₦airaland Forum

ariesbull:
That's the problem with the in that side of the country .... Always food food and food

Bros, thanks to the weaponisation of poverty and baba-sope brand of politics Tinubu has enthroned, that problem is fast spreading to all regions of the country....including our own dear south-east!

alanto:
This guy is a content creator if you don't know him it's on you. But he's a content creator.

Yeah.....like what he's saying (content creating or not) isn't the reality on ground!

Ofodirinwa:
I have realized the obsession with Igbos in Nigeria comes from a genuine belief among non-Igbos that Igbos are superior and special in a way they are not.

It's just innate hatred and xenophobia! And let's say it as it is.....this is coming mainly from TWO ethnic groups and not non-Igbos as you say!

georgeakins:
Prepare your soul for maximum wailing and extreme gnashing of teeth come January 2027

What's gonna happen come January 2027?....You miserable lot perfected your rigging plans?

A4alpha:
People keep shouting as if they don't know the man who appointed him to that position, as if you lot expect baba to appoint a clean guy before? as a matter of fact this is his pattern, the SP nko who did he come about, even the CJN etc. the dirtier you are the better so he can have a comfortable control over you incase you don't do his bidding

The surprise here is anyone being surprised he went for a character like Amupitan! What were they expecting?

lezz:
The desperation of Bola Amen tinubu to infiltrate all political parties at their weak stages in an immortal, corrupt manner reveals a man afraid of opposition.

On another note, this has exposed the vast crop of Nigeria's politicians to be unconscionable with no morals or code of opposition or ethics. For the vast majority, itis just another business venture; profit only.

The vile cretin fancies himself as being 'smart' and the 'godfather of Nigerian politics'! He thinks he's succeeded in expanding his Lagos template to a wider national scale! Nigeria has NEVER known its viable opposition parties to be infiltrated and sabotaged like is being done today under Tinubu, and when you ask his daft acolytes, they will tell you their godfather is the 'shinning light of Nigerian democracy' and he's just playing 'sophisticated politics'! They're starting to believe the hype, legend and false notions of invinciblity constructed around his person and now bow to worship him as giant effigy built with feet of clay!

esnbrutality:
Kwara is not SW again..?

We didn't see SE or SS.

Anyway..una cho cho cho don cast una.

His sort are deluded in their sanctimonious and holier-than-thou feelings superiority over other regions! In all likelihood he's a 'one Nigerinaist', but so long as he believes the US thinks his south-west is 'safe', he's happy and can go to bed to sleep with a smile on his face! It goes straight over his head that we all, including the regions he's feeling superior over, all have been governed by his demonic APC for a decade now and that we're all living the 'dream' they promised! When we talk of his 'one Nigerianist' sort not really loving or believing in 'one Nigeria', but only being interested in sustaining its existence owing to what that they're materially gaining from it for their region, this is yet another example of such!

Bmaster:
If femi fani kayode and Reno's sins can be washed away and they Received an Ambassadorial title then trust God to also redeem this nation from the grasp of jackals and hyenas.




Be steadfast we as nigerian citizens entered a one chance and only us can get us out

The adage keep your friends close and your enemies closer rings true in this regard! I guess he couldn't afford to have them two running loose....esp' Fani-Kayode with his barbed tongue! Now they're onside, he has two less problems to worry about!

franchasng:
Nlfpmod come and see what I am saw


Op please add a reliable source to the post.


This is despite not producing President in Nigeria which some tribe use to mock and belittle them, is God not awesome in His doing?

I do wonder how far enterprising and industrious ethnic groups and regions would have progressed had they not been encumbered, frustrated and weighed down by Nigeria....especially a Nigeria as presently structured! Ndigbo have managed to record the modest achievements we've recorded despite the obstacles placed in our way, despite being denied producing the president, and despite having our hydrocarbon resources 'legally' stolen and used to develop other regions and enrich their politicians and entreprenuers! If some other groups faced even a fraction of the sabotage, cheating and hate Ndigbo have had to endure for decades, such groups would have gone extinct by now never mind being adjudged to be one of the top 4 performers in HDI and MPI rankings in Africa!

Bigkoko:
I know of the Kikuyu (Kenya)....mehnnnnnn those people dey behave like Igbos for business. They have no mate in Kenya!

The same way other Nigerians peddle lies against Igbos that they love money too much is the same way they do against the Kikuyus...once the name start with Shiru etc, na Kikuyu babe be that....ohhhh

Regarding the rating, the Igbos should be rated Moore than the Morrocans

You know besides the Kikuyu, another group i see similiarities with Ndigbo in their bold and dogged approach to business are the Somalis!

Ballmer:
Same Tinubu that single-handedly financed NADECO which brought back democracy to Nigeria ?

Where were your Obi Atiku n Kwakwaso when Tinubu was investing heavily in democracy.

What a load of bullcrap!! Is that what he told you....and you believed him? Did he present any receipts to help corroborate his claim....and where did the money come from? Was this before or after his stint as a 'first-class accountant' of MOBIL producing?

