₦airaland Forum

Kidnappers Will Face Death Penalty At Home As Drug Peddlers Abroad

How could a country go from the highest oil income earner in Africa to mushrooming the greatest number of poor people in the world; creating hardcore kidnappers extorting ransoms beyond states? This is beyond the obvious laboratory experiment where as the number of mice in pen multiply, they intensified aggression without enough space, food or water. Extrapolating to man, we see some of the people’s (mice) aggression spreading beyond their enclaves (pen).

Look, Nigerians have been known for soft crimes like 419 outside the country for some time by British and American Police profiles; but not hard crimes. When a Nigerian was pointed out as a suicide underwear bomber, we were surprised because we were not known for self-destructive crimes. Soft crimes has become ancient history. Even African neighbors are now typecasting Nigerians as infecting their countries with crimes that were un-African just a few years ago.
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Then, we have some blacks that have no affiliation with Nigeria claiming to be Nigerians. If they know who to bribe, they can obtain Nigerian passports like Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes. Mind you, we are not shifting responsibility here, we also have to let you know that we have enough criminals within us that pledge allegiance to other countries but soil the reputation of our country to achieve their operations as looters, pen and armed robbing desperados.

There is no country in the world without their own share of criminals, so has Nigeria and so has African countries. The difference here are that some miscreant dogs are roaming and spreading rabies into many states and countries in the name of Nigeria. Many of them have been flushed out of their cities and villages for acts of abomination. In desperation, plead for accommodation and tolerance in and outside their places, while they invade and violate local customs.

There are two types of these criminals at home that have lost their conscience. The first group are members of hard drug pushers, kidnappers and ritualists. Most of their money, families and properties are in foreign countries. In essence, they have renounced their allegiance, citizenship with foreign passports to nurture their way of live, deadly operation but educate their children at expensive schools. When visiting Nigeria, they spend ostentatiously as if they are legitimate.


The second types are pen robbers made up of politicians and members of 419 clubs. It used to be what Nigerians were known for. They sponsor other leaders to get cuts from inflated foreign and big local contracts for their immediate families; creating poor masses. They stage elections terror since they lack local allegiance and care very little for the demise of Nigeria. Depending on their crimes outside, foreigners can pinpoint their localities in Nigeria before they confess.

However, when caught red handed during their operations, these disowned vagabonds soil the names of all Nigerians as if they were patriots. They left their country out of greed with enough money to start a business, seeking what they called greener pastures. Only to find out they are jumping from frypan to fire. No reasonable person would leave a country with his rights and privileges only to become undesirable and untouchable outside. When stuck without jobs or means, they take to crimes.

Moreover, some of them justify their crimes as payback for colonialism; which they see as courageous and valiant ways to make money overseas. It is not very often that you see Africans so audacious going outside their states or countries to commit heinous crimes on their accommodating hosts. Africans’ tolerance for one another has been so squeezed and exploited that the homes that were supposed to nurture and point them to cultural pride and morals are proposing death penalty as a deterrent.

Though these criminals bring shame and embarrassment to most law-abiding people in their communities, both criminal groups stage their devilish acts in certain cities against their hosts claiming to be victims of jealousy when caught. The same way they are killing Nigeria, they set out to kill other countries, if allowed. Without achievement as a group to lift up explosive poverty at home, they arrogantly boast to other Africans of some natural gift to rule the world.

Therefore, like many countries that have declined requests to accept deportations of criminals, we denounce and disowned the criminals. It is unfair to those countries or Nigeria to call them Nigerians when the only relationship they have with the country is that of parasitic blemishes. If they commit heinous crimes in your country, deal with them to discourage those of them still looking for their way out. Do not send them back because Nigeria has enough to deal with.

Since the amount on income coming into these Africans countries by exploiting their resource are so meagre, there will never be enough to care for individuals. The notion of Africans or poor countries living on less than American $2.00 a day is a reflection of how much they earn after their money has been devalued and their raw material bought for little or nothing. Poverty has been intentionally created with little earning to feed and care for increasing population.

We cannot wait until African countries get fair and equal trade to sell finished products in the world trading markets or trade within, as income earned fall short of caring for the poor. We must hastily add that we are not blaming immoral characters on outside influences or the mean spirited economic calculations that benefit most of their so-called shareholders colluding with Western educated crooks within that defraud and perpetrate Economic Injustice on the poor.

Nigeria is a case in point that made considerable money from the oil while the multinational companies paid a fraction in royalties and outright stealing without knowledge of how much was going out or coming in as income. Cocoa companies like Cadbury, Nestle, Hensley and beer beverage companies have sold finished products as exports for ages without contributing any earnings in foreign exchange to the country. Instead of adding foreign income, they depleted it.

Nevertheless, sceptics wonder if the death penalty will deter hardcore criminal gangs in the increasing face of hunger and poverty. During Bar Beech Show Firing Squad for armed robbers, some said they would rather die fast from gunshot volleys than die painfully of hunger.

By Farouk Martins Aresa -June 25, 2019
https://thenews-chronicle.com/kidnappers-will-face-death-penalty-at-home-as-drug-peddlers-abroad/

Showpiece Any African Community The World Can Be Proud Of

Individual achievements without carrying your people along is nothing to cheer about. What many Africans worship, admire and desire most is everything foreign to them: culture, religion, language, schools, awards, degrees, countries’ aids and loans to pay outrageous emolument to politicians that rival Pastors in creating and exploiting poverty for self-aggrandizement. If you cannot save yourselves in your own places of birth, who is going to help you, foreigners or God?

Heaven helps those who help themselves. Vanities and elephant projects turn into rumbles but human value and ingenuity build and reinvigorate. By taking one step at a time as revitalization of one village, city or country since the Great Empires of the 9th to 14th centuries; survival of the next generation could have been guaranteed.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/937233/showpiece-any-african-community-the-world-can-be-proud-of.html

The true son of Africa does not point to their place of birth with a left finger. Geniuses can come out of Environmental dumps. Marcus Garvey, Civil Right Activist had formed Back To Africa Movement with the strong belief that, left alone, black people are can prosper within their own communities by trading and business enterprises between African communities or countries.

It is important to point out that appreciable progress continued from the 1950s with great hope that Nigeria would become a regional power. But since this new obsession with anything foreign from the 1990s, dependence on foreign income derailed and killed local initiatives as the importation of used, new goods and services increased beyond redemption and self-control. Aggravated by champions and “experts” of Structural Adjustment and later, Devaluations.

Apart from the great African Empires in the 9th to the 14th centuries, Ghana the old Gold Coast demanded and got Independence in 1957. Western Region in Nigeria under self-rule, rose to unprecedented prosperity from the 1950s to 1970s. It was a time when blacks anywhere in the world could come home or point to an African community managed by Africans with many Firsts in African business, trade, education, and sports since the ancient Empires.

When Ghana gained Independence in 1957, Diaspora Africans such as W. E. B Du Bois came back to Ghana; Darney Alexander served and later became the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Those were days when Diaspora Africans were longing for a home in Africa instead of Africans youths running away from home today. Our pride was not as first in foreign countries but first at home and mastering our destiny in our own places of birth.

It was when most Africans would not dare stay a day longer after their studies in any overseas Country. Most people familiar with Ibadan history as the seat of prospect, development, and riches where capable leaders ruled, compete to rule and be associated with in Diaspora; apart from Lagos, Kumasi and Nairobi. Prominent African black achievers showcased their worth.

Before Americans and Europeans got their first blacks in powerful and noticeable positions, qualified Africans were statesman, professors, physicians, judges and engineers that came back as activists in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. When the Nigerian Government completed it 25 Stories Independence House, Western Region rivalled it with 18 Stories in Lagos. The 26 Stories Cocoa House in Ibadan was the tallest in Tropical Africa in 1965!

In the Western Region of Nigeria, industrial Estates flourished spilling into what is now Lagos State. There were booming housing estates, university towns, free education up to secondary level and free healthcare still beyond the reach of the USA today. The western part of Nigeria included Mid-west later comprising of Bendel State. So, it was not just about a village or place at a time.

Everyone had the same benefit in the West, regardless of where they came from in Nigeria or Africa. Even in the early 1980s in Lagos, there were free education, free healthcare, and mass housing; giving all, regardless of where they come from their first opportunity to own a house, get educated with free healthcare. Distractors called it cheap, the poor called it opportunities.

Nigeria embarked on eight elements of Primary Healthcare in all the 19 states in the early 1980s. We accomplished 20 Health Clinics, 5 Primary Health Centers and one Comprehensive Health Center in each State. Trained Community Health Officers, Nurses and Health Assistance in the School of Health Technology. During the outbreak of Ebola in West and East Africa, Nigeria with old residual knowledge, contained it in Lagos before spreading, ignored imported Nano Silver.

Ebola Diagnosis was made in a small university town with a locally invented the machine in Ede, Western Nigeria. Burkina Faso scientists recently engineered a naturally occurring fungus to deliver a killer toxin to Malaria mosquitoes safely reducing their populations by more than 99%.

Lately, Imo State gave the poor free education, free food, and money to the dismay of some rich folks. The University of Nigeria Nssuka started Solar Energy on campus that will spread to the whole Town and beyond. If each university embarks on each project as this, Africa is ready to roll!

The irony of all the undisputed achievements in Western Nigeria at least, compared to today is that it was based on little income from cocoa farms before the curse of oil income in Nigeria. It is a classic case in point that all the money in the world cannot make you rich if you do not know how to manage it. An African proverb says: a basket cannot retain water, no matter how much is poured into it. Money miss road O, no be small!

Usually, Africans come back home. From the day a student leaves to study abroad, the village people were always counting. After four years they would expect his return with a degree. So, they would gather at the parent’s house to inquire if he was alright. One of the parents might inform them that the student decided on his Master’s degree before coming home. If that was the case, the village people would feel relieved.

Village people would then expect most students to come back home after 6 years. The parents better had a good explanation after, might be for a PhD degree. The reason was they would like to know if he has gotten lost, had become the Mayor of London or he had encountered some unfortunate circumstances. It was very rare to see an African that had not flunked staying back in Europe or America after qualification.

