okonkwo.
I was not a tribalist when my grandfather, Justice Victor Adedapo Kayode, taught Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe at Methodist Boys High School in Lagosand when my father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, was appointed as the leader of the predominantly Igbo NCNC in the Western Regional House of Assembly. I could go on and on. These people have very short memories and anyone that does not agree with them all the time or that says one word against them at any point in time is labelled a tribalist for life.
They called Chief Obafemi Awolowo a tribalist, an Igbo-hater a genocidal maniac and a child-killer simply because the man refused to join sides with them in the civil war yet they forgot that on one of the occassions that Awolowo ran for the Presidency his running mate was from the east andnot from the north. They called Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Chief S.L Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello Igbo-haters and tribalists simply because they saw through the Igbo agenda at a very earlystage in our history and they marked and killed them all for it.
They called General Yakubu Gowon a genocidal maniac, a child-killer, an Igbo-hater and a tribalist simply because he opposed Biafra, stood up to Ojukwu and insisted on keeping Nigeriatogether and even though he declared that there was ”no victor and no vanquished” after the civil war.
They accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of being a tribalist and an Igbo-hater even though he appointed an Igbo man as the first GOC in the Nigerian Army since 1966 and even though he appointed more Igbos into key positions in his government than any President before him. They accused President Shehu Shagari of being a tribalist and an Igbo-hater eventhough he pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return back home after a long period in exile.
They have accused the Nigerian peopleof being tribalists and Igbo-haters simply because we have not had an Igbo President since 1966 forgetting that Nigeria was magnanimous in victory and that she not only gladly welcomed them back into the fold after the civil war but that she also gave them the Vice Presidency of the country only ten years later.
They have labelled the northerners as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply because the north has refused to tolerate their excesses and accept their complicated ways. They have labelled the Niger Deltans as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply due to the”abandoned property issue” and because historically many of them have always resisted the idea of Igbo domination.
They have labelled the Yoruba as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply because we have refused to accept their claims to our land and territory and even though we were more charitable, hospitable, accommodating and generous to them than any other nationality in Nigeria after the civil war. The Yoruba particularly have beentoo kind and gentle with them. That is the problem. They see our liberal and accommodating nature as stupidity andweakness.
That is why they always call the Yoruba cowards forgetting that the history of the Yoruba proves otherwise. It is now time to tell the truth. They despise the Yoruba and they only pretend to believe in one Nigeria as long as they can always have their way and laud it over others. Worst of all, generally speaking, they have no restraining factors because money and the acquisition of wealth is their sole objective and purpose in life.
Someone ought to tell them that this is not a virtue but a vice. It is a cultural deficiency, which is borne out of not having any history. If they did they would be less aggressive, more restrained and far more civil to others even where and when they disagree with them. If speaking these bitter home truths and yearning and fighting for a better Nigeria makes me a tribalistthen it is a toga that I would be happy to wear. I will not sit by quietly and allow my people, the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, to be rubbished,insulted and cheated by anyone no matter how aggressive and given to extremities that anyone may believe he is. I make or offer and no apology for my views. My numerous assertions on the Igbo stand.
Meanwhile I have read all sorts of strange submissions in various newspapers and blogs that have held themselves out as rejoinders to my twoarticles titled “Lagos, The Igbo and the Servants Of Truth” and “The Bitter Truth About The Igbo”. Sadly other than the usual abuse and ungodly clap-trap not one of them has been ableto address ANY of the issues that I raised in either of the two articles, answer any of the questions that I posed in them or successfully challenge my presentation of historicalfacts.

naija_swag: They said he is the most admired governor, they all believed.
With a single action, he pulled the rug off his feet to reveal the dirt hidden in the rug.
He is being heckled from all sides. No only his countrymen but the international community have reminded him of what a Holy man said some 2000 years ago that "you will always have the poor among you"
He did it to himself, it was not an anti-party gang up. The spiral effect of his singular action has destroyed some people's political ambition somewhere in the SE. He cannot even venture that zone because he will be deported on arrival, maybe he will never campaign there when he hopes to run for presidency.
He forgot the fundamentals of being a public figure.
The over 90% of poor people in this country now regard him as their enemy because he will not fail to displace them if he has his way in other to build mega cities.
If he becomes president, he will banish everyone who does not have a job, everyone who is poor to the countryside so he could build mega cities.
In Fact he hates national integration.

