₦airaland Forum

The right to peaceful demonstration is subsumed under the inalienable right to freedom of expression. If the demonstration in question was peaceful, there is absolutely nothing wrong for this academic to be part and parcel of it. During the occupy London events, right on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, I personally saw academics from LSE and UCL carrying placards. Even the Dean of the Cathedral resigned in support of the group. But this is Nigeria we're talking about. In the light of ongoing events in that country, Nigeria arguably is a banana republic populated, in parts, by barbarians and led by clueless executives (President and his cohorts), shameless legislatures and corrupt judiciary.

na you get your mouth.

Why would you say Nigeria is populated by barbaric individuals. You started by saying that the HOD has the right to take part in the protest if it is peaceful. unfortunately it was not and as a lecturer he should be in a better position to advise students against destructive actions and other acts of vengeance.

Since you have a lot of clues kindly suggest to the clueless executive in Nigeria how to fix the state of affairs in Naija.

Thank you.

Even look at the poor state of the Leopold Sedar senghor Standium which is supposed to be their national stadium, No plastic seat on it just concrete slab.

None of us here is addressing the main issues;

The first thing to ask is what are the quality of persons recruited into the police force. When you recruit the wrong person this is the results that you get.

What kind of training do we give our Policemen. Are they trained on proper rules of engagements, handling civil unrest, the limit of force/reasonably force etc. When they are not trained in these they would obviously not function well. In Nigeria a man in uniform thinks he is superior to the one in mufti same for soldiers and other security agencies. Money meant for refresher courses for men of the Nigerian Police is always misappropriated by the the upper echelon of the force. so some of these men can go for years without attending any training/refresher course.

The Police is a product of the Nigeria society; it just reflects a subset of the society. As it stands nothing is working and as such we should not expect anything good as it stands now from the Police.

The Police themselves has no internal monitoring and regulatory framework. in the US, there is the Internal Affairs unit which are plain cloths Policemen that try to monitor and Police the affairs of the Policemen themselves.

How well motivated are our police force; some of the these officer have stayed in a single position for so many years. Just last week I met a police corporal that have remained a Corporal for 8 years. How much are they paid. They buy their own uniform, buy their own shoes and the don't even see a future for themselves in the force only frustration.

More frustrating is the fact that any kind of person can find his way into the police force. when you have people of questionable character, people of unstable mind, frustrated persons and all sorts then what do you expect. Sometimes the civilian population contributes to this. When you have a brother that you know is stubborn and off dubious character, sometimes, the family raises money and give the necessary bribe for him/her to join the Police. when he get there what do you expect.

The above does not take away the fact that there are still decent men in the Nigerian Police.

Among Achebe, Awo, Zik, Balewa and Ahmadu Bello
Our Reporter October 12, 2012 4 Comments »



[b]Wars, whether civil or international, are by their very nature, ever unpleasant, leaving in their trail, bitter memories with accounts, personal or official, ever partisan and even if credible, ever liable to be disputed. Every account depends on the author and the critic.

There can never be an end to such accounts. Till today, Americans, whose grandparents were not yet born at the time of their country’s civil war, still engage in academic exercise of the war with special focus on their wartime leader, Abraham Lincoln, and the opposite confederals. There are also fresh books on the last two world wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. On the Nigerian civil war, which ended barely 42 years ago, the compelling need for various accounts and observations is, therefore, yet to be exhausted, especially by those who were directly involved or affected. Such accounts are ignoble if they do not generate controversy.

The latest is Chinua Achebe’s book titled “There was a country.” Whatever the bad feelings of his critics, Achebe’s reputation, unlike his contemporaries, is that of a straightforward man. He has never been known to be cowardly, neither does he cringe before nor collaborate with any local or international establishment. Achebe’s character is definite as he does not charade in the day only to be settled at night.

The author of the book “There was a country” should therefore be viewed from that angle. Notably, Chinua Achebe faulted one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Obafemi Awolowo, for acclaiming starvation as a legitimate weapon in a war, specifically, Nigerian civil war. It is, by the way, wrong to accuse Achebe of writing his book over forty years after the civil war ended. Indeed, it will be a surprise if Achebe’s book is the last to be written on the civil war by a Nigerian. Furthermore, Chinua Achebe has never hidden his disagreement with Obafemi Awolowo.