The oil curse brought out the worst in Nigeria creating a class of voracious looters and the greatest number of poor people in the whole wide world. Yet, African leaders always make promises that give rosy blueprints they have hardly kept while our population and basic needs explode. They take no responsibility for failures, little plan for the present and none for the future.

Our youths have resigned, accepted strange fate and even use poverty, the paucity of ideas and innovation for reasons to escape reality as economic refugees out of the Continent. They say, when backed to the wall, instead of fighting back, melt into the wall, ask for a visa to any foreign country. New slave traders have emerged as agents selling European/Arab countries to youths.

The International appointments that are the dream jobs of Africans are less desirable to the Americans and Europeans in their countries. These jobs are only sought, after their locally desired jobs or after retirement in those countries. Yet, Africans would die for these jobs. Pity.

Not even Herbert Macaulay, Nkrumah, Azikiwe, Ekoli and Awo could have predicted the present predicament of our youths in Africa.

By Farouk Martins Aresa

The Father Of All Nigerian Ethnic Groups

It is very interesting that most of the Ethnic groups claim association to the Nile Valley, somewhere in Sudan, Egypt etc. but no association to one another in Nigeria. On their way from or to Egypt through what we now know as Nigeria, these Ethnic groups never met? Usually, they were each King or Queen, first lady. Who were their subjects? It may remind you of most of our parents who always took first in their classes when they were students. Who came second?

Africans are great sojourners, and they left their genetic traits all over the world. Please see YORUBA WORLD EXPLORATION AND THE LOSS OF DYNASTIES. If Africans were in Australia before the time of Christ, in America before Columbus and spread all over great distances, we should wonder why they never knew or had anything to do with one another until the British created NIGERIA!

Apart from the article mentioned above, I also relied on an article by Sola Omole on the Ijaw, another by the Ijaw Nation. Of course, I also depend on different histories of the Ethnic groups. However, I must admit that many are just like blind men describing an elephant we call Nigeria. Each was about its group but not how it relates to Nigeria, the giant of Africa.

Nigerians talk about relatives in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal etc. The distance between Maiduguri and Lagos is not as long as that between Nigeria and Australia, yet Nigerians deny each other at home. Ghana, Mali, Songhay Empires were not formed based on Ethnic groups because some of the Empires were bigger than Nigeria. Ibadan, here at home, was built as a cosmopolitan City made up of variety of people.

The people were around the same place from the beginning of time, and traded with one another before the British came. The Europeans heard about ancient civilization trading in gold, they named one place Gold Coast. They heard about Ivory and named another place Ivory Coast. They heard about Ile-Ife Arts and Sculpture - they thought they found lost civilization of Atlantis. They marveled at Benin Bronze; they heard stories of handsome skilful men and women with mystical power; and drugs that can cure many diseases. They discover aspirin, antibiotics and ancient form of writings on the body and tablets. At the same time, they dreaded the diseases of mosquitoes and tsetse flies, sparing us of earlier domination.

Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily, 1st Century B.C, credited the Ethiopians (name for Blacks) as the first of all men created by gods, as founders of civilization and religion in Egypt imported to Greece.

Nigeria is just a “geographical expression” and 1914 are always in the papers and books written by many Nigerians. Awolowo is always credited with the former. It does not mean that he did not believe in one Nigeria, otherwise he would not have campaigned from the South to the North for the Prime Minister of Nigeria. Actually, Ahmadu Bello could have preferred that he stayed put in the South. We now have scholars from the North who actively support one Nigeria, while some in the South are going the other way. In Nigeria, we call that progress!

Sometimes, I wonder what difference it would have made if the Europeans divided Africa in slices north and south or in slices east and west. Most of the Ethnic groups have relatives across Africa east and west, and the same north and south. Could it have been a better Country that way? The so called main Ethnic groups with their relatives across West Africa could have formed one Country. I am sure nobody thinks that could have solved African problem.

Nkrumah, a man before his time, wanted a united African Country. Tafawa Balewa dismissed it as taking independence from the British only to surrender it to Nkrumah. Only Zik cried out loud when Ghanaians were thrown out of Nigeria in early eighties. Lately, the South Africans rejected free African movement for fear of Nigerians dominating their Country, as we did in Ghana in the sixties. When the East African were kicking out the Europeans, they were asked who would replace the educated labor force. Nigerians, they answered. They were warned – Nigerians were worse exploiters than the British! Some Nigerians, thinking about our politicians, may agree.

The difference between Hutu and Tutsi has to do with one being town boy and another country boy. The Somalis are from the same family with the same language, it is still not a peaceful Africa. After the war in Nigeria, the Ethnic groups have fragmented further, even more so in the south. There was an article I read, “My People are killing My People”, about the fight between close relatives – Ijaw, Itsekiri and the Urhobo youths. Or between Aguleri and Umuleri, or Ife and Modakeke or Fulani and Jakun, Tiv or Yelwa and Shendam. I have not added those between Sunni and Shiite, Moslems and Christians over foreign religions. Africans, calling one another unbeliever of foreign indoctrination.

There are autochthonous Africans in Nigeria, no doubt. I also believe these Africans especially in the rain forest are more or less the same in everything. Those in the northern part of Africa or our Country are so close that our origins can not be different. Since one of the oldest human is dated around Lake Chad, how much distance is that to the sea that man could not have sojourned to?

No Ethnic groups deny each other more than the Igbo and the Yoruba. I am totally dismayed when I listen to young men and women who were not born during the political days of Bello, Awo and Zik trade insult as if they were there. Who passed personal prejudice to them? Check out their internet chart sites, it is full of hatred. When I pointed this out to some of my friends, they ignored it since most people stuck to their favorite sites. Some of the comments about our brothers from the North or vice versa are just as caustic. It boils down to ignorance. It is almost a conspiracy – they fear you may know one another as the children of the same father!

The Yoruba, a combination of OYO and OBA from Ife, has been known as YOBA well before the time of Christ in the Nile Valley and later, as far as Papua Guinea. They refused to be converted to later religions like Christianity and Moslem. The same is true about Oba Koso, King of Shango in Kush from the holy City of Ile-Ife - This was written in Coptic text, published in Paris in 1666.

Oduduwa has been thrown into question even within Yoruba and their close relatives in Ijebu and Benin. Fortunately, this ancient icon before Christ is not only known among the Yoruba as Adamu but among our own Ijaw and in Diaspora, during ancient time.

Each Ethnic group in Nigeria has translations for Yoruba and Oduduwa. Does that mean that these Ethnics groups have been in contact with one another as brothers and not willing to admit it? Since migrations happened in waves, those who came first might have recognized those who followed.

I can not fault Chukwu Eke interpretation of history. Indeed we may agree in more areas than disagree. The Igbo of the Southwest may be the same Igbo of the Southeast. I will also add the Northern part of the Country. These people were not known as Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Edo, Urhobo, Ijaw or Efik. They existed as one people moving freely in Nigeria and in neighboring Countries.

The Igbo also claimed affinity with the Nile Valley. They knew the Yoruba well as they claim they were the original inhabitants of the present western part. But Oba Mafimisebi, the Olugbo of Ugbo claimed they were the original inhabitants. After pestering the Yoruba, the Igbo fell in love with Moremi who gave out the secrete that dislodged them. According to Chukwu, the Yoruba called them Igbo (bush people) and in retaliation, Igbo called them Yoruba (Oyo oru Oba) that is “Oyo, slaves of Oba”. He also has a translation for Oduduwa, “Nkaa bu onye odudu wa or Nkka bu Odu wa”, that is their leader. Here, we part.

Phillip Emeagwali also gave a convincing relationship between Yoruba and Igbo. The Igbo had no king but the Yoruba relatives had Obi. He also pointed to a lost Yoruba dialect, Olukwumu spoken in Anioma, Idumu-ogu,Ubulubu, Ugboba and Ukwuzu. This dialect is still spoken in Brazil and Cuba. Onitsha could have come from Orisha. Orisha is still worshiped in Diaspora. I remember how mad some Igbo were that a man of his status would even dabble into such things. I am not surprise, I am a mere mortal and my friends laugh at me when I bring it up too. But it is not new, I heard it among my friends in the fifties - boasting as the real Ibo vs. the YorubaIbo.

I think once people realize that we are not selling out one group for another, education may overcome prejudices. There are only one related autochthonous people in the rain forest, differentiated by sojourners coming in waves from outside.

It took me a while to accept the link between linguistic and people because one can find any word and link it up. Is Ijebu-Igbo a Yoruba town, or Igbo people? Is alligator called oba by Igbo the name of a king? Even Obi has its own Igbo meaning: court house. But how does court house become a king? The similarity in meaning among us only points to common ancestor speaking the same language at certain point in time.

All I am stating is that there is a convincing link between the people of Nigeria. Herodotus 490-425 B.C described the scarification mark on the forehead of the blacks he saw in Egypt. We also know that it took a combined army of the Arabs to drive out the Africans, “sharp shooters of the eye”, out of ancient Iraq in those days. These Africans were not known as Igala, Kanuri, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw or Efik. Anyone interested can pursue this further. Research is easier now than in my own days as a student.

The Hausa claimed that the Yoruba were one of the illegitimate children of Bawo from a different mother. They founded or ruled additional kingdoms of Zamfara, Kebbi, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, Yoruba and Kororofa after they left Egypt. They claimed that Yoruba was the name they gave the people of the Southwest.

However, the Yoruba in name and religion were known in the Nile Valley and between the Arabs as unbeliever of their religion before the Hausa met them again in Nigeria. I would say they recognize their cousins again during another wave of migration. What can not be denied though is the relationship of both the Hausa and Yoruba to the Sudanese in terms of facial marks.

An article by Ibrahim Waziri on - The Unhappy Marriage of a Quadruple - described the mixture of people in the North with other so called Ethnic groups in Nigeria. Even though he is from the Saifawa dynasty that opposed the Jihaad of Usman Danfodio, like most Northerners, he has Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Yoruba etc in him.