Gotocourt:
From Apapa to Gombe 🤷🏿

Emilokan on this 😕

Hehehehehe

Emilokan on the beat!

InyinyaAgbaOku:
They are getting this and that, why are the northern States poorest in all statistics then ? Are they cursed or what?

It's called being clever-by-half or being too 'smart' and too greedy for ones own good! And this goes to their elite....their masses are just too ignorant and pauperized and could be said to have diminished responsibility as a result!

carlo90:
Northern politicians and elite impoverishing their people since 1900.

It then begs the question of just how their fortunes would be if Nigeria disintegrates and they have to stand on their own as a independent country!? All they ever seem to be concerned about is how to scheme and plot to grab power at the centre, as well as how to use access and control of power at the centre to further enrich their Forbes rated billionaires!

Maj196:
See levels. I am yet to see the impact of forest guards though. Because there's still kidnappings on the highway

You talking from heresay or you can cite specific interests that occured in Enugu in say the last three to four weeks?

DavidEsq:
As u can see, the foolish bigot who owns NL has always ben prejudiced against Igbos. Bigotry thrives on NL.

Probably some fool with no sense of proportion playing April Fool joke!

OBIDIENTNAIJA:
Does the money belong to FG. Is FIRS not collecting tax from everybody.. abeg shift

The way he will tell it.....'Tinubu is so 'benevolent and kind' to Enugu that he's using his own personal billions of dollars to fund projects in the state'!

biaframaster200:
This is the best governor among the governors in IBO land in this regime.
I have done my fact-finding, and I can confirm that the miles that Emmanuel MBA has walked, 10,000 of Alex Otti's, cannot meet him in 8 years... All this overhyping of Alex Otti will not do Abia State people good but will just make them keep settling for less...

Tinubu minion.....no one but your ilk cares about whatever jaundiced and unsolicited 'fact-finding' results you have to hand! I have a good idea where you can stick it!

Why are your sort furious over the love Ndigbo have for Otti? And more to the point.....why do you emilokan minions despise Otti that has nothin to do with you in any way?

When are you going to do fact-finding on governance in your south-west states!?

You don't need to be a expert at reading the Nigerian political scene to know Peter Obi is spot on in his assessment! Knowing the Tinubu gangsterised and mafioso brand of politics and the way his e-thugs on this forum are obsessed over anything Peter Obi, someone they claim is 'irrelevant and came 3rd', all this shouldn't really come as a surprise should it!? Even a kid can tell Tinubu doesn't want any credible opposition in 2027, and this is reflected in how his thugs have infiltrated all major opposition political parties to cause 'factionalisation' and katakata, after which they then use their control of INEC and the judiciary to swing decisions in favour of the moles and 5th-columnists they planted! Of all the potential candidates looking to kick Tinubu out in 2027, how come it's mainly Peter Obi that occupies their time!? Also, notice how, once he defected from LP to ADC, quiet and calm returned to LP while ADC now became the 'factionalised' one! Join the dots and the bigger picture will begin to emerge!

Nword22:
Delta is no where Richer than Abia.

He's probably referring to the derivation payments Delta gets and all the oil and gas companies in the state.

frankson1:
And when you do, don't sell to the federal government. Akwa-Ibom built IPP and sold a great percent of it to the federal who in turn power neighbouring countries while leaving us in darkness.

True! The problem with the Akwa-Ibom one was that they didn't first get the legal instruments to ring-fence power-supply from Ibom power plant so it supplys only Akwa-Ibom separate from the useless and unweildy national-grid like was done with GEOMETRIC and Abia state.

'Imo woman did this....Anambra man did that'! Only those new to this forum would think this is just a 'normal' and 'regular' reporting of a criminal act with with no underlying bigot-driven motives! I see a lot of the usual suspects are a bit coy with this one so as not to make their bigotry all too apparent! No prizes for guessing what all those hidden comments are about!

Basic123:
To them,its rubbish as long as its not ALEX OTTI that is building it.

The person doing the project is more important than the project to them.

Meawhile if you see the smart school they adore built by the same Alex otti,you will vomit.

Your obsession, hatred or fear of Alex Otti will see you being admitted into a psychiatric ward if you're not careful! Why does Ndigbo loving Alex Otti piss you off so much!? How is it any of your business!?

samogo1:
Now, labour party is at peace and now its ADC. Why can't APC leave Peter Obi and Atiku alone? They have 33 governors already

Hehehehehe

You too noticed am!?

See the peace and tranquility now pervading throughout LP! It's like that because the demons intent on causing katakata in the party have now turned their attentions to ADC ever since Peter Obis' defection! ADC is now getting the 'treatment' LP used to get! Classic case of the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob!

Caleycash:
You people are shameless, always mentioning a tribe you people and virtually the other tribes all over Nigeria subdued during the Civil War, let's have our Biafra and see if we won't top all those thieves looting natural resources from the south south and south east and taking advantage of the system cus they won the civil war, you think we don't know the underground fight still on against Igbos?, funny how with all these billionaires your regions are still impoverished and the country in general is in decadence, ndi nzuzu!