In fact, when the latter died in 1987 and was widely attributed as a nationalist, Achebe weighed in with his verdict that Awolowo was a tribalist. How correct is Chinua Achebe in his criticism of Obafemi Awolowo for acclaiming starvation as a weapon in a war? Even if Awolowo was not in the position to effect his belief in starvation as a weapon during the war, the fact remains that he (Awolowo) publicly took that position and was widely reported in the media in Nigeria and abroad. In fact, years after the war, critics of Awolowo, understandably from the Biafran side, so accused him and he could not deny as the evidence was there.

For a devastating effect, Awolowo expressed his view on the starvation controversy as the second (though not necessarily most powerful) man in Nigerian government. As a major figure in Nigerian politics, Awolowo should therefore have counted both the short and long term omnibus consequences of such controversial views. The higher the position, the more the restraint or responsibilities. It is not as if in any war, starvation does not arise or is not employed by the stronger side to weaken the opponents. With blockade leading to shortages of essential items like food and drugs, surely starvation sets in and the stronger side pretends ignorance of the deteriorating situation on the other. In reality, therefore, starvation becomes a weapon.

But such weapon is never officially or callously acknowledged as a weapon. In the build up to Second World War, German leader Adolph Hitler operated a concentration camp at Dachau under the most inhuman conditions, including starvation, mainly to contain or discourage dissidence at home. When the war began in 1939, Hitler opened another camp at Belsen, mainly for starving hundreds of thousands of Jews and other prisoners of war. But Hitler never officially or publicly hold out starvation as a deliberate or legitimate weapon of war.

In Africa, starvation also emerged in civil wars in Congo and Rwanda. And less than twenty years ago during the Bosmian war in the defunct Yugoslavia, starvation and ethnic cleansing resulting in deaths of hundreds of thousands in Srebrenica, alarmed the world, such that culprit Bosnia leaders were later tried at International Criminal Court, Hague for crimes against humanity. Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor was also tried in the same court for alleged crimes against humanity in the Sierra-Leone civil war.

The difference therefore with these stated examples compared to the starvation in the Nigerian civil war was that no government official or public office holder came out to acknowledge that starvation was being employed as a deliberate and legitimate policy. Fortunately, during the Nigerian civil war, there was no International Criminal Court under which genocide (implication of starvation of opponents to death) is treated as crime against humanity.

Is Chinua Achebe fair to Awolowo in his criticisms? The appropriate preceding question is: Was Awolowo fair to himself (not to mention federal side) when he publicly upheld starvation as a legitimate weapon in war, moreso during a civil war in which the outside world was disgusted with television visuals of thousands of starving and malnourished innocent children? Did Awolowo justify starvation as a weapon during a war, in his personal or official capacity as vice-chairman of Federal Executive Council headed by General Yakubu Gowon? In whatever capacity, even outside government, Awolowo, considering his high status in Nigerian politics especially as one of the country’s founding fathers, should not have endorsed starvation as a weapon.

If Awolowo was ever to speak on the war, such view expressed publicly, must comply with government policy on the conduct of the war. Clearly because Awolowo’s endorsement of starvation was against the stated policy of Federal Government, General Yakubu Gowon, in great embarrassment, had to dispatch delegations to different parts of the world, even Africa, to re-assure that starvation was not his government’s policy on the civil war. In truth, Awolowo created the problem for himself, moreso as he was not the prosecutor of the war.

The chief prosecutor of the war was General Yakubu Gowon, who, even if he endorsed starvation, never said so publicly or officially throughout the war. Instead, Gowon, thereafter, approved, perhaps under pressure from concerned foreign governments, the opening of safe corridors through which relief materials passed to the war victims.

There were also high-ranking politicians of Obafemi Awolowo’s generation in Gowon’s government who concentrated on their assignment as federal commissioners. Among them were Aminu Kano, Shehu Shagari, Joseph Tarka, Winike Briggs, Shettima Ali Monguno, Dr. Adetoro, Femi Okunnu. Tony Enahoro, (erstwhile lieutenant of Obafemi Awolowo) as Federal Commissioner for Information and Culture, for some unknown reasons, sold to the outside world the idea of a Nigerian federation with strong centre except that not only did he break with Awolowo but also his last twenty years on earth in total regret of his federation with strong centre and therefore through NADECO and PRONACO sang a new tune of weakening of the centre in favour of more powers for the states. There was, of course, Admiral Wey as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters.

Since Admiral Wey, by the way a Yoruba, and other federal commissioners (except Tony Enahoro) did not make any provocative statements throughout their tenure and the war, nobody is criticising them today. Obafemi Awolowo should have realised that he was not a pedestrian figure in or out of government throughout the war and the weight of his every word, must consolidate an aspiring national leader in a complex country like Nigeria. Former North regional premier Ahmadu Bello, for example, could afford the luxury of his reservation about allowing an Igbo an inch of opportunity because, according to him (Ahmadu Bello) he, (Igbo) would from there occupy a yard.