I must say The depth of your thought and reasoning is not only nauseating, disgusting and deeply repugnant but also fumes with a glee of amusement.
Your entire treatise fumes with odium and a deeply routed animonisity for no just course.
As much as i know dat ur opinion is inconsequential cos of d incoherent data u made, dat portrayed u as a kindagarten, greenhorn and a liliputean observer of what governance is all about,some of us av sacred obligations to banish jonathanian reason atleast because of the credulous and undiscerning amongst us.
Lets lay the facts bare;

how u came about ur 90% of the poor postulation is not only hogwash, incongrous with the basic tenets of statistic but another 5 is greater than 27 (5>27) reasoning for which prof. Chike obi wil b saddened in his grave.
U made reference to fashola campaignin for high office in the S.E. The Q is, has he told u is nursing such. Even if he is,do u think this ur serial empty 'MASSOBIC' threat wil deter him. My dear, in governance, u dnt treat economic issues because of political uncertainty.
Lastly, a word of advice to ur clueless hero(b4 u accuse me of insultin our president, i think u shud watch el miliband and david cameron on skynews more and see the power of innuendoes) GEJ dat he shud learn from brf, the strategic way of responding to tension soaked issues via his diff. Spokesmen,which i bliv is 1of d major hallmark of a gud leader. A typical example is d deportatn saga, he had only responded once, and he tactically chose an auspicious occation and setting. This was the inspection of 1 of d biggest ongoing projects in ds country, the 10 lane lagos badagry road with a 27km light rail constructn in d median. (The msg he is surreptitiously tho subtlely passin is dat,yes u may tink i goofed bt u cant fault my ability to deliver) Ever since, he has allowed ordinary nigerians who blived in hm to fight hs course.he has stayed back in hs office 4 several igbo socio political groups to liase with. This has again confirm hs vantage positn as brf nd a lagos yl on d oda syd nobody has thought it wise to meet with gov.obi. All we av heard nd seen is diatribes and tantrums being hurled at gov. obi saying,he ran to d gej nd d press 4political purpose.u mit b thinking dat is ds,its a wel calculated nd fastidious *strategy* but in the case of my president,for every inconsistency found in hm,his attach dogs paid wit tax payers money wil issue bully oriented press releases threatenin brim and stone. This is nt strategic,its a denigratn of d sanctity of dat exaulted office 4u to respond to every direct or indirect innuendos. GEJ shud allow nigerians to fight 4him.a fight devoid of acrimony bt facts. He shud instantly also pay unscheduled visit to some of hs major project site.this is simple political psychology he shud allow to linger in d minds of d electorate. I must also say this is 1 out tens of many strategies being used by courageously savvy leaders in d world 4which brf represents not this kindagarten attitude dat hovers around sentiments nd passion rather dan reasoning.

In the celebrated case of the Minister of Internal Affairs v. Alhaji Shugaba Abdulraham Darma (1982) 3 N.C.L.R. 915 the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Borno State High Court which had held that the deportation of the Respondent (Alhaji Shugaba) from Nigeria to Chad by the Federal Government constituted “a violation of his fundamental rights to person liberty, privacy and freedom to move freely throughout Nigeria.” In the Director, State Security Service v. Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (PT 595)314 at 356 the Supreme Court reiterated that “It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives to the Nigerian citizen the right to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in anypart thereof.”

Since deportation has denied the vicctims the fundamental right to movefreely and reside in any state of their choice it is illegal and unconstitutional. It is indubitably clearthat the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and theAfrican Charter Act are not for the exclusive preserve of the bourgeoisie but for the enjoyment of all Nigerian citizens including beggars and other economically marginalised people. To that extent no state governments has the power to deport or enter into agreements to repatriate any group of citizens to their states of origin.

The Socio-economic Challenge of Deportation

It ought to be made clear to the managers of the neo-colonial state that there is no country which promotes social inequality that has successfully outlawed the poor from existence. This explains why beggars are found in large numbers on the streets of major cities and in the ghettos of the United States of America – the bastion of capitalism. The situation is bound to be worse in the periphery of capitalism like Nigeria where the poverty rate has reached an alarming proportion due to the failure of the State to provide for the welfare and security of the people which is the primary purpose of government.

The Federal and State governments should also be made to realize at all times that beggars are Nigerian citizens who lack money, food and other basic facilities to live decent lives. The authorities should stop stigmatizing and harassing them and other citizens who have been pushed to a state of penury by the gross mismanagement of the economy by a selfish and short sighted ruling class. Anation that complaints of inadequate funds to establish a social security scheme for the majority of the people allowed a cartel of fuel importers to corner $16 billion while oil thieves stole crude oil worth $7 billion on the high seas in 2011 alone.