I saw the thread title and just laughed! Just as i expected, the usual suspects fell over themselves to post gloating comments all aimed in one direction! As we speak, their godfather is in the UK and has organised another multi-million dollar deal to benefit Lagos ports. Tomorrow now, some smug mofos will stand up to declare misplaced superiority over others owing to known and hidden benefits their ports have gotten over ports in other parts of the country owing to their access and control of central gov't! And you can replicate this same scenario of the unlevel playing field in virtually all aspects of national life in which the federal gov't holds the knife and the 'nyam'!

lawani:
You see, I am just being realistic about this apology issue because whoever you think should lead the apology also have grievances against the Igbos. Therefore if no apology, everybody should just move on.
About the issue of Awo being evil because of the blockade. Is it really possible or has it happened before that trade was going on between two nations at war? Is it possible that a nation fighting another nation will be responsible for feeding the nation they are fighting? All these things are actually not possible. Biafra should have found other means of exchanging their goods with other countries for food. Thinking free food will continue to come from Nigeria or that trade with Nigeria was bound to continue was not a war winning strategy. Biafra was no longer a country, they no longer had a real government. They were setting up headquarters in villages and were fighting just for the sake of fighting. If they were a country they would be able to feed their people. Even Ojukwu in an interview said all hope was lost but he will continue fighting. Traders could not even enter because most of their goods will be seized by the fighters, is it now free food from Nigeria that would have prevented the famine?.

So what are the grievances you reckon the north have against Ndigbo in general? The very same same north that was and still is (going by the actions of the demonic Buhari and his medieval-minded cohorts) prepared to go to war and shed innocent blood just to keep Ndigbo as 'compatriots'! You claim to be taking a realistic (and probably neutral) view on the apology issue, but your claim runs counter to the statement you made previously when you suggested Ndigbo can initiate the process by apologising to others. It then begs the question of who exactly do you want Ndigbo as a group to be apologising to, and for what transgression? You see why it looks like you've already taken sides and come across as anything but realistic and neutral? You're in no position to demand i 'move on and forget the past', when the losses i suffered (and continue to suffer) and the underlying issues that led to them are yet to be addressed!

There was no trade going on between Biafra and Nigeria during the uncivil war, and Biafra was not expecting anything, 'free food' or whatever else, from Nigeria at that point! The Nigerian side engaged in war crimes when they organised and effectively carried out a economic/food blockade of Biafra, and there's just no sugarcoating this reality! Biafra was getting some assistance (food and medication) from friendly/sympathetic countries and organisations of the time like France, Cote D'Ivoire, Haiti and Catholic organisations like Caritas, and this the Gowon gov't sought to try and stop through their blockade war instrument!

Excerpts from BBC graphics:

1969: Nigeria bans Red Cross aid to Biafra

Millions of people face starvation because Nigeria has banned night flights of food aid to Biafra, a breakaway state at war with federal Nigeria.
The Nigerian Federal Government has taken charge of relief operations on both sides of the front line and in doing so has stopped the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from co-ordinating aid to starving civilians.

General Yakubu Gowon, leader of Federal Nigeria, refuses to recognise Biafra which declared independence in May 1967.

His forces have managed to shrink the rebel state to one-tenth of its original size, cutting it off from seaports and other supply lines. Food aid can only brought in from the air.

Nigerian Information Commissioner Chief Anthony Enaharo told representatives of relief organisations in Nigeria's capital, Lagos, that only "authorised relief operators" would be allowed to take in "permissible relief items" for fear of any supplies getting into the hands of Biafran troops.

This means all relief supplies will be inspected by armed forces before being allowed on to Biafra and then only between 0800 and 1700 local time.
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Jeremy Thorpe, Liberal Party leader

Acting president of the ICRC, Jacques Freymond, said the world must put pressure on Nigeria to allow his organisation to carry out its humanitarian mission.

In London, more than 80 backbench MPs signed an all-party motion urging the British Government to take action towards resuming the relief operation and to stop selling arms to Nigeria.

The Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, said representatives in Lagos would try to mediate between the ICRC and the Nigerian Government.

Yesterday, Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe said he had written to the head of the United Nations, U Thant, asking him to organise a major relief effort with the Red Cross.

He said he was making his appeal independently of the British Government whose involvement in the Nigerian civil war was "immoral".

He told the Times newspaper: "There are three million people who are going to starve to death in the next few weeks unless something is done."

Biafra, under Lieutenant-Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, is made up of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria mainly inhabited by Igbo, or Ibo, people.

In September 1966 thousands of the Igbo minority in the Northern Region were massacred by the majority Hausa who resented their relative prosperity.

As a result, a million Igbo refugees settled in the Eastern Region and expelled non-Igbos.
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In Context

Two weeks later the Nigerian leader, General Gowon, bowed to international pressure and allowed the Red Cross to airlift urgent medical supplies to Biafra. But they still refused to allow food to be airlifted in unless it was on their terms.

Biafran forces were finally beaten by the federal troops and in January 1970 the state of Biafra ceased to exist.