Ahmadu Bello made this view known in an interview with a BBC television correspondent now reproduced on You Tube. But then, Ahmadu Bello contented himself with a regional premiership. It was a completely different story with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa throughout his nine years (1957-1966) as Prime Minister of Nigeria, as he lived up to the national standing of that office. Even when Ahmadu Bello said he did not recognise the state of Israel, thereby creating diplomatic tension, Tafawa Balewa asserted himself as Prime Minister by assuring the world that Nigeria had friendly ties with all member countries of the United Nations including Israel.

Another example was deputy leader of Action Group and later Premier of Western Region, S.L. Akintola who was more vitriolic than Awolowo on anything Igbo. But Akintola never aspired to lead Nigeria and could afford to alienate any section of the country, as undesirable as that might be. Akintola’s humorous analogy of the name of Dr. Ikejiani was classic. Whatever the meaning in Igbo, the translation of Ikejiani in Yoruba was politically convenient for Akintola to complain against majority federal appointments for Igbos.

According to Akintola in his memorable broadcast on the regional radio, (now also available on You Tube) there might be nothing wrong in the first appointment (Ikini ani) second appointment (Ikeji ani) third appointment (Iketa ani) etc going to Igbos, but that Yoruba too must share in the appointments.

Nobody wound reject such seeming justifiable submission except that, the humour apart, Akintola’s aim was to undermine Yoruba support for Awolowo in their supremacy battle in the defunct Western region. How about Daddy Onyeama, a prominent and well-respected independent-minded judge who in his younger days was enjoying an evening with friends (mainly Yoruba) at Island Club Lagos? Onyeama’s social friends teased him with the low status of Igbo in the scheme of things. Such ‘yappings’ are common among friends on those joyous occasions.

Onyeama, innocently in return and perhaps to disarm his tormentors, assured that “Igbo domination is a question of time.” Complete political capital was thereafter made out of an otherwise social evening banter among friends, in total disregard of the circumstances. Is Chinua Achebe’s criticism of Awolowo necessarily evidence of his (Achebe’s) hatred for Yoruba?

That cannot be because Achebe knows too well that on the federal side during the civil war, conscientious objectors were among only Yoruba, with some of them like Tai Solarin and Wole Soyinka clamped into indefinite detention. Also, at the end of the war, the first non-Igbo to appear in Biafra in a sole-rehabilitation effort was a Yoruba – Tai Solarin. Also, unknown to the public, even some close associates of Awolowo did not agree with him on the war.

At least, one of them from Ijebu-Ode, now deceased, years after the end of the war, confided in me. That aside, Achebe’s critics on his latest book, especially Yoruba, should objectively read “AWO”, Obafemi Awolowo’s autobiography, in which throughout, there is not a single sentence complimentary to Nnamdi Azikiwe, portrayed as an ethnic jingoist. When I read the maiden edition of that book in 1961, I could then understand why NCNC (Zik’s party) rejected the offer of an alliance by Awo’s Action Group in 1959, even conceding Prime Ministership to Azikiwe. Similar offer of alliance between Awo’s party and Zik’s party in 1979 and 1983 was also laughable. The two men were uncompromisingly incompatible to give Nigeria a workable and durable political alliance. Yet, Awolowo’s criticisms of Azikiwe were never mischievously interpreted as hatred for Igbos.

Nobody of Achebe’s status and with terrible experiences of the civil war could be expected to write his recollections without justifiable criticism of starvation as a weapon throughout the war. His critics just have to be realistic rather than being emotional.

Awolowo’s election campaign pledge to ban importation of second hand clothes and stockfish could have been better sold (by Awolowo himself) to Nigerians than the impression that it was targeted at economically weakening a particular section of the country. Suppose the need to ban continued importation of the two items had been linked to a determination of (Awo’s) government to improve the living standard of the low class, such that it would no longer be necessary to dress in second-hand clothes and that with a stronger purchasing power, Nigerians would feed better on mainly nutritious items. Awolowo did not become head of Federal Government. Yet, since 1979, far less Nigerians today depend on second-hand clothes for their dresses. Equally, stockfish is no longer a delicacy at dinners or lunch. It is all due to the improvement in the living standard of Nigerians, the very aim of Awolowo in his pledge to ban the two items.