Some Ijebu claimed that they were neither Yoruba nor part of Oduduwa dynasty. The Oba of Benin recently brought out a novel claim about Oduduwa as a lost Prince of the last Ogiso. Indeed, the Edo claimed they are the father of most southern Ethnic group. But the Ogiso and the Oba met the autochthonous people, Oru, Efa and Ijaw in Benin.

Professor Obayemi researched eight Ile-Ife, and we know at least two Oyo including the present location. The Yoruba, coming from or to Ife, passed through Borgu, Nupe in the North and the Nile Valley. These were the Cities that were documented; there must be others in between them unmentioned.

The Ijaw went through the same route through Borgu, Beni, Nupe, Ile- Ife, present Benin before spreading to the delta region.

Do all these parts of an elephant belong to the same animal?

If all these groups are the same, they should speak the same language or may be in different dialects and have the same ancestors. I think they all do.

ARCHEOLOGY: The best tools we have are the discovery made in Nigeria in spite of wet acidic soil that is not good for preservation. A relative comparison of discoveries inside and outside of Nigeria can be convincing evidence of our ancient civilization:

Iwo Eleru – 10,000 B.C Between Akure and present Ile-Ife

Nubia culture - 10,000 B.C

Indian culture - 6,000 B.C

Dafuna Canoe near Yobe dated 8,000 years old compared to oldest

Egyptian boat 5,000 yrs old

China culture - 3,000 – 2,200 B.C

Malenician and South Pacific Hawaii – 2,000 B.C

Olmec Mexico- 1,100 B.C

Igbo Ukwu - 10 AD In the heart of Igbo land

I have left out many Yoruba, Igbo and Benin Arts paraded around the world exhibiting African craft before our Asian and European neighbors caught on to our civilization.

The history of the Ijaw by the Ijaw is not that different from that written by Sola Omole. It links all the Ehtnics groups in the south one way or another. This is important because it collaborate our history beyond Nigeria with our relatives in Africa.

Ile-Ife is a common factor in the history of southern Ethnic groups. Other places, as indicated, are Borgu, Bassa, Nupe and Beni/Benin. The first wave came to Nigeria through the same Borgu, Nupe, Ile-Ife and Benin. The Ijaw spread to the delta region from present Benin.

Oduduwa/Adimu/Adumu/Adum. He created a dynasty before the time of Christ in more than one Ile-Ife. One of his descendants was Ujo, a Prince of Ijaw who ruled over the delta, even on his way back to Ife as he got lost. The Ijaw are familiar with Ogiso in Benin as some left Benin when the Ogiso arrived from the same part through Ife. They also know the last Prince of Ogiso Kaladiran/ Ekalederhan who fled before (or after?) Oranmiyan arrived from the Ife. The Benin are very proud of the Oba era but our history began well before that period.

Even the Ijaw met Autochthonous African in Nigeria and were able to rule over them or moved on. They were ORU who met Nigerians before they become Igbo, Hausa, Ibibio, Ijaw, Yoruba, Igala, Tapa etc. The Kumoni who may or may not be the ORU also came. So were the Bantu, Efa, and others.

In Yoruba land the OOYELAGBO/UGBO/IGBO AND ORU became the son of the soil.

In Igbo land the UGBO/IGBO and ORU and EFA and BANTU became the son of the soil.

In Benin land the OOYELAGBO/UGBO/IGBO and ORU and EFA became son of the soil.

In Hausa land the ORU and HAUSA and OOYELAGBO/UGBO/IGBO became the son of the soil.

The Itsekiri are a mixture of OOYELAGBO/UGBO/IGBO and ORU and EFA.

The Urhobo are a mixture of ORU and EFA and OYELABO/UGBO/IGBO

All Nigerians are a mixture of autochthonous people, ORU and other so called Ethnic groups in different mixture giving rise to different languages/dialects adapting to different environmental stimuli.

How dare?

I blew your cover, man! Aborigines of Australia are your cousins, black Americans are your brothers, West Indians are your men. How are you related to them?

However, the ones you live in the same Country with are unknown and unrelated to you.

I was once a professional student in Toronto in the seventies when Stokely Carmichael, American Civil Right activist, came to University of Toronto or York University. One of the student said he was not an African. So Stokely asked him where he came from. He said Trinidad. (Stokely was born in Trinidad). The student said all the Africans died in the sea before reaching the shore. Stokely said he must be a seaman. As we were laughing, Stokely did not find it funny that such ignorant statement came from a student. He told the student that Trinidad was not a Country but a sugarcane plantation. We laughed louder.

Many of the Nigerian Ethnic groups in general and in the southern part in particular are familiar with the ORU people that many of us have ignored for centuries. In many of our villages they retain that name. Some of them have been relegated to the position of slave or ERU or OSU whenever they can be dominated. The same people created dynasties all over Africa and ruled over the autochthonous Africans they met in other places.

Oduduwa was born in Ife by marriage between OOYELAGBO and ORU. He sojourned north and south of Africa creating dynasties until he was overthrown and came back home. He was known in the Nile Valley as Adum, in Nigeria as Adimu/Adumu and among the Ooyelagbo as Oduduwa. The Yoruba are a good example of how we mix in Nigeria.

If this is the case, why can’t we live in peace in any part of Nigeria? Or in Africa?

Animal Behaviorist and Psychologists teach us that you can only have so many mice in a pen. Two will get along fine, especially a male and a female. As the number increases, discomfort and problem start. I will try to examine this in the future. Some of us are claimers of two states, one leg in each state. One leg (h)as an indigene, another leg (h)as a citizen. If you mix that up with land, son of the soil, off/on/in/out shore resources, wahala starts.

Most of us realize that resources can not keep us together and must not separate us. It is not the resources you have that matters, it is how much it commands in the market. Think! If I buy fresh fish for 50.00 naira, package it, and sell it as sardine to you for 150.00 naira. Add 50.00 naira for taxes, shipping and delivery. Replace fresh fish with raw gold, you get the same result. That is 200.00 naira. My brother, you are left poorer than when you started. As poor as Ghana, the Gold Coast.

Take another hint. How much was oil before the cartel and how much is cocoa now?

In order to conserve energy, many countries imposed heavy tax on oil, like tax on cigarettes. These Governments make more on taxes than they make on the bare products. Not in Nigeria, please!

I hope I have created enough doubt in the minds of none believers of Autochthonous people of Nigeria. Ironically, those with ulterior motives will never be moved. More research is needed to bring these people in us to light.

Farouk Aresa September 04, 2008

http://winsww.gamji.com/article5000/NEWS5174.htm

crackhaus:
Is this a serious question?

It is if one of the parties deny enjoying it.

Got this on line:


Flirting with a middle aged man who is getting an ego boost?
I have an inappropriate attraction to someone senior at work who is married & also considerably older. Initially it weirded me out as it happened suddenly and come out of nowhere, we have worked together for a couple years prior so it was odd.

Now I'm not sure if he picked up on my vibes first or he was attracted in the first place. The attraction for me began when he touched me (non sexual) so in hindsight it could have been intentional on his part but it was instant once the touch barrier was broken. He told me not long ago that he would want to date me if he were younger and single which I thought was a polite way of saying he wasn't interested but he then followed it up with saying I was a good catch, envied my life and had a minor whinge about his life. He certainly flirts with me (mostly non verbal) and is always placing himself where I can see him & flexing his muscles like a teenage boy. He definitely likes the attention and I know he doesn't want it to go any further so I think we are safe from having an affair thank god.

He is 50 years old & has suddenly taken a lot of interest in his personal appearance which means a midlife crisis by my book. I feel like he is playing games with me so his ego can be stroked just a little more... I'm 38 but look about 30 & he has made comments about there being a 20 year age gap, when he knows its only 12.

I've had a lot of sadness of the last 6 months with deaths and other horrible things happening so I realise that I am looking for a way to escape reality and be distracted from my problems.

I can see where he is coming from and it is a distraction for me but I do not want to be stroking his ego either.

We are both using each other I guess & its safe as I believe him to be a decent person who wouldn't take advantage of me.

Is this wrong

Rich Men Acquire Many Young Ladies To Boost Their Ego

If you are an Emir, Obi, Oba, and Serial Monogamist or rich enough to acquire more than two wives, you can fool yourself all you want about your sexual prowess, it is a false sexual ego. Your household know you are not the only one satisfying their sexual needs, even if they make you feel so powerful. Usually, servicers are helps not too far from the women. One or two wives may be loyal, once you go over that, older ones are frequently ignored starving for love.

It must be made clear from start, there are many young girls that aspire to marry older men for their power, swagger or sheer style; not just for money. Muhammad Ali is a case in point. His last wife, Lonnie Williams met him at the age of six and promised to marry him at 17. By the time she earned an MBA, she took care of him and his business until his death.

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/278010/rich-men-acquire-many-young-ladies-to-boost-their-ego.html#

Ali’s fortune was in decline and he had been diagnosed for Parkinson disease. Some ladies actually claimed they would rather become an old man’s darling than a young man’s victim. Only an old man knows the joy a young pretty girl brings to his heart. Call her a trophy, friend, companion, confidant or possession; if wealth could get him the happiness he needed, why not!

Who can remember when it was easy for a poor man to have more than one wife or girlfriends? Ladies insist that if their men are not rich, they must have the prospect to be. There was a time for “Surulere” and today for “Olounsogo” meaning either to wait for riches or swim in it right now. Until there is a change in moral conduct in a poor society where vanities are discouraged and ostentation held to accountability, we’ll be praying for chastity exported to Dubai, forever.

Ladies must understand that they encourage and invite rich men to take advantage of them, as long as they have “cashistics” for their whims and caprices. Younger girls will be more attracted to older men that have made it rather than young men in their age group struggling in poverty stricken communities. Especially, after rough experience with young boyfriends. It may not be fair, but that is the reality of life that will be repeated when the same young men get older.