Rebel leader Ojukwu fled to the Ivory Coast.

There were reports that federal troops went on the rampage in Biafra, killing and raping en masse.

Lord Hunt, Britain's special envoy to the territory said those accounts were exaggerated and that thousands of refugees were coming home looking "in no way undernourished".

Pictures of starving children shown in the Western media told a different story and it is estimated at least 500,000 - possibly millions - of people died of starvation and disease as a result of the war in Biafra.

Rebel leader General Odumegwu Ojukwu returned to Nigeria in 1983.

Since 1999 when civilian rule was re-established, Nigeria is once more in danger of breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines as militant groups are allowed to express their frustrations more freely - and with increasing violence.
**** **** ****

At no point was Biafra seeking anything from Nigeria, and they were more than capable of feeding themselves on their own! The economic war waged by the Nigerian gov't against Biafra equally included the strafing and destruction of civilian targets like farmlands, livestock and markets by sorties carried out by the murderous pilots of their Egyptian ally!
***** ***** *****

Link to website detailing the help Ireland and the Catholic Church rendered to Biafra:
https://concernusa.org/news/biafran-airlift/

lawani:
My point about this apology you are talking about is that the leadership of the Igbos too can initiate it. I am not against apologies.

Awo preferred to ally with the Igbo throughout his life but not to the extent that Ojukwu wanted to take it. Not to the extent of Igbos taking over and calling the shots in Yoruba land. You love your friend but not to the extent he should take your wife. On the overall Awo just wasted his time trying to ally with the Igbo. You are here calling him an evil man without being able to point to a single thing he did wrong. Not a single one!
You can't blame only Awo for the blockade and if you were the federal side sending food to Biafran children while the trucks are being hijacked by Biafran troops to feed themselves, what will be your solution? What the federal side did was stop the supply of free food hoping Biafra will immediately surrender. If Biafra now waited until 500k people including children died, who will you now blame for those deaths? It is easy to apportion blames without saying what you would have done differently. Biafra was not surrounded so if they had money, they could have gotten food from another source. How reasonable is it to expect those you are firing upon to be responsible for feeding your troops?

There is no way Nigeria would not have won as the Biafrans were already reduced to running from city to city and town to town. The blockade only shortened the war

You say Igbos have no history of empire building. Yes but it can start at anytime. Many groups that built empires started at one point. I am happy you concede that the westerners and Midwesterners have the right to resist Biafran invasion meaning they should not be blamed for that. An attempt to reach Lagos even when the west and the Midwest did not allow their territories to be used to assault Biafra was turning the secession into an expansion and I believe the resistance should have been envisaged by Biafra. Both regions till today support Biafra but not Biafra trying to control their destinies.

The unification decree simply means whoever is head of state runs everything with a unified civil service. Yoruba people can dominate the Anambra civil service while the people of Anambra roam about looking for work. They can dominate the leadership posts. That was the fear and till today it remains an unpopular idea. All states employ non indigenes but their civil service is under their control. It is not a good idea especially under a military governor and military governments are known to be sit tight governments

The only thing the SW benefits in Nigeria is Lagos leading the economy while the SE benefits a disproportionately huge representation at the center. Know what you benefit. Then ask yourself which city would have been the number one in west Africa if Nigeria had not existed?

Then all groups in Nigeria are arbitrarily divided and not only Igbos. Yoruba are as divided if not more divided than Igbos. Ebiras are in up to three states instead of having their own state. Bariba is in Kwara, Niger and Benin republic. These issues affect all groups in west Africa and not only Igbos

Awo was jailed by the NPC/NCNC government and not only by Northerners. An Igbo led government of General Ironsi installed by a coup d'etat refused to pardon him despite his passionate plea but a middle belt government pardoned him immediately it took over. That was what happened. Igbos had their chance to pardon Awo but chose not to. The credit goes to Gowon and not to Ojukwu at all. Though the Eastern region government was supportive of Awo while in prison according to the stories I heard.

Igbos' should apologise for what exactly....and to whom!? Aren't you placing the cart before the horse on this one? You're yet to buttress your assertion regarding 'Biafra carrying out war crimes in the middle-belt', and you're talking of 'Igbo apologising first'! This only shows the level of your 'concern' regarding what Ndigbo were put through in the north in 1966, and what we were subjected to during the uncivil war of 1967-70! Can't say i'm surprised at your position though! At this point, i think i need to restate my own position on this apologise thing: I never asked for or expect the Yoruba nation to apologise to Ndigbo for anything, as they never sent anyone to do or say anything to anyone; i expect the Nigerian state to apologise to Easterners/Ndigbo not only for their unwillingness or inability to protect us during the pogrom in the north in 1967, and for the subsequent war crimes carried out against us during the uncivil war, but also because they DID NOT bring anyone to justice for those crimes; i expect Northern ethnicities to apologise, either collectively as a region or individually, for the pogrom of Easterners/Ndigbo in the north in 1967, and my reason for having a different position with the north compared to my position with the Yoruba is that THE POGROM IN THE NORTH WAS A MASS-PARTICIPATION EVENT THAT WENT ON FOR WEEKS IN THE TOWNS AND CITIES OF THE NORTH AND WHICH WAS EXECUTED BY THOUSANDS OF NORTHERN SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS.....IT WENT ON FOR WEEKS UNTIL THEY FELT ENOUGH EASTERNERS/IGBO HAD BEEN MURDERED TO SATIATE THEIR LUST FOR BLOOD AND VENGEANCE!