Yet the influential oil thieves and pirates are walking free on the streets of our state capitals without any official harassment. Others who engage in unprecedented corruption, fraud and other financial and economiccrimes have never been deported to their states of origin. It is high time thegovernment was restrained from holding the poor vicariously liable for the crisis of underdevelopment of the country. Therefore, part of the billions of naira being earmarked to build mega cities should be set aside for the rehabilitation of beggars and the destitute.

There is no doubt that Lagos state is put under severe pressure, from time to time, by millions of Nigerians who have been economically displaced in their own states of origin. But unlike its counterparts the Lagos state government has devised effective strategies to compel the rich to pay taxes through their noses. In addition the monthly statutory allocation of the state from the federation account is partly based on its population. In the circumstance, the Lagos state government should take from the rich to service the poor. As in the case of most of the “area boys” who have been productively engaged by the Fashola Administration the Lagos state government should formulate programmes for the rehabilitation and resettlement of beggars and other destitute to make them contribute to the economy of the state.

Conclusion

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961 the United States President, Mr. J.F. Kennedy warned that “if a free society cannot help the many who are poor it cannot save the few who are rich”. About 40 years later, those cautionary words resonated in the caseof Hoffman v. South African Airways (2001) CHR 329 at 354 where Justice Ngcobo of the Constitutional Court of South Africa stated that “Our Constitution protects the weak, the marginalized, the socially outcast and the victims of prejudice and stereotyping. It is only when these groups are protected that we can be secure that our own rights are protected.”
With respect to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that have continued to pauperise our people i am compelled to remind the ruling class in Nigeria of the plea made by the Late Dr.Akinola Aguda in 1985 that “our new perspective in law and justice must be such as to guarantee to each of our people food, drink, lodging, clothing, education and employment in addition to the rights guaranteed to him so far by our Constitution and our laws, so that justice may mean the same thing to everyone.”

Finally, since the deporting state governments have no immigration officials to police their borders there is no assurance that the deportees will not find their way back to where they were deported. However in view of the illegality of the deportation of poor people the governments of the federal capital territory and the respective states are advised to stop it without any further delay. If the practice is not discontinued the deporting state governments should be prepared to defend their action in Court. Sooner than later.


FEMI FALANA, SAN

source: http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/142593-the-lagos-deportation-and-the-law-by-femi-falana.html

Deportation of dissidents

In 1885, the British colonial regime deported King Jaja of Opobo to a remote island in West Indies where he died in 1889. His offence was that he had challenged the imperialist control of the coastal trade. In 1941, Comrade Michael Imoudu, President of the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen was deported from Lagos and banished to his hometown, Auchi in the Benin Province as he was considered “a potential threat to public safety” . He only returned to Lagos in 1945 following the revocation of sections 57-63 of the General Defence Regulation, 1941 under which he had been detained. There were other nationalist agitators and labour leaders who were deported and banished to prevent them from taking part in the struggle against colonialism. The barbaric practice of deporting Nigerians was resuscitated by the defunct military dictatorship. In particular, the reactionary regimes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha resorted to the crude harassment of political opponents by deportation.

In 1992 the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, Dr Beko Ransome -Kuti and I were deported from Lagos and detained at Kuje prison for challenging the unending military rule of the Babangida junta. The retired General Zamani Lekwot was deported from Kaduna and detained with us in the prison. The following year we were also repatriated from Lagos and banished to the same prison for leadingpeaceful rallies in Lagos against the criminal annulment of the June 12 presidential election. In June 1994, the winner of the presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola was deported from Lagos and detained in military custody in Kano, Borno and Abuja.

In 1995, the chairman of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti alerted the world that the secret trial of General Olusegun Obasanjo and others by a Special Military Tribunal had been concluded and that the convicts were being prepared for execution. For leaking such information to the media, the human rights leader was tried in Lagos, jailed for life and deported to Katsina prison. The CD vice chairman, Shehu Sanni, was arrested in Kaduna, jailed for life in Lagos and banished to Kirikiri maximum prison in Apapa. Four journalists viz: Chris Anyanwu, Kunle Ajibade, Charles Mbah and Charles Obi who were convicted for being accessories after the fact of treason i.ethe 1995 phantom coup, were deportedfrom Lagos and kept in separate prisons in the northern states.

In 1996, Chief Fawehinmi SAN was once again deported from Lagos and detained at the Bauchi prison while Femi Aborishade and I were deported from Lagos and held at the Gumel and Mawadashi prisons (in Jigawa State) respectively. Comrade Frank Kokori who was arrested in Lagos was banished to Bama prisons in Borno state for 4 years. General Obasanjo who was convicted in Lagos was deported to Yola prison. His ex-deputy, General Shehu Yaradua was deported from Kaduna, convicted in Lagos and held at various times in Kirikiri, Port Harcourt and Abakaliki prisons.

