₦airaland Forum

[/quote][quote author=inspiragh link=topic=335094.msg4752873#msg4752873 date=1255799381]I've decided to stop voting till our INEC and de entire electorial process is reformed starting wit de removal of prof. Iwu as INEC president

I feel you, my brother. If the electoral law is not reviewed to make our votes count, it will be futile to stand in the sun or rain to vote. But since it is clear that PDP's muscles are not strong in Lagos, I will break that rule to return Fashola in 2011.

Yar'Adua is a huge disappointment. In 2003, Anambra people did not vote for Ngige, yet he ensured that he left some marks in 2 years before the real owner of the mandate reclaimed his mandate. But Yar'Adua is not even making efforts to make us forget that he was never elected by us, but that OBJ and Maurice Iwu simply allocated some figures to him and declared him the winner. May God help us.

Are Igbo really asking for secession or justice in Nigeria?

I think the pain of the Igbo stems from the dilemma that unlike other ethnic groups who hardly invest in places outside their region, they have always believed in one Nigeria. So when they were massacred, esp in the north, over a coup they were not party to, they felt that they were no longer safe in Nigeria. If the then Head of State Ironsi and some other Igbo rulers were killed in that counter-coup, it could have been understood as just revenge. But the massacre was planned and systematically executed by soldiers in military barracks; then civilians took over and went from house to house killing and burning men, women and children who had been their friends and neighbours in cold blood, while the govt looked the other way. Igbo saw and still see it as a plan to wipe them out of Nigeria, and a clear sign that they were not wanted in Nigeria. After the Aburi Accord was breached by Gowon, they felt that if the Accord could be breached, then they could no longer trust Nigeria to protect them.

The dilemma of the Igbo these days is that having lost the war and having been forced back into Nigeria, they are still regularly massacred and told to go home. Even in Western Nigeria where they are not killed, the Igbo are constantly told directly or indirectly to go home. A people said they wanted to leave a union because of injustice, and they were massacred and brought back. Yet any time they make efforts to integrate themselves into Nig by investing in other parts of Nig, they are resented, accused of domination and told to go home. If there is One Nigeria, why should a NIGERIAN not be free to settle down in any part of Nigeria and look for his daily bread in peace?

Nigerians buy lands in other parts of Nigeria and are protected by the law. Nigerians live in the US, UK, etc and are even voted into offices. Yet a NIGERIAN buying land within Nigeria is accused of wanting to buy out the whole state; a Nigerian paying for a shop to do his biz is accused of domination. Were the plots of land seized by force by the Igbo? Were the shops stolen by Igbo men and women? Someone sells his land or even swamp (like in the Ojo area of Lagos), you pay him in full, pay the omo nile money, and build a house on that piece of land (or swamp); then you are accused of domination. There are so many plots of land in Igbo for sale. All human beings, including non-Nigerians, are free to buy them, and nobody will ever disturb you, as long as you did not steal the land. If anyone attacks you as a settler or stranger in Igbo land, the whole community will fight for you and defend you.

The truth is that deep down the heart of Igbo people, they are not looking for secession. They know that they can excel in biz and academics, so they want a just Nigeria where they can rise to whatever level they want without hindrance. It is the frustration they face daily in the contradictions in Nig that make some people talk about secession.

Igbo don't want to take over Nigeria. Igbo don't hate Nigeria. Igbo don't hate other ethnic groups. Igbo don't want to take over the oil in the Niger Delta (They believe that without oil they can survive). It is just that they cannot understand why they are always being treated as non-Nigerians or inferior Nigerians in a land that they fought hard to secure independence for.

The truth is that given the huge investments Igbo make in all parts of Nigeria and the development they help to engineer in places outside their region, unlike other ethnic groups, no ethnic group believes in One Nigeria more than the Igbo.

There is no denying that if an egalitarian Nigeria ia allowed to be, Nigeria and Nigerians will all move into the 21st century with the rest of the world. An egalitarian Nigeria will also make Nigerians believe strongly in Nigeria like the Americans and Israelis. I pray to see such a Nigeria in my lifetime. God bless Nigeria!