The most disappointing situation is when a rich man finds himself and money totally useless in buying his want or needs. He may not be able to buy his health but he can buy some ladies’ friendships. One has to wonder if money gives rich men as much sexual appetite as the many women they crave. You may find out that it is not so much about men’s sexual prowess or money but having friends as companions or confidants nearby.

Men like to display their sexual prowess in the form of economic status. Even men without the means to take care of many women actually depend on women’s income to boast their status. What serial monogamists do not understand is that polygamists depend on their wives’ incomes to sustain the big families. It has always been like that on the farm with the children contributing. Some men replace estranged companions or confidants with new ones.

Would you give your daughter to an older man? As a practical matter, it is already being done within many circles in and out of Africa. Apart from the fact that it is not as easy as it used to be to dictate a partner to your sons or daughters. Indeed, some countries and states do require parental approval if the girl is below certain age. There are also some conditions that the girl should be allowed to further her studies at the university.

If she is over 30, it is none of your business! It may look like bondage for the ladies, especially the young ones but they may rationalize it as ability to move on with enough money to get their own toy-boys later in life. So, you may denounce them today but they may have the last laugh controlling the vast amount their husbands had or divorcing with a sizable part of it. Whether they wasted part of their lives cuddling an old man rather than a man their age becomes an academic argument.

While it is true that money cannot buy love, you cannot eat love at the end of the day! Money has been classed as another form of freedom of speech and by that reasoning to be able to spend as much of your money as you want as long as it is not illegal. A girl under age, depending on the jurisdiction is clearly illegal. Still immoral on her volition, except with the permission of parents. It becomes ugly if any girl has to marry, just to feed the parents.

While the role of women as income earners remains, they have not been so recognized because most of their contributions are unpaid labor. In the Western world where ladies still earn less than men, there is opportunity cost. Ladies have to decide whether to stay at home and take care of their children or weigh the cost of paying babysitters while they hustle from home to daycare to work, back to daycare to home. Rich men allow them the luxury of a free choice.

Yet, the men that take credit for a good family though it is their wives that sacrifice most, for the betterment of the children. While serial monogamists move from one woman to another, polygamists stay with as many women that want to live with them. Even if a polygamist has all the money to take care of their wives and children, there is no way an average man can equally satisfy the sexual needs of more than two women at home. More women more trouble O!

However, men still acquire more women to inflate their egos as if ladies are possessions. In the case of serial monogamist, he deals with one woman at a time but hardly stop looking. It becomes the question of large sexual appetite or a deadly mission if he is not getting help to satisfy the women around the house or outside. Going by the testimony of the Marmon families in Utah or in Africa and Asia, they divide their time between ladies.

No wonder men get worn out and die earlier than women. Hey, there is nothing wrong dying on top of the one you love in ecstasy!

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Friday, May 10, 2019
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/278010/rich-men-acquire-many-young-ladies-to-boost-their-ego.html#

Pres Akufo Addo Clarified Ghana Biggest Trade With China

President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana answered a Chinese student at JFK School of Government at Harvard on his 75th Birthday, about his biggest trading Partner, China. It is a question burning the minds of many Africans as well. Stories of Chinese take over in Zambia has gained notoriety lately. If there is a leader Africans want to represent them on equal footing at international forum, Akufo Addo of Ghana is it. Just as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and Robert Mugabe were respected, though disliked.

Addo answered the student that the trade was certainly not money in exchange, as was done before, for Ghana’s resources. It was money for value: as it generates profits, China would be paid back. This is important because most African countries borrowed money both partners know full well that it could not be repaid; forfeiting projects. It has greater implications for the future generation of youths, not only in Ghana but in Africa.

Old Ghana, had so much Gold in reserve, it was named Gold Coast. Ghana, like most African countries had been disenfranchised of their economic rights in disguise for the new western “civilization”. This is why it is so painful that many African countries are repeating the same mistake with China. We must negotiate by one Model African Voice.

Africa countries need Models we can use for different trade deals and finances. We can use successful result between China and Ghana. Africa Trade Union will be bigger than those of European, Asian Pacific or North America Trade Zones. If they negotiate with us as an African Economic Union, every country will become a watchdog, cutting down on endemic corruption, French v. English African speaking countries and Religious bias.

Users of these services and structures must also realize that they do not come free of charge and must be willing to pay reasonable fee for their use. Even local wood bridges linking villages or land command a fee villages pay owners before crossing. In raining seasons, young men carry fat folks across demanding fee before service. Profit became incentive to maintain the planks in good condition. Unlike politicians padded roads cost.

Though President Akufo Addo was reassuring, we are weary of African politicians giving us a rosy speech, picture or blueprint during their reign only to leave us broke, in worse situations than they met us. It was during their military and political reigns that African countries were lured into Structural Adjustment and multiple currency Devaluations.

Akufo lamented the reluctance of Nigeria to sign Africa Trade Agreement. Nigerians are worried about porous borders that have turned their Country into dumping ground for foreign goods depots set up in neighboring countries. Even raw and refined oil products are smuggled out of Nigeria for profit by unscrupulous Nigerian businessmen. Despite local production of cement, it is more expensive because of arbitrary profit in Nigeria.

Corrupt business must be checked in Nigeria, not at the expense of Intra-African Trade.

It is one thing to cry for Ghana Gold Reserve but if you are looking for a case in point for unprecedented foreign income and how prodigal children wasted it, look at Nigeria and the curse of oil. Foreign income turned Nigeria into harboring world greatest amount of people living in poverty. African Youths are so desperate, poverty turned us xenophobic, barbaric and they join the caravan heading across the sea and desert risking their lives.

Akufo Addo realizes that the cocoa industry generated over 100 billion dollars for the manufacturer of chocolate industry. Oh, they give foreign Aid! But Cocoa growers today receive 1.25 US dollars a day, below the threshold of absolute poverty. Mere 6.6% of value of a ton of cocoa sold. In 2014 the total global retail value chocolate confectionery sales reached a staggering 100 billion dollars - an increase of 20 billion from 2012

President Buhari of Nigeria kept asking each time they want Devaluation, which African country ever came out in a better shape. But he was forced to go along as a civilian President. He had once been overthrown as a Military President for adamantly rejecting Structural Adjustment in 1983. Though the story of Structural Adjustment is now history. Unfortunately, it has crippled Africans since the 80s. Devaluations vindicated Buhari.

The unsuspecting insidious false sense of hope in foreign aid does not impress or fool Akufo Addo. He is now spearheading free and equal trade that had been preached by Kwame Nkrumah, a man before his time. Before the Arab Embargo in the 70s, Nkrumah had tried to accomplish as equal partners, a fair price for Cocoa Producing Countries; not dictated to. Indeed, Nkrumah’s lead on cocoa embargo was in effect until it could no longer hold because of pressure by Western consumers on South American countries.

It was after Nkrumah, the Arab Oil Embargo achieved their asking price. Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi had also preached for Fair Trade, not Foreign Aid. When Western countries take developing countries to the cleaners by buying their raw materials and goods for pittance, selling the same back to us for value. They give less than half of one percent as foreign aid. It satisfies their guilty conscience since African Mumu are happy!

Chei! One can only wonder when Africans are going to realize that the same Structural Adjustment that devastate our economy was made even worse by Devaluations. If they get our raw material by paying us pittance, they still ask that our money be devalued so that they could buy more resources cheaper. Only London School of Economics or Western trained economists implement such regressive policy on their fellow Africans?

It is now obvious and clear that no amount of money can make you rich if your foreign income is thrown away by buying vanities and ready-made goods without negotiating for your own manufacturing and maintenance industries. We can even steal and copy their inventions like Americans did to Britain and Japanese or Chinese to Americans. Nobody would give you enough foreign aid to compete with them. Fair and equal trade means you have to negotiate what you get, nobody gives you what you deserve.

It felt good when Akufo Addo stood man to man with the President of France Emmanuel Macron in Ghana and told him Africans want fair trade, not foreign aid. It reminded some of us of how Mwalimu Nyerere stood up to President Reagan letting him know Africans could not keep on doubling tons of cocoa in exchange for a single tractor each time they want. A form of yearly devaluation. Better still, Africans are now making some of their own tractors but we have to increase our effort as producers not consumers.

Source: Farouk Martins
Published: Friday, April 5, 2019
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/277152/pres-akufo-addo-clarified-ghana-biggest-trade-with-china.html#

Why don't you blame billionaires willing to pay a million dollar to a virgin?

Well, virgins got smart and became or become virgins many times over and over again and again.

Therefore, no matter how we look at it, the so-called minorities within the giants of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba have found their voices in numbers and they are exercising it with their political votes. Nobody, votes or state can be taken for granted anymore. The North-central and the South-south may have lost this time, they are going to determine the next President

Buhari Without North-Central & The South

When we are wrong we must accept the fact like this writer: that no power could defeat South-south and North-central if they are united. Guess what, they voted against Buhari for President and he still won. Even worse, the country could have been paralyzed without majority votes for Buhari in the whole South and North-central. The postmortem could have been the walking dead folks of a country called Nigeria. We survived!

The Southern ethnics can’t wait to be exploited as usual. North must stay out of it, but respect the rotation of power from the North to the South. Speculations are rampant in the South confirmed by Yerima Shettima President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum. Population to overwhelm the political system and elect a Northern President in 2023 is not enough. Ijaw, Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo President has not improved the sorry state of their folks. Bellicose Northern politicians must be warned right now as early as possible.

We all know how Boko Haram started. Adamu Ciroma and his gang promised to make governance difficult if Jonathan won. Boko Haram started attacking Christians and their churches. They gradually graduated to all Southerners and then North-central became a target. It was not only Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen continued these atrocities across the land. Today, most of the victims of Boko Haram are Northerners. Be careful what you pray for, it may come back and haunt you.

There is hope. Look at how the political godfathers fell out of grace in Imo, Kano, Ondo, Kwara and Oyo as good prospects. Those godfathers that are sitting pretty are in for surprises because Nigerians are finally becoming sophisticated voters. They would like to believe they delivered their regions to their parties. But none of them could claim absolute power anymore after the humbling results from their backyards.