Either by accident or by design, no aspiring head of Nigerian government can risk ambiguous or potentially misleading posture/controversy, which was the lot of Awolowo on sensitive issues like starvation as a weapon during a war, banning of second-hand clothes and stockfish, since all these touched on the physical and economic survival of a particular section of the country. By the way, some of Achebe’s critics are amusing as they don’t seem to understand why Biafra had to invade Mid-West and Ore on the way to Lagos.

The logic is simple. Biafra initially said its war was with the North. But Yoruba salesmen on the federal side at home and abroad countered that it was a war of Nigeria’s survival. The war drumbeat was “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.” At that stage, any part of Nigeria – Ijebu-Ode, Ore, Benin city, Paiko, Makurdi, Wushishi, Gombe, or Lasa – because a legitimate target for the opposite side.[/b]


SOURCE: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/columns/among-achebe-awo-zik-balewa-and-ahmadu-bello/

Among Achebe, Awo, Zik, Balewa and Ahmadu Bello by Duro Onabule
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[code]
Wars, whether civil or international, are by their very nature, ever unpleasant, leaving in their trail, bitter memories with accounts, personal or official, ever partisan and even if credible, ever liable to be disputed. Every account depends on the author and the critic.

There can never be an end to such accounts. Till today, Americans, whose grandparents were not yet born at the time of their country’s civil war, still engage in academic exercise of the war with special focus on their wartime leader, Abraham Lincoln, and the opposite confederals. There are also fresh books on the last two world wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. On the Nigerian civil war, which ended barely 42 years ago, the compelling need for various accounts and observations is, therefore, yet to be exhausted, especially by those who were directly involved or affected. Such accounts are ignoble if they do not generate controversy.

The latest is Chinua Achebe’s book titled “There was a country.” Whatever the bad feelings of his critics, Achebe’s reputation, unlike his contemporaries, is that of a straightforward man. He has never been known to be cowardly, neither does he cringe before nor collaborate with any local or international establishment. Achebe’s character is definite as he does not charade in the day only to be settled at night.

The author of the book “There was a country” should therefore be viewed from that angle. Notably, Chinua Achebe faulted one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Obafemi Awolowo, for acclaiming starvation as a legitimate weapon in a war, specifically, Nigerian civil war. It is, by the way, wrong to accuse Achebe of writing his book over forty years after the civil war ended. Indeed, it will be a surprise if Achebe’s book is the last to be written on the civil war by a Nigerian. Furthermore, Chinua Achebe has never hidden his disagreement with Obafemi Awolowo.

In fact, when the latter died in 1987 and was widely attributed as a nationalist, Achebe weighed in with his verdict that Awolowo was a tribalist. How correct is Chinua Achebe in his criticism of Obafemi Awolowo for acclaiming starvation as a weapon in a war? Even if Awolowo was not in the position to effect his belief in starvation as a weapon during the war, the fact remains that he (Awolowo) publicly took that position and was widely reported in the media in Nigeria and abroad. In fact, years after the war, critics of Awolowo, understandably from the Biafran side, so accused him and he could not deny as the evidence was there.

For a devastating effect, Awolowo expressed his view on the starvation controversy as the second (though not necessarily most powerful) man in Nigerian government. As a major figure in Nigerian politics, Awolowo should therefore have counted both the short and long term omnibus consequences of such controversial views. The higher the position, the more the restraint or responsibilities. It is not as if in any war, starvation does not arise or is not employed by the stronger side to weaken the opponents. With blockade leading to shortages of essential items like food and drugs, surely starvation sets in and the stronger side pretends ignorance of the deteriorating situation on the other. In reality, therefore, starvation becomes a weapon.

But such weapon is never officially or callously acknowledged as a weapon. In the build up to Second World War, German leader Adolph Hitler operated a concentration camp at Dachau under the most inhuman conditions, including starvation, mainly to contain or discourage dissidence at home. When the war began in 1939, Hitler opened another camp at Belsen, mainly for starving hundreds of thousands of Jews and other prisoners of war. But Hitler never officially or publicly hold out starvation as a deliberate or legitimate weapon of war.

In Africa, starvation also emerged in civil wars in Congo and Rwanda. And less than twenty years ago during the Bosmian war in the defunct Yugoslavia, starvation and ethnic cleansing resulting in deaths of hundreds of thousands in Srebrenica, alarmed the world, such that culprit Bosnia leaders were later tried at International Criminal Court, Hague for crimes against humanity. Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor was also tried in the same court for alleged crimes against humanity in the Sierra-Leone civil war.