@ Abagworo, did you just know through Mobolaji Johnson's interview in Sat Sun that Rivers State was created to pull the rug off Ojukwu's (Biafra's) feet?
M. Johnson called it a masterstroke, and that was what it was. It was a tactical move by Gowon govt to ensure that the whole of the old East Nig was not in support of Biafra. Such tactical moves are not criminal. There are some other examples in Nig:

1. Before 1963 the Midwest was part of Western Nig. It was carved out in 1963 to weaken the hold of Awolowo on that region.
2. Around 1992 there were rumours that IBB would rename UNN after Nnamdi Azikiwe and rename UniAbuja the University of Nig.  We the Lions and Lionesses were very angry at such an alleged move, given that IBB was known to be a Maradona. Dr Ezeife (Okwadike Igbo-ukwu, gov of Anambra, came up with a masterstroke: he named Asutech (Anambra State-owned uni) Nnamdi Azikiwe University. That destroyed any plan to rename UNN after Zik. Ezeife did not stop there: he later lamented to IBB in 1993 when he visited Anambra that of all the founding fathers of Nig, (Awo, Bello, Balewa, etc), only Zik was named after a state-owned uni. So IBB later made NAU a federal uni so as not to be seen as insulting Zik with a state-owned university. Ezeife, therefore, achieved two milestones by being intelligent, tactical and strategic.

So such moves are made to win your "opponent." But I have my reservations about some of M. Johnson's comments on Aburi, secession etc in that interview, but that may not be the thrust of this thread.

Before you start reading meanings into my comments, let it be clear that I am an Igbo man - born and bred, and proud of that heritage. Peace.

There are also a few truths that must be accepted in Nigeria:

1. That the Igbo are loud, noisy and proud. (That is the way they are; you can’t change it. Americans are like that too.)

2. That Igbo are the most hospitable and fair and like to make non-indigenes feel at home. (I once worked in a company where the MD was an Igbo man from the same state. He never spoke Igbo to me all my years in that company, although he always spoke Yoruba to all the Yoruba people in the office. In my hometown the biggest mosque was built by the gate of the central church by the Hausa settlers. Nobody bothered the Moslems for one day. It can’t happen in the North. In my class at UNN, we had one Hausa and one Yoruba. We made sure that both of them got Dept positions when it was the turn of my set to produce the dept officers. There has not been one incident of Igbo killing or burning the property of non-Igbo settlers because of any misunderstanding. The time it happened was a couple of years ago in Aba, Onitsha etc in retaliation to the several Igbo killed in the North without any provocation)

3. The Yoruba are accommodating to a large extent, even when they are not comfortable with the progress the Igbo make in their land. They don’t kill Igbo or burn Igbo property.

4. Igbo are very enterprising. They become successful too fast and this annoys their hosts. (In Yoruba land, the Ijebu are like that, and they are ridiculed by other Yoruba as stingy and too money-conscious)

5. Hausa are the most intolerant of all Nigerians and have created ethnic tension more than any other group – attacking Igbo because of even a carton done in Denmark, raping and killing an NYSC lady because she wore trousers, killing a teacher for seizing a Koran (unknowingly) from which a student was copying in an examination, etc. There have been many of such senseless and unwarranted attacks, which successive govts have not done much against)

6. Igbo are hated most by all other ethnic groups because they are usually the second largest ethnic group after the owners of the land. They are always seen as wanting to take over the place where they settle, even though they do not use force or political power but money to buy property.

7. All ethnic groups in Nig suspect other ethnic groups.
8. Igbo have helped to develop all Nigerian cities.

9. Any land that don’t allow visitors to come in and invest does not progress. That is why Dubai is great. USA is doing the Visa lottery to get in cheaper manpower into their nation and grow their economy and maintain their lead in the world.

10. Nigeria has been retrogressing because merit is always sacrificed on the altar of nepotism and tribalism.

11. The gum that is binding the ethnic groups today is that which comes from OIL. If the oil in Nig dries up today, every region would want to be on its own.

12. We practise more of unitarianism today, where every state is dependent on the FG. The reason why Ahmadu Bello sent Balewa to be the Prime Minister in 1960 was because the Region was stronger than the Centre then, or was very attractive and powerful. A country that has so many ethnic groups that don’t trust each other cannot progress on the type of govt we run today. That is why there is too much laziness and corruption.

13. If after 40 years of war, this level of distrust, hate and acrimony continue, then our future is already decided in the negative.

14. If we pull our human resources together, we should be competing with China today. And we can still do it if we do the right things.

May God bless you all.

I am an Igbo man. Some great points have been made here but I hate it when people use insulting words on others, no matter the provocation. Obama countered every lie peddled against him swiftly and firmly without insulting the racists and bigots that peddled them, even the most vicious lie. That was what made him different from those racists and haters and made him appealing and respected. You can never win a person over with words like “slowpoke, stupid, idiot, etc.” Ask Dale Carnegie (author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.)