What is becoming clearer is that our politicians have no ideology, manifesto, program or the interest of their people when switching from one party that suit their voracious needs to another. When some of them had to take out loans from godfathers, banks, relatives or friends, they must pay back. In most cases, voters are left with choice between evils.

Fortunately, majority votes from the South-west saved the day in this election. It could be looked at from various or different perspectives. Buhari was popular in most Northern states, no doubt. But Nigeria constitution and laws had foreseen this dangerous trend by injecting at least 25% in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states before we can declare a President the winner. Otherwise, we could have gone back to the old parliamentary system when we had a coalition Government between the North and South.

Indeed, one of the reasons Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe gave for forming a coalition with the Northern People’s Congress rather than Action Group was to ameliorate the North and South dichotomy into unity instead of a fractional Government along regional lines of North and South. So, Balewa, formed a coalition government with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).

Whatever others might read into it, parties from the North and South made sense as Tafawa Balewa was ready to form the Opposition against NCNC/AG coalition. The fear right now is that some Northern politicians may be so ambitious and impugned, they would not concede the next Presidency to the South. Even if they do, Yoruba and Igbo would vote against one another. They still impugned the characters of one another with two Northerners for President. South-West had eggs in both parties, North-East in one.

Read also: A Post 2019 General Election Discussion

Ironically, Action Group used to be comfortable in the Opposition. Actually, all the accomplishments AG made in the West were during their time in Opposition without oil income. It must be remembered that most of the Bendel states then enjoyed the same benefits as those we now know as the West. What oil income has done is to break the fraternity within the old Western Region, indeed Nigeria. Be careful what you ask for!

Therefore, it was the East that came to the rescue of the Northern President then. Now it is the West that has come to the rescue of another Northern President. In view of the danger Northern votes without North-central and Southern votes could have cause. Western votes have preserved the same semblance of unity Azikiwe based his reasons on. This time the agitation of bad vibes in the air is thicker and getting worse than ever.

When the West was broken up, carving out Mid-West, it was called a treacherous plot to divide and conquer. Nevertheless, AG captured Bendel under Ambrose Ali as the AG Governor. This is the same complaint we hear today from our brothers and sisters in the old Eastern Region. States creation within the old Eastern block is characterized as a deliberate means of breaking and diluting the power of Ndi Igbo in unity. Just like the complaint of the West. South-south have Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa mixed in their states.

The North can also complain that the old One North One Destiny no longer exists since the breakup of the Northern Region. No time has this suspicion proven right than in this last Election for the President, when the old North lost North-central! Well, some may differ: it’s not new. Joseph Tarka had always opposed the North just as Solomon Lar. It was Lar that delivered Plateau to Zik’s NPP in addition to two Eastern states in 1979.

Aminu Kano’s NEPU and PRP was another torn in the flesh for Ahmadu Bello’s NPC because of his popularity among the Talikawa in the North. Waziri Ibrahim (Politics without Bitterness) from Borno also deserted NPC to form NPP that was later delivered on Zik’s lap by Adeniran Ogunsanya. Waziri then formed another party called GNPP. In the 1979 Election, Aminu Kanu got Kano while Waziri Ibrahim won Borno State.

Nevertheless, most people believe that Buhari is the better choice since corruption has eaten too deep into our psyche. Yet, he may lack power to honor rotation or block power grabbers from the North using Arewa Youths. These young people are used to worship elders that waste their future illegitimately. Elders use repulsive gains as personal right. So, we wonder why young agbero thugs are taking over political posts as decent youths sacrifice their lives by crossing the deserts and sea or use loved ones for rituals.

How long Buhari would stay or who he hands over power to may be torpedoed by hawks from the North capitalizing on Southern disarray to conquer. So, the Presidency may be up for grab after Buhari relinquishes power. When Yoruba was slated as Speaker to replace Olubunmi Etteh, Tambuwal ramota. When Femi Gbajabiamila was slated to be Senate President, Saraki ramota! Parties may plan, cunning men disposes!

Therefore, no matter how we look at it, the so-called minorities within the giants of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba have found their voices in numbers and they are exercising it with their political votes. Nobody, votes or state can be taken for granted anymore. The North-central and the South-south may have lost this time, they are going to determine the next President. It was the magic combination Obasanjo used for his second term.

Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa

https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/buhari-without-north-central-and-southern-votes/amp/

The widest, main and most popular street in Lagos at point was Martins Street.

It was named after one of the most prominent international trader of the time Pa Adebayo Ojo Ogun Martins. His relatives went from Ile-Ife to Oshogbo and finally settled between Oshogbo and Ogbomosho in a place called IRESA.

He planted breadfruit he brought from Brazil where the Street was named Breadfruit Street but more popular for the white satin called Aso Martin, he also brought.

He owned vast area from Ita-Aknani (Garber Square) to Breadfruit Street. He was buried in the middle of his land in 1852 which was later named Martins Street by Commander of Lagos Colony, Governor Glover. His remains was moved to where Koriko Bar was to widen the Martins Street and later moved to Garber Square.

SouthEastFacts:
Be gracious enough to indicate the name of the writer so that you won't ignite ethnic tension.

Thank you

Anyone can post a good rational article. Ignorance and lack of comprehension because lazy youths refuse to read can lead to any interpretation.

The article is not against Igbo but caution and ask for respect of the owners of the land in Abuja or Enugun.

Say who?

Abuja Is A No Man’s Land

When Abuja was being planned, it was indicated that they were looking for a neutral place, unlike Lagos or Calabar that already belonged to ethnic groups. Every Nigerian would be welcomed and there would be no domination of one group by the other. Some were wondering if a virgin place still existed in Nigeria that can be called a no man’s land as we want. We did not know that they were going to displace some natives who would be glad to move from mud huts to Government reservations or slums.

Many Nigerians who have been paying attention to the allocation of land in Abuja heard about politicians making more than one allocation to one another in the Obasanjo era. We may have to wait and see what is being allocated in Yar’Adua’s time. Babangida was the first head of State to move to Abuja, so some of the allocation started before that time.

Buried in the allocation of land to the high and the mighty is the slum surrounding Abuja. Slowly but surely, we are going to hear more of it when it erupts in the face of politicians.

We have heard about squatters that are trying to deface Abuja and the swift action of the planners who destroy the eyesore near their beautiful properties. We can’t blame them, it will lower the value of their properties and brings hoodlums too close for comfort.

Has anyone heard about how much allocation were made to others, less prominent than late Senator Kuta son of mud hut settlers? If Nigeria has anything to learn from our past, it is that one day, the educated son and daughters will demand their share of the land owned by the forefathers. We all know that Abuja itself was created like Israel by cutting space out of existing states. But I am not sure that we are doing everything to make sure some of these prime land allocations are extended to many sons and daughters of its soil.

The early settlers were the Gbagyi, Bassa, Gade, Gwadara, Koro, Ganagana, Beriberi and others. Before the ambulance chasers or lawyers start running around taking briefs as in Lagos land cases in court, one would think that our Government would anticipate trouble down the road and pre-empt any claim of injustice. Our attitude has always been to cross the river when we get there. Land is very important, not only in Nigeria but every where.

Anyone familiar with Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos of those days compare to what they are now may sympathize with them. In those days Ikoyi was designated as special Government Reservation Area for colonial civil servants and some crony Africans. But for the guts of Adelabu Adegoke who disturb their peace with gongon drummers waking him up in the morning, no crony reminded colonial masters that they do not belong. The people of Lagos are now trying to reclaim Ikoyi since it is no more an eminent domain.

Most Nigerians could have thought that politicians sliced Abuja cake amongst themselves until El Rufai then came out with a bombshell that Igbo got more allocation than others. Yeah, sure, fool us again my brother. May be they split the size of a football field into hundred pieces. The fact is the politicians from North and South took care of themselves as the probe has revealed. Believe me, there are more allocations going on right now.

We have to be careful so that these politicians do not knock our heads together as usual. When the Gbagyi owners who are the majority in Abuja come knocking for more share of their land, who are they going to go after? They should go for the throats of the politicians who are having field moments allocating to relatives. We can not rely on those potatoes allocations to different ethnic groups when the real juicy and meaty allocations go to who and who all over Nigeria. Why they were trying to divert attention away from themselves to different ethnic groups could possibly be to evade the wrath of the owners when their anger reaches a boiling point as Gbagyi were also displaced for Shiroro Dam.

In fairness to the Government, some of us working at the Federal Secretariat in the 80s were offered flat allocations as incentive to move to Abuja. Some did and some never left Lagos. Looking at what Abuja has now become, on 20/20 insight, it may have been a mistake. However, a few of us still have not regretted it. Moreover, as you get older, you just want to stay put in a familiar place.

Today, Abuja has become one of the most expensive cities in the world. Without rental income, it would be unaffordable for poor original settlers to even think about living there. If there is anything to learn from Jos Plateau area, Niger Delta area, Ife area and now Ajah in Lagos, families do not disappear into the thin air, whatever their past claim to the land .We do not have to wait until feud raises its ugly head to get a fire fighter.

Of course we already have fire all over the place and our hands are full. One will think that with a population of 140 million, we can busily engage our too many idle politicians and civil servants. Oh, they are doing their best destroying slums springing up around Abuja. We understand why we have slums around major cities around the world. These slums and Nyanya labor camp should also be called service centers, without which the major cities may not survive. That is where all the cheap laborers come from.

The cost of reaching the affluent areas if the laborers have to move far away to their jobs will eat all their pay. These are not wealthy suburban driving to the cities or taking luxury buses or go-trains. Even the wealthy ones are now groaning under the cost of traveling or the amount of petrol to fill their cars and generators.

There is something more dangerous about Abuja though; the slums surrounding it are occupied not only by other Nigerians but by Gbagyi, Bassa, Gade, Gwadara, Ganagana, Koro and Beriberi owners of the center. The amount of money sunk into Abuja, the billions of naira and dollars flowing in the City of milk and honey have not spread to these slums. That is what Nigerians call suffer-head in the midst of plenty.