You keep asking a question to which i have repeatedly given you a answer to! I branded Awo EVIL because he was the architect of the Gowon gov'ts economic/food blockade of Biafra/Igbos' during the uncivil war. The useless Nigerian army couldn't defeat the plucky Biafra army on the battlefield so Awo, being the diabolical fella he was, dreamt up the 'brilliant' idea of murdering non-combatant Biafra men, women, children and foetuses as a way of forcing the capitulation of the Biafra army! When he was asked about it, he reportedly said 'all is fair in love and war'....kinda similar to your stand on the matter innit!? He owned that murderous policy with his full chest, so he should equally own the label of evil fella that comes with it! This is the same man you now want us to believe 'was working for the Igbo within the Gowon gov't'! Abeg, no make me laugh! With 'friends' like him, who needs enemies!

There you go waffling on again! A northerner dreaming up and being part of the war crime of economic/food blockade of Biafra wouldn't have come as a surprise to me...they hate Igbos' and have shown as much right from the 50s to date! But for a fellow southerner and christian to have been the one to have dreamt up and helped impliment that devilish policy against Biafra/Igbos'.....a man who never believed in 'one Nigeria' to begin with, that went beyond the pale and showed his true character as a person. To be honest, i really want to take a forgiving/let-bygones-be-bygones regarding Awo and the events of the late 60s, as it's not in our character as Igbos' to bear such a long grudge on anything, but Yoruba like you are really not helping matters with the mocking, bragging and dismissive attitude towards our losses! For avoidance of doubt, this is what Google AI had to say on the question of whether food blockade was a war crime:
Yes, intentionally using the starvation of civilians—including by blockading food and essential supplies—is considered a war crime under international law, specifically prohibited by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Such actions are illegal in both international and non-international armed conflicts when targeting civilians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_(crime)

So in a war you brag your 'Nigerian side was poised to win', you had to go down the route of war crimes which targeted non-combatants...a non-battlefield and criminal tactic, in order to 'win'!? You assert you're comfortable sacrificing the lives of millions of non-combatants to 'shorten a war' you claim could have been won by your Nigerian side on the battlefield!? You think you're talking to kids here!? I notice how you puff out your chest with the claim of your murderous Nigerian army being capable of 'winning the war', yet at no point did you mention the massive logistical and military support they got from the British gov't and their murderous Arab allies! That war was, to all intents and purposes, a jihad by a fundamentalist muslim north against a christian south, and Awo played his own part in helping the former to 'win'!

You're now delving into the realms of fantasy and conjecture! A people who for centuries never had a history or the inclination to invade their neigbours territories and build a empire, would all of a sudden have a taste for empire building in 1967-70 when they had their hands full fighting off invading murderous jihadist vermin from the north!? C'mon mate.....try and be reasonable!

I will always support a group of people fighting for what they may think at the time was their best interests. I may not agree with their reasons for doing so, but i'll always support their righty to do it! My point here is to analyse the situation decades later to see if the right choices were made and who was on the right side of history. If we don't learn from history or our mistakes, we're bound to repeat them! And from what's going on in Nigeria today, and seeing how well dug in and entrenched in our positions some of us are, it's apparent some are yet to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past!

I've said my piece on that unification decree thing, and it doesn't bear repeating myself! Dude, it was a military dispensation which meant there had to be a command-and-control administrative structure answerable to Dodan-Barracks! Simplicita! Even after you got rid of Ironsi, and had the chance to change what you accused him of trying to do to make Igbo 'dominate' everyone else, you not only kept that same command-and-control arrangement, but went further to change the fiscal/federal arrangement and created more states! Yet according to how you and your northern allies tell it, Ironsi was the problem! Go figure!

Which city would have been number one in West Africa had Nigeria not existed!? Well i'll hold my hands up and admit i can't give a definitive answer on that one, but i sure as hell know it wouldn't have been Lagos! Lagos is what it is today not on it's own steam but owing to the commonwealth and efforts of ALL Nigerians and ALL Nigerian states/regions!

Looking back on the Awo imprisonment saga, i equally feel Ironsi should have released Awo when he took over after the coup! For all his brilliance, any Igbo will tell you the man was a bit naive and didn't have a knack for reading the room or seeing the bigger picture! He had his flaws, but that's on him and not the entire Igbo ethnicity!