T[b]here are a few wrong assumptions in Nigeria that have been ingrained in the system over the years:[/b]

1. [center]That Ojukwu seceded because of ambition. (Following the massacre of Igbos in the north for several months and the failure of Gowon to execute the Aburi agreement, if he had not declared the secession, he would have been killed. Remember that Ojukwu was the son of the richest man in Nigeria then and had so much to lose if a war was fought.)

2. That without petroleum Nigeria would not survive in the world (Before oil was discovered, Nigeria was richer than it is now. Oil has been a curse. Every part of Nig would survive, oil or not)

3. That the Yoruba are cowards and traitors (Yorubas have fought fearlessly against dictatorship and impunity in this country more than any other ethnic region – Gani, Soyinka, Adesanya, Ajasin, Beko, Falana, Fela, etc. They have been content to be in the opposition on several occasions.)

4. That Hausa contribute nothing to the economy. [Before oil, the North had the groundnut pyramids, etc (agriculture), the West cocoa, the East coal and palm oil, the Midwest plywood, etc. Even now the bulk of Nigerian foodstuffs like yam, tomato, onions, groundnuts, cows, goats and rams etc still come from the North.)

5. That the Igbo hate Nigeria. (Igbo love and believe in Nigeria more than any ethnic group. They are the only ethnic group that goes investing in all parts of Nigeria despite how they have been treated. As big as Dangote is, the last time I was in his office, he was in a rented building – the Union Bank Marble House on Awolowo Road Roundabout. [I don’t know if he has his building in Lagos now]. That is the first sign that someone is afraid to invest in a place. No other ethnic group in Nigeria invests in Igboland or areas outside their race except in Abuja. Contrary to what Lagman or someone posted above, the parasite is he makes money in a land and takes the money to his home town without investing anything in that land where he made the money – men who run their multi-million-naira biz from a briefcase. Once there is trouble they run away and lose nothing.)[/center]

Thank God he has come to this realization, albeit somewhat late in the day. His mates Klinsman etc began coaching the senior side long ago. But it's not too late. I believe that he is a good coach, his last outing not withstanding. Let him take over the Eagles whether they qualify for the World Cup or not.

@Sagamite and Sefago, two of you have a big problem. Your comments and attitudes are truly repulsive. Are you adults or children? If this was not an online community, both of you should have been locked up for constituting public nuisance and a threat to society. If you could react this way to comments on the Internet when you are not using your real names, how would you react if this were a face-to-face discussion? You cannot disagree without being utterly disagreable? That is the way despots and autocrats behave. And you will never win anyone over to your side that way. What a shame!

About 15 years ago in my small corner I said that one way for Ohanaeze to get all Igbo together was to make an Anioma man or Rivers man President or Secretary-Gen of the body. Thank God they finally did.

The loss of the war made so many Igbo to deny they were Igbo so as not be persecuted. Some people added one or two letters to their names so as not to sound Igbo. In Rivers, communities like Umuola, Umuokwute etc were changed to Rumuola, Rumuokwute etc. When some people with Igbo names claim they are Igbo, they make themselves vulnerable, because when the time comes, other Nigerians will tell them who they really are. Asari Dokubo told Peter Odili in 2006 not to claim that he was a South-south person and run for president in the south-south name, that he should join his Igbo brothers. The truth is that try as hard as they want, Delta or Rivers Igbo will never be accepted by the Ijaws, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Edo etc as part of them. Who led the 1966 coup that led to a counter-coup and massacre of the Igbo? Nzeogwu (from Delta) and Ifeajuna (from Onitsha, who by the way sometimes claim they are not Igbo but Anioma). But when the Hausa began their senseless massacre, they did not bother who was from Mid-west or Rivers? No!

I am from Anambra. I grew up with an Abakaliki/Ezza boy called Jeje. Whenever his father talked to him, I never understood one word they said, and yet they are Igbo. Till today I understand what the Anioma people and Rivers people say more than what some parts of Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia speak, so why should Anioma or Rivers people be less Igbo?

Are Ojo, Ali etc Igbo names? You would say no. But what about Ojo Maduekwe? I have a friend from Nsukka area whose name is Ali. I have some friends from Cross-River/Akwa Ibom with clear Igbo names but they are not Igbo. Why? These people share borders with other ethnic groups and get influenced in terms of names, dressing, traditions etc. When you are driving from Ore to Benin, the last town in Ondo state is called Ohosu, while the first town you meet in Edo State is called Ofosu. Ohosu and Ofosu, do they sound similar? Why? Because they have been neighbours for centuries despite state creation.