Here we are asking the Government to divert more additional oil money to rebuild Niger Delta, this bobo is preaching for dormant slum militants around Abuja. Chinekeme!

A fool and his money will part if he can’t walk and chew gum. How a man manages his family, business, and environment determines how money is used to manage a country. A man on government training all his life, who has stolen all his life, or sucked others dry, will not suddenly become a skillful manager. He will display deliberate indifference.

http://www.gamji.com/article8000/NEWS8102.htm

BUHARI RE-ELECTED

By Max Bearak - Washington Post

February 26 at 6:05 PM
NAIROBI — Ni­ger­ian President Muhammadu Buhari has won a second term, according to final results published by the Independent National Electoral Commission late Tuesday, in a vote that was marred by large-scale violence and delays. Before the results were announced, the spokesman for the main opposition claimed to have evidence the vote was rigged.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks to the media after casting his vote in his hometown of Daura, in northern Nigeria, on Feb. 23. (Ben Curtis/AP)

Buhari, 76, is a former military general who briefly held power in 1984 and 1985 following a coup. He is seen by his supporters as relatively untainted by the corruption that plagues politics in Africa’s most populous nation. A sluggish economy recovered slightly during his first term, but almost a quarter of the workforce remains unemployed and about half of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

Buhari has been lauded for his progress against the decade-old Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, which has killed more than 10,000 and displaced millions, but 2018 saw a return to levels of violence not seen in years.

His main challenger was Atiku Abubakar, a business tycoon and former vice president. Abubakar’s party called for reruns of the polls in four states and said it would challenge the election commission’s numbers in court. According to the official results, Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party received 41 percent of votes cast, compared with 56 percent for Buhari’s All Progressives Congress.

Buhari supporters pour sparkling wine as they wait for the results to be announced in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday. (Jerome Delay/AP)

Past elections in Nigeria have triggered tremendous violence, mostly because of contested results. After the 2011 elections, more than 800 were killed.

The lead-up to Saturday’s election was marked by clashes between supporters of rival politicians. Independent monitoring groups have said more than 250 were killed in election-related violence, including about 50 on and since election day.

Nigerian police said on Tuesday that 128 people had been arrested for suspected election-related offenses, including ballot box-snatching, vote-trading and impersonation.

The election was first scheduled for a week earlier, but the election commission postponed the vote just five hours before polls opened because of “logistical and operational” unpreparedness. On Saturday, many polling stations still opened late.

The delay likely depressed voter turnout, according to observer groups. In Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, for instance, fewer than 1 in 5 registered voters cast ballots. Turnout was higher in northern states where Buhari has a passionate following. Buhari won more than 90 percent of the vote in Borno state, where Boko Haram is most active.

Nigeria transitioned to democracy in 1999 after decades of military rule. The relative peacefulness of this year’s election has been seen as a sign of maturation in Nigeria’s democracy by some, although the fact that Buhari and Abubakar belong to the same religion and ethnic community likely played a major role in limiting potential tension.

Buhari appealed to voters not to stop his “moving train,” which he said was gathering momentum to combat Nigeria’s mounting crises. Critics have questioned whether Buhari has the requisite energy, given that he spent almost half of 2017 in a London hospital battling an undisclosed illness and has publicly pushed back at allegations he uses a body double.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/muhammadu-buhari-reelected-as-nigerias-president-after-a-vote-marked-by-delays-and-clashes/2019/02/26/75b91f22-2d8b-11e9-8781-763619f12cb4_story.html?utm_term=.25eff680062e



Buhari supporters dance to Lady Gaga songs as they wait for the results Tuesday. (Jerome Delay/AP)

How many times and how much evidence do scholars have to submit before Edo bow to their Yoruba masters as their source of civilization?

Don't you get it?

It is because Ile-Binu is Yoruba

goalernestman:
1 history can be written but pictures will be difficult to

2 and also i think Yoruba have their own staff i see one with oni of ife why can them transfer some to all this kings using benin staff

this is lagos king and the king of Ondo State using ada and eben of benin empire staff of office

Edo people strong o.

Na soso mouth dem dey take capture their neighbors from Igbo land to Yoruba land to the whole south.

E don reach the whole Nigeria self. Small small dem go capture the whole of Africa. Abi the world sef.

Clap for unaselves ���

[quote]How can we be trained in foreign culture and not desire foreign products? The other side of the discussion is that if African countries have to grow and prosper, they do not have to reinvent the wheel. We need foreign technologies to develop. We must seek and pay for them, no matter the cost until we develop our own. This happen to be a fair point but we have been importing pins, pencils and machineries since Independence!/quote]

Economic & Environmental Justice For Africa

Africans lost their wealth while pursuing riches. You can be wealthy without necessarily being rich as long as you have enough to feed your family or country without handouts and outside income to survive. Riches means more income above and beyond necessities. You can still be wealthy beyond basic need for food, shelter and sex as long as you are contented with your way of life. Agriculture no matter how great a country, still remains the most important survival skill on earth. Always used as weapon by rich countries.

Gold and silver that Africa has in abundance in reserve, were considered secure saving; hoarded and displayed as ornaments without the need to sell. They were transferred from one generation to the next as a symbol of family wealth. We noticed this culture of wealth generally in world history and in African history particularly. This is why Mansa Kaka Musa and Queen of Sheba remain the richest man and woman of all times.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/914599/economic-environmental-justice-for-africa.html#

However, our definition of wealth has changed into riches beyond our means when they replaced trade by barter with “hard” international currencies and we accepted. Abandonment of the gold standard created one of the casualties by manipulations. It only worked very well for the continued domineering of the weak by the powerful, they lord over the serfs, the farm owners over the workers and finally the subtle threat of war over weaker countries.

If you think money can make you wealthy or even rich, think about all the money Nigeria made from oil and what their rich managers did with it. Today, if there is one point Nigerians agree on; it is that the oil money was a curse on the Country! When we take all the years it has taken us buying and displaying what we need and all we do not need, our wants became “feferities” or show-off as riches. We wasted years, resources and the income.

Other African countries must learn from Nigeria. One of the leaders claimed in the early seventies that money was not the problem but how to spend it. Another one of the ministers in the 80s said: Americans pick food from the garbage but only crazy Nigerians would do that. Today there are children and families living on environmental dumps.

While wealthy Africans were looking for western riches, they became indentured to Western and Asian countries. After Independence in the 50s and 60s, Africa has nothing to show for its wealth in natural resources but multiple debts sinking Africa further into odious loans from the Europeans, Americans and now Chinese. If you are wondering how we got here, think about the work of Cesar Chavez in North America or better still Kwame Nkrumah on Neo-colonization.

Those of us that remember Cesar Chavez, a lawyer that worked with poor migrants in American farms, know that by the time these workers paid for their food and lodging, they had nothing left from their salaries. Many of them even owed and their wives and kids indentured. The same is true today between African and rich countries. The tough work Africans shun at home, they do abroad. If Africans and South Americans provide slave labor in Europe and Americas, we could provide paid labor in our countries.

Africa has the most arable land of all the continents. American corporations like Monsanto, Europeans and now Chinese are buying land for agribusiness. The same land Africans refused to till at home are been sold in Zimbabwe dollars (after devaluation and Structural Adjustment). The crops that are grown in Africa are dictated and sold worldwide to the highest bidders while we import their food. Yet Africa cannot feed itself.

If you want to dispossess a people, a country or a continent; replace their basic needs and taste, exchange these with exotic ones like food, automobiles and plastics. Turn foreign food into their immediate needs: replace cassava or corn bread with wheat bread. The best way to subdue a people or a country is to make them starve on their acquired tastes and food.

It will generate internal revolts against their rulers, relent to the terms and conditions of their foreign masters as in Devaluation, Structural Adjustment and more. Countries without ways of providing local food for themselves have fallen, not only because of climate change that we blame most: others have found methods of growing food in the most inhospitable environment employing African or poor slave labor by old crude revitalized technology.

We have to bring up a conversation between Mwalimu Nyerere and President Reagan on his visit to the White House. President Reagan made the point that if you give a man fish, you have to do it every day. But if you teach a man how to fish, he will feed forever. Mwalimu answered him kindly. If a man bought a tractor with a ton of cocoa in 1950 and bought that tractor with two ton of cocoa in 1960; only to buy the same tractor in 1970 with three tons of cocoa! Haba!

Another way of making the same point is when foreigners fish in the waters of the West Indies or Africa. Canned fish sold back to you for ten times of what they bought the same fish. Or if you sell them beans and they canned it with some sugar water and label them as baked beans. The same is true for corned beef most of which were mostly imported until recently. Even then, we still import used, stale and expired goods killing our local agribusiness.

How can we be trained in foreign culture and not desire foreign products? The other side of the discussion is that if African countries have to grow and prosper, they do not have to reinvent the wheel. We need foreign technologies to develop. We must seek and pay for them, no matter the cost until we develop our own. This happen to be a fair point but we have been importing pins, pencils and machineries since Independence!

This is not history. It is still going on right now. Ask an average African what he considers to be wealth or riches, most of them are exotic products that are neither made nor manufactured in his community. Someone put it bluntly from what you step on, sleep on, eat, drink in your house to what you wear and ride to work are probably mostly foreign products.

When we examine our educational system, at some point we come to realize how heavily the system is skewed against our food and culture. Growing up in high schools, we were not allowed to speak our languages (vernacular) and some of us took pride in not learning local languages. This is not history because right now, rich parent and their children do not speak their local language to one another. It is either French, English or Portuguese in this 20s.

If we were crawling with our local civilization, we would be ahead and better off by now.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Saturday, February 9, 2019

Thank you sir for the info.

I wish you could have told us he was innocent or had stepped down after the excess millions he could not account for.

Nope, this is the Chief Justice that presided over the code of conduct that once a judge is accused, he must step down until he is cleared.