Yes, there was a NPC/NCNC gov't at the time, but a fair assessment would tell you the NCNC were the junior partners in the relationship and wouldn't have had the final say on issues of the day. Here are names of the last batch of ministers of the Balewa gov't before the coup occured:

Third Ministers & cabinet: 1964–1966
Minister of External Affairs Tafawa Balewa
Minister of Defense Muhammadu Ribadu Inua Ribadu
Minister of Attorney Gen/Justice Taslim Olawale Elias
Minister of Finance Festus Okotie-Eboh
Minister of Transport Zanna Bukar Dipcharima
Minister of Aviation Jaja Wachuku
Minister of Trade K. O. Mbadiwe
Minister of Industries Augustus Akinloye
Minister of Works Inuwa Wada
Minister of Housing & Surveys Adeniran Ogunsanya
Minister of Labor Adeleke Adedoyin
Minister of Education Richard Akinjide
Minister of Mines & Power Maitama Sule gggg Minister of State Mapeo
Minister of Economic Development Waziri Ibrahim
Minister of Natural Resources & Research Alade Lamuye
Minister of Communications Raymond Njoku
Minister of Internal Affairs Shehu Shagari
Minister of Information Ayo Rosiji
Minister of Health Moses Majekodunmi
Minister of Establishment Jacob Obande

lawani:
I understand you but if there is going to be apologies then why can't it be initiated by Igbos? They also have a number of things to apologize for including war crimes. Nothing wrong with apologies in itself but any group can initiate it. It is obvious the problem is that Biafra lost the war but always remember Biafra could have succeeded if they were more cautious. If they had won, none of them would be asking for apologies.

You believe Biafra was right to invade Midwest and put a Governor there and they are also right to invade the west and do the same. It is ok but why don't you recognize the right of the landowners as full humans to try their luck and resist? If they fail, the records will say they tried and that they did not lie down to be raped.

Which projects were sited in the former western region? No refineries despite that half of pms consumed in the country was consumed there. How do you rationalize that? I have not taken an inventory of projects but in representation at the center and siting of federal institutions and etc the SE is tops on a per Capita basis. They have around three times what SW has on that basis. Is that not a huge gain?

If the Yoruba of almost 70 million people are given the same or almost equal representation as Igbos of around 30 million then the Yoruba are in Nigeria like a conquered people

When I say Awo compelled not ordered Northern soldiers to leave the west, I was pointing out to you how he was working for Biafra from inside Gowon's government. He did not hide anything from Gowon and it was an open secret that unless the issue with the East was resolved the west will not continue with the union. What upended everything was the invasion of the west and Midwest by Biafra. If that had not happened then Nigeria may not have survived. I think that is quite apparent. I asked you what exactly did Awo do for you to label him as an ethnic jingoist or tribalist but you have not said anything concrete.



Awo was not prepared for war. The west was not prepared for war and that was because the East and the North jointly controlled everything before all hell broke loose. He was only doing his best. He had friends in the North but he never aligned with the leaders of the core North. His allies were people like Aminu Kano, J S Tarka and etc. Awo never aligned at anytime during his life with elements of the NPC. I have repeated that many times. The support for the push back against the invading Biafrans was because he was left with no other choice. He himself during his lifetime did not explain this thing very well. Only around 200 soldiers faced the thousands of invaders at a bridge around Ore.
Why did Awo say the west will stay only if the East stays? Because that was what was agreed upon at independence. What else do you expect him to say? With that scenario the North itself would have disintegrated if the East successfully seceded. The East might have gained land in the Northern direction

I asked you to explain how the west and Midwest would have benefitted from a Biafran led military government more than a Middle belt led military government? A military government is still a military government and the first coup d'etat was not led by the middle belt. An acceptance of Ojukwu would be a return to Ironsi and the unification decree and etc. I agree that the leadership provided by the military was mediocre at best moreso because they naturally shy away from taxation since they are not legitimate. They also have no experience. The first error was the inexperienced youthful officers trying to seize government.

The military whether led by Igbos or Northerners was not equipped to save the country but the Northerners from the middle belt were still the lesser of the two evils because they were not pursuing a unification decree. If Britain never pursued a unification decree why should Nigeria? Can you turn a Scotsman into an English man? Or a Welsh into a Scots? Yet they are all British.

So you are among those saying Colonel Ojukwu released Awo? What you really want to say is that he could have refused to let him leave Calabar since the coup of Gowon and co didn't succeed in the East. That is what is true and not that he released him. The problem however would have risen of how to defend the action. It would have led to people believing that Awo was the real target of the Igbo and that he only survived the Nzeogwu coup because he was in prison. You know Awo and Zik were rivals?. Ojukwu didn't release Awo but he could have refused Gowon's pardon for him which of course would have made onlookers laugh because Awo offended Nigeria and not Biafra.

I have no objections to Igbos living the Nigeria that was created and I have said severally that there is nothing wrong in any Nigerian contesting elections anywhere in the country as allowed by the constitution and that has been happening across board and it will continue to happen even when Nigeria is no more. What I am against are the issues I highlighted. If I hear of Yoruba doing such in any part of the country, I will also condemn it. The Yoruba also have numbers enough to do such in many non Yoruba cities of the country.