To the typical Yoruba or Hausa man, anybody from South-South is even omo Ibo or Nyamiri. So for an Igbo-speaking person to deny his Igboness for whatever reason is dangerous.

In a tribalistic Nigeria, when an Anioma man or Ikwere man is attacked in Kano or Sokoto, don't expect the Urhobo, Ijaw or Benin to come to your aid. The people who will shout and defend you will still be the Igbo that you are wont to deny.

I have nothing against those who say they were born gay. It's their business as long as the person is not my pastor. I have a right to choose who will be my pastor. But please let someone help me out on this. If a man was born hating sexual relationship with human beings with a passion but only attracted sexually to an animal like a goat, should he be allowed to legally marry the goat since his sexual orientation disturbs nobody? What more, the goat does not complain. The man has no sexual attraction whatsoever for a woman or man. The goat is an adult goat and shows that it enjoys sex with the man too. The man was born being sexually attracted to animals. He has tried sex with humans without satisfaction. Are such men or women allowed by law in the US and Europe to marry animals as part of their rights? This is no joke. Pls no name-calling on this - I need honest answers.

All these faceless attacks on Sanusi and this creation of the impression that his action is terrible, tribalistic etc etc seem to make me think that it is just a campaign to make the guy look like a devil and get him out. I don't also want to believe that these guys bashing the man are relations of the bank MDs and borrowers who were arrested. You can say that the man could have acted in a different way to achieve the same result like telling the MDs to resign quietly. Do you know that many of these bank MDs would have tampered with documents before leaving if they had the opportunity?

Suddenly 87billion naira had been recovered after the Sanusi action. Intercontinental Bank MD (Akingbola) begged the President to help them recover their debts because it was clear to him that without his intervention, the debts were lost. Suddendly from the blues debtors of that same bank have paid over 20billion naira in about three weeks. That's about the amount you need to get a banking licence. If Savannah Bank and Societe Generale Bank had that amount of money, they would have opened for business.

Whichever way someone goes in Nigeria, he must be attacked. If Sanusi had allowed the banks to collapse, and depositors had lost all their savings, he would have been crucified for being a "useless aboki" who could not manage something the "intelligent Soludo" worked on for 5 years.

I strongly believe that the bank MDs arrested need to be treated decently and assumed innocent until proved guilty, but the CBN Governor has the power to sack a bank MD if he thinks the MD has acted against the ethics of banking and has betrayed the trust of the depositors. Otunba Balogun of FCMB and and former Chairman (chairlady) of Citizens Bank were sacked some years ago and banned from holding positions in banking. It's not the first time this has happened in Nigeria.

If Yar'Adua could act decisively like Sanusi, we as Nigerians would be feeling proud wherever part of the world we are. So please let's stop all this bellyaching and face important issues.

Na waah for this Aroma guy! I know the guy. He is from Nnewi, Anambra State. I think say those guys na only business they sabi? Where him come get all the brain wey he carry answer all the questions? Hope someone no go talk say na juju the guy use? Congrats, brother! Shine your eye. No blow the money sharp sharp o!

@$osisi, you have said it all. I must congratulate you for your practicality, depth and sense of reasoning and logic. You should seriously consider being a guidance counsellor etc (if you are not one yet).

I can't leave my child with "the holiest" man or woman on earth. And I have instructed my kids that any time someone touches them at any sensitive part of their body or ask them to touch them at any sensitive part - be it their teacher, pastor, auntie, uncle, cousin - they should start shouting immediately and start running, and that they must tell mummy or daddy once they come back.

As for the pastor and the housewife, I don't have anything for them.  I don't think Sodom and Gomorrah have committed half the sin that is committed by the so-called men of God in Nigeria. So many people rush into the ministry not because they have any calling but because they want somewhere they can hide and commit their atrocities on the trusting faithful.

In my church, one man in another parish recently sent his wife and daughter to their pastor for counselling. The pastor slept with the wife and the daughter one after the other. Also two married pastors were recently caught in homosexualism.  One was caught sleeping with his secretary and other girls in the church. The list goes on and on. It is sickening. It is just the grace of God and the biblical injunction that I should only look upon Christ the author and finisher of our faith that make me to still go to church. If not, I would have converted my sitting room into a church for my FAMILY ALONE. (I never intend to be a public pastor unless God calls me the way he called St Paul)

I am no saint, but if as a sinful, carnal man, I can hold myself for fear of bringing shame to my family or my name, I don't understand why a man who has been set apart to commune closely with God and pray and bless the worshippers should not be able to hold himself. When they are caught, they claim it is the devil's work. These adulterous pastors don't even have an excuse: except for the Roman Catholic Church, other church pastors are free to marry. So why not sleep with your wife from morning to night if it is sex that is your biggest problem? No, they want to eat egusi in the morning, ogbono in the afternoon, and edikainkong or ewedu at night. It's not funny.