So that does not included him!

pchukwudi:
The main issue is that we are deliberately being misinformed by the government. And they are doing this wickedly mainly because the judiciary cannot speak up for themselves in the media.

1) We were not told that the millions of dollars being mentioned were the total amount of money that passed through those accounts over the YEARS. However, the government and its cohorts in the media made you and many others think that the whole money was lumped into the said accounts. Wrong.

2) We were not explicitly told that the man had actually filed the initially omitted declaration since 2016 when he became the CJN. That was over 2 years ago. Yet, you and many people are deliberately made to think that the CJN was caught last week hiding his assets. Wrong.


3) We were not told that the rule is that when an official admits to an error in asset declaration (as the CJ did), HE OR SHE SHALL NOT BE TAKEN TO THE TRIBUNAL. What's needed here is to simply update the form with the omitted information. But the government is not doing it, because they are actually not interested in following the law. All they want is to cling to power by all means - even if it means destroying our democracy and setting the country ablaze.


4) We were not told that the CCT was not a regular court and was not set up to try corruption cases. In fact, the government is not telling us that, by its ordination status, CCT is NOT under the judiciary but UNDER THE EXECUTIVE. Can you imagine that? The executive arm using its own agency to unitarily suspend the head of another and totally independent arm of government. Ludicrous!


Finally, this is not the first time. This is exactly the same thing that happened last year when the executive tried to use the DSS to change the leadership of the National Assembly. They sacked the DSS director when the mission failed and there was a huge backlash? But have you heard anything about his prosecution up till date? No. How about those that took the maze from the senate prior to the DSS attack? Any prosecutions? Nope.

That should tell you something about this executive.

This nonsense has certainly turned into something else not the real issue of corruption.

Some people do not care if Nigeria is bled to death by corruption. It will achieve their goal.

PRES. BUHARI v. C.J.N ONNOGHEN: SELF INFLICTED WOUNDS

President Buhari is in hot water over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and rightly so. There is a clear demarcation of power here between these two branches of Government. What is also true is that the Chief Justice has broken the sanctity of trust placed in him, not only as the Chief Justice but by the people of Nigeria. No reasonable polity would have him continue in this position with these undisputed allegations.

While nobody is guilty until so proven in the court of law, judges must adhere to higher standard. This could have been handled by the judicial branch of Government without interference from the President, since the Chief Justice refused to step down temporarily. Senate cannot appoint the acting Chief Justice, Buhari would have to initiate and still have to designate the acting Chief Justice anyway. Confirmation process is for the Senate.

We are now left conflating, debating and fighting to distinguish between form and substance. Whatever the case, corruption in the highest places and how to deal with it by due process do frustrate the common man that hardly get the same opportunity for minor infractions.

These steps were certainly mishandled by the Presidency rushing in haste like a dictator. We live in a country where ethnic, political, economic corruption and favoritisms are very strong. It is difficult enough navigating each of these and imprudent to lump all together in the face of the coming election. One factor we can be sure about is that even if each step is handle perfectly, ethnic sentiment from “my people” always plays its role.

If the Presidency had handled the corruption and political aspects very well, ethnic jingoism could have fallen flat on cynics as hypocrisy. One would have expected a few cool heads including Vice President Osinbajo and Prof. Itse Sagay to prevail and advise Buhari’s team to follow reasonable steps. Unless they were hastily overruled by the so called cabals looking for opportunity to assert their power for the coming election.

In that case, they have played into the hands of ethnic supporters like themselves but more important, alienated reasonable people expecting the rule of law to prevail. Regardless of the fact that the National Judicial Council that should have handled the suspension was headed by the Chief Justice. Those that are against corruption, favoritism and ethnic sympathizers have no choice but to speak out when the normal rule of law or administrative process seemed to be hastily bypassed.

Nevertheless, it is undisputed that Chief Justice Onnoghen forgot to disclose millions in properties and savings as charged in Code of Conduct Tribunal.

That he had presided over the same National Judicial Council that stipulated accused judicial officers should step down until their cases have been resolved.

That he postponed NJC meeting indefinitely in his own case and refused to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal until Appeal Court rules.
The Ex Parte order from the courts to remove the Chief Justice has been abused in the past resulting in the compulsory retirement of Justice Stanley Nnaji and Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo for orders removing Chris Ngige as Governor of Anambra State.

Moreover, the Supreme Court had faulted the process Bukola Saraki as Governor of Kwara State, used in the removal of the Chief Judge of his State.

We must also remember how former President Jonathan mishandled the open rift between the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the Appeal Court in 2011. It was ugly because after the Chief Justice of the Appeal Court was vindicated, he still lost his post anyway. We did not see ethnic sympathy then because many Nigerians were divided but the Yoruba did not champion the side of the Chief Justice Ayo Salami.
When Justice Ademola was exposed with millions of local and foreign currencies in his house well beyond his means, he could not get the support or sympathy of his Yoruba ethnic group. A rogue is a rogue no matter his ethnicity, status and station in life: nobody is above the law. The Judiciary is corrupt like all levels of the society and somebody has to bring them to their senses. You cannot shout and hide behind democracy and the rule of law when caught red-handed, when hungry common folks are lynched for stealing food in the market.

ll these judges throwing cases in favor of the highest bidder cannot withstand the rigor of justice and fairness that must be preserved and upheld even in the countries where democracy is practiced. Yet, Buhari Administration has bungled up a process he could have justifiably used to buttress his fight against corruption. A message that should have been popularly received in most quarters as sincere.

If we are looking at the country our Presidential system is modelled after, we may look at how Chief Judge of Alabama Roy Moore that disobey a lower court order and Florida Judge Alcee Hasting in bribery, were removed for their infractions. But then, this is Nigeria and every case is different

Even in the states, Buhari’s team must not think they can repeat the same victory in this coming election because they won the last time around since they have Osinbajo and Tinubu from the West. They must be reminded; not only of Jonathan’s mistakes but of the unexpected victory of Pa Odetola as the Governor of Lagos State when AD Party thought they had Lagos State in their back pocket already.

It is not too late to rectify this self-inflicted wounds Buhari Government and Chief Justice Onnoghen created on each side. The Chief Justice must be seen above par as a citizen and as a reputable jurist. There should not have been any disagreement between reasonable minds on this particular factor. Nobody should be saved based on his ethnicity or political affiliation. This is the problem we have in Africa as a whole.

Moreover, it could have been decent or “politically correct” to spread recent appointees across the country. The acting Chief of Police was recently announced and now the acting Chief Justice. While Buhari may be solidifying his base to prevent a repeat of the palace coup against him by Babangida in 1985, many Southerners still have their suspicion that he is a religious and ethnic champion.

What most Nigerians agree on is that Buhari is conscientiously against corruption. This may give him an edge but you do not take chances, make unforced errors or create self-inflicted wounds this close to an election that is so important to your interest. The fact that his political alternative is worse may not overcome the zealousness and penchant pursuit of opponents. Buhari may have mellowed, but the team around him are still dogmatic as ever.

Bottom line, if it takes a devil to clean up Nigeria, so be it. Nigeria would bleed to death if vagabonds are allowed to use due process to delay justice each time they are caught red-handed in the cookie jar. All the excuses that if you are corrupt, you can only seek equity with clean hands is in the land of angels. KAI not in Nigeria O!

Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa
Source https://m.thenigerianvoice.com/news/275091/pres-buhari-v-cjn-onnoghen-self-inflicted-wounds.html

I think the children of Ogiso have finally surrendered after so many historiographical evidence destroyed their novel hypothesis of clinging their only pathway to fame: OBA

If you want to stand on the shoulder of the giant you do not abuse the privileged.

Without OBA, you will be relegated to the bottom of history.

Deleted

The best way to solve all the recent rancorous argument between children of Ogiso and Yoruba is to erase Bini and Oba from your culture and start teaching us about the accomplishment of Ogiso before Oba.

Destroy the worship and celebrations of Ogun, Osun etc and ban Yoruba names from Bini heritage.

The Bini that were accepted in Lagos see themselves as Yoruba. If Bini claim they are not Yoruba, they have undercut and remove themselves from Lagos and other Yoruba heritage.

Everyone can then exist peacefully in their own domain.

Shagari Overthrow By Buhari Was Celebrated

Shehu Shagari was certainly a peace loving Democrat while in government(s). He headed some departments before he became a consensus Presidential candidate for the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979. But we also saw another part of Shagari during the election campaign for his second term in 1983. He might be humble and not had been crafty himself since he was surrounded by men desperate to hang on to power in the second term.

Shagari allowed the hawks in his party, NPN to take advantage of his gentility. As a reluctant consensus candidate for President in his first term, he was willing to serve only a term. NPN was going to rotate the Presidency every term between North and South to erase distrust and retain the newly acquired democracy so that there would be no opportunity for the military to come back. Come back, they did in December 1983.

Moshood Abiola counted on rotation promise in 1979 and invested heavily in his Party, NPN. Abiola’s Newspaper, The Concord took every chance they had to blast the Opposition parties, especially Unity Party of Nigeria and its leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Abiola and Dele Giwa, the Editor of Concord Newspaper always had derogatory remarks about Awolowo so much that some Yoruba leaders cautioned Abiola, to prevent the repeat of Awolowo/Akintola problem.

NPN came to power in the first place after the controversial interpretation of what was the definition of two third of Nigeria’s nineteen states before a party could claim the mandate after an election to avoid a runoff between two leading parties. Chief Richard Akinjide, NPN Chief legal Counsel interpreted Nigeria's two-third as three quarters of a state rather than a whole state prevailed; 13 out of 19 states proponents lost.

It was a contentious case between UPN and NPN since NPP only won Anambra, Imo and Plateau with the support of Solomon Lar. NPN won Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Gongola, Kaduna, Kwara, Niger and Sokoto. UPN won in Bendel, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo. Nevertheless, none of the parties had enough spread between North and South. The alliance could have been formed if the two leading parties went into runoff.