King Jaja both Chief Abiola and General Yaradua died in suspicious circumstances while they were in custody. But as deportation of colonial subject subjects could not be justified even under colonial rule, it was carried out pursuant to special regulations. In the same vein, the military dictators engaged in deportation of citizens under the preventive detention decrees and the Prison Act.

Deportation of Poor People

It is common knowledge that the beautification project of the Babatunde Fashola Administration has led to the deportation of hundreds of the jetsam and the flotsam from Lagos state to their states of origin. The elite and the media have been celebrating the ban on “Okada” from the major roads and the removal of traders and area boys from the streets. For understandable reasons, most of the hundreds of thousands of poor people who have been displaced and dislodgedin the operation “keep Lagos clean” are of the Yoruba extraction.

In fact, on April 9, 2009, when the Lagos state government deported 129 beggars of Oyo state origin and dumpedthem at molete in Ibadan, the Alao Akala regime alleged that the action was aimed at sabotaging his government. Just last week, some beggars of Osun state origin were also deported by the Lagos state government and dumped at Osogbo.
It is sad to note that most Nigerians never took cognisance of the war beingwaged by state governments against the poor and disadvantaged citizens in the urban renewal policy until the much publicized case of the 14 beggars of Anambra state origin who were deported in Lagos and dumped in Onitsha about three weeks ago. In fact,it was the condemnation of the deportation by the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi that drewthe attention of the elite to the unfortunate development. However, in defence of its action the Lagos State Government stated that it entered into an agreement with the Anambra State Government through its liaison office in Lagos on the controversial deportation.
Although the Anambra State government has not denied the allegation that it was privy to the deportation of the 14 beggars, it is on record that in Decmber 2011 the Peter Obi Administration had deported 29 beggars to their states of origin i.e Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states. Apart from such official hypocrisy, the Peter Obi regime did not deem it fit to protest when the Abia state government purged its civil service of “non-indigenes” in 2012. Many of the victims of the unjust policy who hail from Anambra state were left in the lurch.
In June 2011, the Federal Capital Territory government deported 129 beggars to their respective states of origin. In May 2013, hundreds of beggars were also removed from the streets and expelled from Abuja. Of course, it is common knowledge that the FCT authorities has continued to demolish residential houses without following due process in order to “restore the masterplan of Abuja” which was distorted through corruption and abuse of office. The majority of the victims of such illegal demolitions who are poor have been dislocated and forced out of FCT.
Last week, the Rivers State Government removed 113 Nigerians from the streets of Port Harcourt and deported them to their states of origin. The Akwa Ibom state government has just contacted its Lagos counterpart of the planned deportation of two “mad” Lagosians roaming the streets of Uyo. Many other state governments are busy deporting beggars, mad men and other destitute in the on-going beautification of state capitals. Those who are defending the Igbo beggars outof sheer ethnic irredentism should be advised to examine the socio-economicimplications of the anti-people’s urbanisation policy being implemented by the federal and state governments in the overall interests of the masses.
The Illegality of Internal Deportation
Since deportation has been resuscitated under the current political dispensation it has become pertinent to examine the legal implications of the forceful deportation of a group of citizens on account of their impecunious status. Although street trading and begging have been banned in some states It is submitted, without any fear of contradiction, that there is no existing law in Nigeria which has empowered the federal and state governments to deport any group of Nigerian citizens to their states of origin.
Accordingly, the forceful removal of beggars from their chosen abode and repatriation to their states of origin areillegal and unconstitutional as they violate the fundamental rights of such citizens enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. In particular, deportation is an afront to the human rights of the beggars to dignity of their persons (Section 34), personal liberty (Section 35), freedom of movement (Section 41), and right of residence in any part of Nigeria (Section 43).
Furthermore, the deportation of beggars and other poor people by the Federal and State Governments is a repudiation of section 15 of the Constitution which has imposed a duty on the State to promote national integration. Since the polical objective of the State imposes a duty on the governments to “secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation” it is illegal to remove poor people from the streets of state capitals without providing them with alternative accommodation. By targetting beggars and the destitute and deporting them to their states of origin the state governments involved are violating Section 42 of the Constitution which has outlawed discrimination on the basis of place of birth or state of origin.
In so far as Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 has specifically banned discriminatory treatment on the ground of “social origin, fortune, birth or other status” it is indefensible to subject any group of citizens to harrassment on account of their economic status. An urban renewal policy that has provision for only the rich cannot be justified under Article 13 of the African Charter which provides that every citizen shall have equal access to the public services of the country.