If we don't come up with serious penalties for especially all these adults that sexually abuse children and pastors/alfas/imams that sexually exploit those kept in their care, we will be having more and more of such dirty stories.

God bless Naija!

I have heard some people say that Gani Fawehinmi was the greatest Nigerian ever (dead or alive) because of his consistency and selfless fight against oprression. What do you think?

GM of Experiential Marketing Company Needed

A fast-growing experiential marketing company needs the services of a General Manager/Chief Operating Officer to run it.

Duties/Responsibilities: To jump-start and run effectively the experiential marketing company, come up with strategy and plans to achieve results for the company, manage the company, etc

Experience: 5-8 years professional experience in experiential marketing with proof of performance

Age: Not more than 38 years

Other requirements:
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent presentation skills
- Excellent leadership and organizational skills
- Business-oriented


Candidates who meet the above specifications should send their detailed CV to jobs@nesmaxandria.com

Deadline: December 23, 2008

1. Assistant Managers and Managers wanted

An integrated marketing communications firm needs Assistant Managers and Managers urgently.

They must be creative, pro-active,and diligent. They must be people who write very well, speak very well, with good presentation skills, with ability to manage clients and handle their briefs very well with little or no supervision.

Academic qualification: B.A/B.Sc/HND (Minimum)

Professional Experience: Minimum of 2-5 years experience in a Public Relations or Advertising firm.

Benefits: Attractive salary with a brand new official car and other incentives.

Apply to jobs@nesmaxandria.com with subject as "Assistant Managers and Managers"

Deadline: August 20, 2008


2. Advertising Group Head wanted

An AAAN advertising agency needs a Groud Head, Client Service, who has the natural capacity and capability to think strategically, has excellent presentable skills, able to write intelligent and result-oriented proposals, speaks and writes very well, dresses well, is pro-active, confident, computer savvy, has leadership qualities, and is team player.

Educational Requirement: B.A/B.Sc/ HND (Minimum)

Professional Experience: Minimum of 6 years in an advertising agency of note.

Benefits - Very good salary with official car, etc.

Apply with CV to jobs@nesmaxandria.com with "Advertising Group Head" as subject.

Deadline: August 15, 2008



3. Management Trainees Needed (Artist and Client Service/Strategy).

A Brand Consultancy needs fresh graduates as management trainees.

(A)Artist: Graduate of fine and applied arts (graphics); must know how to use Corel Draw, Photo Shop, Power Point very well. Must have the potential to come up with exciting designs; must be creative and intelligent

(B)Client Service: Graduate of any discipline. Must speak and write well. Must be innovative, intelligent, vibrant,  and business-minded.

Academic qualification: Minimum of Second Class honours (Upper Division) (2-1) or Upper Credit.

Send CV and well written application to jobs@nesmaxandria.com with subject as "Mgt Trainee - Artist" or "Mgt Trainee - Client Service/Strategy" as the case may be.

Deadline: August 31, 2008

The website of Nesma Xandria was stated in the topic and body of the message. It is www.nesmaxandria.com. Click on Vacancies for the advertised jobs or just go to Jobseeker and fill your biodata to get into their database. Regards.

Dear Nairalanders, marketing recruitment consultants Nesma Xandria have some vacancies in sales & marketing, client service and graphic arts etc on their website: nesmaxandria.com. Why not check them out? The site is also available for those who want to submit their CVs and hope for a job placement. Good luck.

I stumbled on a marketing-based recruitment company by the name Nesma Xandria. I think guys who are interested in Advertising, PR, Brand Management etc should check it out at www.nesmaxandria.com. Good luck.

I am male, a marketing communications consultant and in my late 30s. I need a Northern Nigerian (preferably a Muslim) of not more than 40 years as friend. He should be based in Nigeria (preferably in Lagos). He must be a graduate, intelligent, business-minded, politically sound and open-minded ; a person with whom I can share ideas on national issues etc. I have friends all over the South but I have not had a solid friend from the North. If you need to have me as a friend, please send a mail to me at justprospero@yahoo.com. I guess it will be a mutually rewarding relationship.

please this is not a romantic mail for those who are looking for homosexual partners!

Nairaland is a wonderful initiative. The moderator must be commended. He deserves a national award.