UPN claimed NPN had not obtain the 13 states needed to prevent a runoff under the Constitution. Though NPN won more out of the total 19 states then, they would not take the risk of inconclusive election and go toe to toe with UPN again. Even Nigerians were divided on the interpretation of two third and if a state could be so divided. The Supreme Court finally decided in favor of NPN and its legal Chief Counsel, Akinjide.

General Olusegun Obasanjo, the Strongman that handed the transfer of Military Government to civilians, was eager to leave after the bloody coup that killed his leader General Murtala Muhammed who he succeeded. Moreover, he was not inclined to hand over to a man, like Chief Awolowo that promised to probe the Military Government if he had won. What a politician, eh?

The old military mentality under Gen Aguiyi Ironsi after Nzeogwu Coup that came to sanitize the government had changed when we saw locally assembled Peugeot cars used as official vehicles replaced with Mercedes Benz. Contracts from the Military Government had become fronts for joint partnerships between military boys and civilians. The militricians no longer lived in the Army Barracks, they moved to Government Reserve Area like the politicians.

This corruption that later stunk to high heavens was the main mission that the coup of Mohammed/Obasanjo came in to eradicate. Mohammed forfeited his loot from the War to the Government and Obasanjo left Office only to become broke. Those were days we may not see again because Obasanjo came back later as a civilian President in 1999 to recoup what he forgot or left behind as a military President: loot.

Indeed, General Gowon had boasted after the War, that money was not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it. In a way, he was right because they spent it like a drunken sailor. Umaru Dikko under Shagari will forever be remembered for his statement that nobody was suffering in Nigeria and challenged anybody to point to a sane man in Nigeria picking anything from the trash on the street as the poor did in America!

By the time Shagari took over in 1979 from Obasanjo, corruption reared its ugly head again. All the financial prudence implement after the war when Awolowo had been the Finance Minister under Gowon in the late 60s went through the window. Nigeria no longer farmed, manufactured or assembled vehicles since oil money was flowing like honey and wara that could easily pay for imports.

Akinjide that became Attorney General in Shagari Government, labelled Awolowo as a Prophet of Doom because Awo had warned Nigerians against corruption, reckless spending and senseless imports by Shehu Shagari Government. All measured put in place to conserve foreign income were relax in favor of imports from toothpicks to pins. Awo’s caution was dismissed.

Nigerians could not wait for the following election to throw out the prodigal sons of a she-dog. Shagari ministers were dividing contracts and properties among themselves. Some were even bragged and celebrated becoming U.S dollars or pounds Billionaires abroad. Chei, unheard of!

When 1983 Election came. NPN rigged massively returning Shagari to power. People were dumbfounded and could not believe that their disapproval against corruption was taken for granted. More important, it had not registered in their votes. The same people praising Buhari after his death and blaming Buhari now, were celebrating when Buhari struck. Who else could have overthrown Hausa head of Government bloodlessly but Buhari?

There are many speculations why Buhari and Idiagbon struck but Nigerians were relieved! While it is true that Buhari was known as a religious fanatic, his abhorrence for corruption was not in doubt. Buhari and Idiagbon lived up to their reputation. They sanitized the polity and Government. Operation War Against Indiscipline, WAI was entrenched and discipline returned to the polity. Yes, we also paid a price of lack of civil liberty but had financial discipline.

Shey na demon-crazy we go chop? If anything, Buhari/Idiagbon were too drastic and civil organizations accused Buhari and Idiagbon of extreme dictatorship. Some claimed that people were disappearing in the name of Idiagbon overnight. Actually the mere mention of Idiagbon was enough to form an orderly queue no matter where you were. Even police and civil servants were afraid to take bribes on the road or anywhere else.

While Idiagbon was in Mecca on pilgrimage, Babangida and Abacha struck. The reason they did, according to speculation, was that Babangida drug dealing, contracts and loot were about to be exposed. Buhari was ready to deal with him after his case was discussed within the military cabinet leadership. Someone leaked it to Babangida and he overthrew Buhari.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2019
https://www.modernghana.com/news/907954/shagari-overthrow-by-buhari-was-celebrated.html#

Some ladies have sincerely complained about too big a dick. Others do not mind it once a while. But the lady may be taking it until she found a convenient exit.

The best way to take it if it is too big is from a position a bit far from the real thing. Like from the back if farther away or front if further back.

No need to inconvenient yourself over something you want regularly. Settled for the size you can deal with taking longevity into consideration.

Thank me later and if interested, lessons are available ��� Joking

If you have any decency, you would read the article carefully and read the author other articles on Ndi Igbo.

But ignorance has blinded your sense of fairness.

EasternActivist:
They can never let Igbos be...

The op afonja will find a way to attach Igbos to the headline for stupiid attentions.

Igbo Must Not Become Political Football In Lagos

There is a growing rift between Yoruba and Igbo in Lagos. It will be sheer folly to dismiss the obvious. But the way to solve it is by appealing to your intellect, not scary political tactics against your neighbors. Sincere sensible people must discuss problems openly and look for solutions. Leaving it in the hands of politicians only, will make matter worse. There are growing nationalism, ethno phobic and xenophobia sentiments worldwide.

Some parties have ridden it to power only to find out politicians are just after their selfish gains. Africa is not isolated from the rest of the world and Africans have been prosecuted and persecuted everywhere including within our own Continent. This has driven many communities to look for salvation within their own communities. At the same time, it has driven a wedge between brothers and sister that had gotten along.

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/newsthread/273738/70442#showcomments

A case in point was the enmity that sprung its ugly head around Warri where innocent folks cried that - my people are killing my people. These were families that had married into Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw families, falling apart especially during the oil and land locations. We also have the Aguleri and Umuleri just as the Ife and Modakeke clash. The North has been embroiled in tumult for years between Hausa, Fulani and minorities.

Therefore ill feeling towards other group, no matter how close is not new. But we must learn from past cases and solve our differences amicable without resorting to violence. There is no place more accommodating in Nigeria than Lagos. Any African that have lived there would tell you that. This was how we grew up and even pride ourselves on the tolerance of individuals from other areas.

It cannot be said often enough that Lagosians are taught that when a stranger enters Lagos at dawn; before dusk he would be fed, clothed and given a place to sleep. It may sound strange these days but that was Lagos. The Yoruba culture and Oriki are very strong in Lagos despite foreign influence. After all, that is their land. Indeed, some of the problems have been generated by anyone disputing this established fact sarcastically.

The difference between Lagos of those days and Lagos of today has to do with how those that were not Yoruba were humble and welcomed. It was easy for them to assimilate because they were willing and ready to work hard and further the interest of their community. Indeed, we never knew that some of our friends’ parents were Igbo, Ghanaians, Togolese or Hausa until we got older.

A friend of ours had to go to the East to pay his mother’s dowry after his father got old and passed. Boy, he paid fines, penalty and interest on his old mother for his late father. We never even knew his mother was Igbo when we were growing up. So many of the compounds from Isale-Eko to Bamgbose had Africans from different states in Nigeria and African countries living in them without any problem.

Yes, we now have population explosion and Lagos is crowded. But it is not the reason to leave solution in the hands of politicians alone. They are looking for votes and will do anything to garner the votes of the community that is receptive to their hyperbole. We have to be careful so that politicians do not project their failures over so many years of misrule on our ethnic differences. Community has to get involved in solving problems.

It will be naive to claim there are no devils on each side fermenting trouble, tormenting the other side or outright impunity in one another’s faces. There are exaggerations that cannot be backed up by factual statistics. But it works in the minds of those that want to believe them. Any party in power for several years can no longer sugar coat its abysmal failure by claiming to be one eye savior in the land of the blinds.

In the meantime, politicians are converting resources, contracts and foreign loans into their pockets and to foreign accounts while the people fight over crumbs. You have to understand that politicians are willing to drive a hot shaft through their own mother if it will satisfy their greed and avarice. The populace see this and they become desperate, willing to do anything to get rich including using their mother and children for rituals.

Please we still have decent people in our communities. Actually reasonable folks still make up the majority of the people in our states. However, the minority with evil intentions and goals are so indifferent, they are willing to do anything necessary to achieve their goals. This includes manipulating the people to their advantages. When they label their fellow citizens bogies in the same country, they have a purpose.

It has got to the stage where proud and decent people known for their integrity, legacy and achievement have suddenly succumbed to stomach infrastructure. A hungry man is an angry man, so politicians have tailored their plan into stealing from the majority while feeding a few that will be compliant with their wishes. They distribute your money to those few that obey their instructions; as kingmakers choosing who they want to crown.

People are not stupid and they know this trick very well. However, if they are left with a choice of devils, the one they know and the one they do not know, they choose the one they know. Let us be sincere with ourselves, some of these politicians have entrenched themselves into the game for a long time and they will hang on to power by any means. All they have to do is point to whoever they demonize and ask you to make a choice.

Most of us are not stupid but so many are hungry in a country that used to flow with milk and honey. The stomach infrastructure will last the poor for another day, another year or four years. Until we realize we are being taken for a ride. We repeat the same mistakes every four years. Politicians celebrate behind your back because their chicanery works every election year.

There are naming ceremonies for everything: When they read a budget full of promises, commission a road, open the same road, pay “modulated” salaries, pension after owing for months. However, their own salaries, padded allowance and loot never ceased. Nowhere, no magic or miracle can fill a basket with water, no matter how competent they claim to be. Deal with your hosts, brothers, sisters and neighbors on their merit not fear.

Do not let fear, used to scare you like bogeyman overwhelm your judgment of what they achieve during their several years in power. Do not be fooled, no government in any part of the Country or in the world for that matter, would open its community wide for others to overwhelm them. Claiming that one party would let others turn you into slaves in this days, in your own home is nothing short of hyperbolic nonsense.

Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa

The difference between Ajepaki and Ajebuta:

Children are encultured in foreign behaviors luring them away from their parents. Parents and children can no longer understand one another since they communicate in foreign languages they have no deep knowledge of like primary speakers. No matter how fluent is your Queen’s English or bourgeoisie Parisian, there are native speakers better than you. It only deepens the cultural shocks between children and their parents.