Care to point out EXACTLY where i asked for the Yoruba to apologise for the war crimes of some of their sons during the uncivil war? Refer back to my previous post....it was the Nigerian state i said ought to have apologised by now to the Easterners/Igbo. They failed in their basic duty of providing protection for Easterners/Igbo living in the north who in 1966 were subjected to weeks of a pogrom in which TENS OF THOUSANDS of their men, women, children, babies and even unborn foetuses were targeted for elimination! The Gowon gov't never bothered to stop the mass killings, and TILL THIS DAY no one has been prosecuted and sentenced for said heinous crimes! Following on from the pogrom came the uncivil war which witnessed war crimes carried out by the Nigerian side which even you with all your bias and revisionism can't deny! The federal gov't hasn't apologised for this as well and made restitution to the wronged parties. I should also add that if it turns out, as you alledge, that any Biafran soldier was tried and found guilty of war crimes, then the actors on the Biafra side still alive today should equally be called to apologise and where none are available then it should fall on Ohaneze to issue said apology and the states that at the time made up Biafra should be saddled with rising funds to pay restitution to the familiesof the victims or to the town where said war crimes were said to have been carried out! Fair is fair, and i demand the same standards in morality and civility from everyone, no matter their ethnicty....that's how a society addresses old wounds and grievances and moves forward! I'm still waiting for a link to a independent source at the time that would help corroborate your claim on Biafra soldiers 'war crimes' in the middle-belt.

At no point did i say the Yoruba or whoever was not within their rights to fend of a 'invasion' by Biafra forces who were only going after the serpent in Lagos to cut off its head! Why would Biafra have designs on 'colonising' the Western or Midwestern Regions when they had their hands full with Biafra? Even though there were Igbo in the Midwestern Region, at no point was any part of their territory included in Biafra territory....and if you have evidence to the contrary, you could provide it here! The point i was making was that, with the benefit of hindsight today, we can now look back at events and decisions made during the period in question and conclude Awo and the Yoruba intelligensia that supported him allied with the wrong side! You say otherwise of course, that Awo was right in allying with the north because the Igbo were....how did you put in now?....'colonisers' intent on 'colonising' Yorubaland and hence were not to be trusted! I have explained exhaustively that there's no historical antecedents portraying Ndigbo as 'imperialists, 'expansionists' or 'colonisers' to warrant you taking such a position and placing your trust in the North instead...specifically, the Fulani! Even today, with all you know about the Fulani, you still won't change your position on the matter, probably because your dislike and mistrust for the Igbo is greater than your fear of the Fulani! And if i were to ask you what informs such a position, you'd yet again start to waffle and beat about the bush!

I just chuckled on reading your 3rd paragraph! You sit there and posit with a straight face that the south-west hasn't benefited disproportionately in the siting of federally enabled projects, institutions and policiesn in relation to the south-east! I read that part of your post and said to myself that some things never change! This was what i said in one of my previous replies to you:

When we talk of federal gov't developing Lagos (whether 5% or everything), it came in two forms: physical projects; and federal gov't policies and actions.
*Some of the physical projects are: Apapa and Tincan Island ports; National Stadium; National Arts Theatre, Iganmu; Tafawa Balewa Square; Murtala Moh'd Airport; the many flyovers; 3rd Minland Bridge, Carter Bridge, etc; the many federal gov't owned buildings that helped service and maintain Lagos' dominance in national politics and economy, like the CBN building, Stock Exchange building, National Assembly, 1004 flats, federal secretariate, NECOM House...initially known as NET building, Dodan Barracks, etc.
*The federal gov't policies and actions that brought disproportionate socio-economic benefits to Lagos and led to its becoming the economic and (then) political capital of Nigeria are: the obvious one of keeping Lagos as the capital after independence; promoting and funding Apapa and Tincan Island ports over others in other coastal cities of the country; promoting and funding Murtala Moh'd Airport over other major airports in other regions of the country; siting financial institutions (public and gov't owned) headquarters and nation building institutions in Lagos while relegating major cities in other regions to the back burner (perhaps only Kaduna got a near level of favoured status and attention as Lagos...for obvious reasons); causing ALL foreign Embassies and High Commissions to be sited in Lagos and as a consequence forcing Nigerians from other parts of the country to head to Lagos for visa application and issuance (and this one had a complimentary relationship with the then only international airport in the country, making Lagos indispensable for any Nigerian seeking to travel abroad or coming back into the country); etc!
So you see, ignoring the aforementioned benefits and preferred status Lagos got over and above cities in other regions, and claiming that Lagos is what it is today owing mainly to the sophistication and ingenuity of the Yoruba, is at best a misleading narrative!

And in addition to what i just quoted, we can also add to the physical projects: TRADE FAIR COMPLEX and FESTAC TOWN.

The offshoot or consequence of the disproportionate attention Lagos is getting (that is besides making Tinubu criminally wealthier) is that the socio-economic traction it generates would equally be felt in neigbouring south-west states like Ogun! You see how the uneven playing field and political-economy in Nigeria has disproportionately benefitted the south-west over and above other regions? Now, when we turn our attention to the south-east, we'd notice that not only has the hegemony controlled federal gov't marginalised and cheated the region, but they've also gone ahead to sabotage south-east territorial interests by slicing off large swathes of hydrocarbon rich territory and placing same in Rivers state. My own LGA in Rivers state, ONELGA, had a entire community, Egbema, cut in two....with the part richer in hydrocarbons removed from the then East Central state and placed in Rivers! These are irrefutable facts, yet you sit there and 'argue' that the south-east should be futher cheated and deprived of federal allocations and appointments owing to how their boundaries were delineated by YOU (by YOU i mean the hegemonic alliance of course)!

You see the part in your 5th paragraph that i bolded! I read that part and shook my head in disbelief at how inventive you are in propaganda disemination and revisionism! So we're to now take Lawanis' word for it that the same Awo, who on seeing the federal side not winning the war on the battle field, decided to suggest to Gowon the mounting of a food and economic blockade of Biafra, even though said blockade would target non-combatants (men, women, children, babies and unborn foetuses)....we're now to believe such a man 'had the interests of Ndigbo/Biafra at heart and hence decided to work for them within the Gowon gov't'!? That's the new yarn you want us to believe abi!? And see how you craftily turned Awos' threat to the north of pulling the Yoruba out of Nigeria if the Igbo/Biafra were allowed to secede....see how you turned a statement that's obviously a threat to Igbo/Biafra interests into a 'loving and caring gesture by Awo towards us'! He was so 'concerned' about us to the point of suggesting Gowon try the war crimes route to ensure the Nigeria side 'win' and Biafra doesn't secede! At this point, i think it's best you quit trying to launder Awos' image as you're not doing him any favours!

you're waffling in your 6th paragraph, and what's left of your 'arguement' is all over the place! Awo and the west were not prepared for war, you say! Fair enough! So they now had the option of allying with either the Biafra/Igbo or the North/Fulani, and they chose the latter! Awo didn't have to have been friends with any core northerners before deciding to work for them in 'defeating' the Biafra secession effort. I think in this case, it was more a question of being driven by his emotions and chosing to side with the people he hated or mistrusted the least. As i pointed out earlier, we can now see with the benefit of hindsight how right or wrong his choice was! Besides his political issues with Zik, what other 'excuse' did he have to hate dislike Ndigbo the way he did!? He would have been aware of the pogroms against the Easterners/Ndigbo in the North and hence knew we didn't just wake up one fine morning like that and decide to secede just for the fun of it! Dude, i'm not bragging or trying to sound holy or anything, but knowing my people Ndigbo (and i suspect a lot of Yoruba would secretely accept this), had the shoe been on the other foot and it was the Yoruba that faced what Ndigbo/Eastterners faced in the north in 1966, we would have sided with the Yoruba without them even having to ask, and it would have been curtains for the failed Nigerian experiment! Of course Britain that had just recently handed over the reins of power to the Fulani hegemony wouldn't have liked that, but who cares what they like or don't like!

I notice you say Awo said what he said about pulling the Yoruba out of Nigeria if the East/Igbo are allowed to secede....i notice you claim he made that threat only because 'that's what was agreed on independence'! I see Awo was such a stickler for rules! Pray, was it also agreed on independence that tens of thousands of Nigerians from one region would be targeted for weeks on end for mass murder in another region, with no intervention from the central gov't in Lagos!? Dude, please....we're not kids here!

We only have prior actions and socio-cultural attitudes to values like equity, justice, sanctity of life, education, etc, to determine who between a middle-belt or Biafra led military invasion the Western and Midwestern Regions should have chosen! Like i have asked in the past, on what basis would you assert that the Igbo/Biafra were posed a existential threat to the Yoruba in 1966-70? You'd probably answer back...because a Igbo officer killed Akintola, abi?

The unification decree by Ironsi should have been viewed by those with calm heads as a military thing. It arose from the heirachical and command-and-control nature of the military which called for all commanders to be answerable to a central high command! Only those with preconceived negativity towards the Igbo would have seen it otherwise as they looked for a 'justification' for their later actions! Besides, the unification decree only made the military administrators report to Dodan-Barracks. The fiscal and federal structure of the country like number of regions, percentage of taxes remitted to the centre from the regions, resource ownership, etc, most if not all of that was not touched or altered by the decree. If you have evidence to the contrary, you can help educate us by providing links to corroborate.

Do you have definitive proof of Awo saying in his own words that Gowon released him from Calabar prison? Links to a memoir or autobiography pointing to such a claim being made would be helpful? My own source of information is based on what i gathered from 2nd hand sources...not from Ojukwu and not from Awo. It seems the Gowon gov't issued the pardon and gazetted it, while Ojukwu effected the release! It's clear to any discerning observer what the driving force for Gowon pardoning Awo was....he did it for self interest (ie, interest of the north/Nigerian side) to try and get Awo and Yoruba onside against the Igbo/east! Remember, we're talking of a man who was jailed, for whatever reason, by the northern controlled gov't of Balewa and Sardauna!

chatinent:
Alibaba and the forty thieves.

Hehehehehe

Chatinent is not one for beating about the bush!