The difference therefore with these stated examples compared to the starvation in the Nigerian civil war was that no government official or public office holder came out to acknowledge that starvation was being employed as a deliberate and legitimate policy. Fortunately, during the Nigerian civil war, there was no International Criminal Court under which genocide (implication of starvation of opponents to death) is treated as crime against humanity.

Is Chinua Achebe fair to Awolowo in his criticisms? The appropriate preceding question is: Was Awolowo fair to himself (not to mention federal side) when he publicly upheld starvation as a legitimate weapon in war, moreso during a civil war in which the outside world was disgusted with television visuals of thousands of starving and malnourished innocent children? Did Awolowo justify starvation as a weapon during a war, in his personal or official capacity as vice-chairman of Federal Executive Council headed by General Yakubu Gowon? In whatever capacity, even outside government, Awolowo, considering his high status in Nigerian politics especially as one of the country’s founding fathers, should not have endorsed starvation as a weapon.

If Awolowo was ever to speak on the war, such view expressed publicly, must comply with government policy on the conduct of the war. Clearly because Awolowo’s endorsement of starvation was against the stated policy of Federal Government, General Yakubu Gowon, in great embarrassment, had to dispatch delegations to different parts of the world, even Africa, to re-assure that starvation was not his government’s policy on the civil war. In truth, Awolowo created the problem for himself, moreso as he was not the prosecutor of the war.

The chief prosecutor of the war was General Yakubu Gowon, who, even if he endorsed starvation, never said so publicly or officially throughout the war. Instead, Gowon, thereafter, approved, perhaps under pressure from concerned foreign governments, the opening of safe corridors through which relief materials passed to the war victims.

There were also high-ranking politicians of Obafemi Awolowo’s generation in Gowon’s government who concentrated on their assignment as federal commissioners. Among them were Aminu Kano, Shehu Shagari, Joseph Tarka, Winike Briggs, Shettima Ali Monguno, Dr. Adetoro, Femi Okunnu. Tony Enahoro, (erstwhile lieutenant of Obafemi Awolowo) as Federal Commissioner for Information and Culture, for some unknown reasons, sold to the outside world the idea of a Nigerian federation with strong centre except that not only did he break with Awolowo but also his last twenty years on earth in total regret of his federation with strong centre and therefore through NADECO and PRONACO sang a new tune of weakening of the centre in favour of more powers for the states. There was, of course, Admiral Wey as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters.

Since Admiral Wey, by the way a Yoruba, and other federal commissioners (except Tony Enahoro) did not make any provocative statements throughout their tenure and the war, nobody is criticising them today. Obafemi Awolowo should have realised that he was not a pedestrian figure in or out of government throughout the war and the weight of his every word, must consolidate an aspiring national leader in a complex country like Nigeria. Former North regional premier Ahmadu Bello, for example, could afford the luxury of his reservation about allowing an Igbo an inch of opportunity because, according to him (Ahmadu Bello) he, (Igbo) would from there occupy a yard.

Ahmadu Bello made this view known in an interview with a BBC television correspondent now reproduced on You Tube. But then, Ahmadu Bello contented himself with a regional premiership. It was a completely different story with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa throughout his nine years (1957-1966) as Prime Minister of Nigeria, as he lived up to the national standing of that office. Even when Ahmadu Bello said he did not recognise the state of Israel, thereby creating diplomatic tension, Tafawa Balewa asserted himself as Prime Minister by assuring the world that Nigeria had friendly ties with all member countries of the United Nations including Israel.

Another example was deputy leader of Action Group and later Premier of Western Region, S.L. Akintola who was more vitriolic than Awolowo on anything Igbo. But Akintola never aspired to lead Nigeria and could afford to alienate any section of the country, as undesirable as that might be. Akintola’s humorous analogy of the name of Dr. Ikejiani was classic. Whatever the meaning in Igbo, the translation of Ikejiani in Yoruba was politically convenient for Akintola to complain against majority federal appointments for Igbos.

According to Akintola in his memorable broadcast on the regional radio, (now also available on You Tube) there might be nothing wrong in the first appointment (Ikini ani) second appointment (Ikeji ani) third appointment (Iketa ani) etc going to Igbos, but that Yoruba too must share in the appointments.

Nobody wound reject such seeming justifiable submission except that, the humour apart, Akintola’s aim was to undermine Yoruba support for Awolowo in their supremacy battle in the defunct Western region. How about Daddy Onyeama, a prominent and well-respected independent-minded judge who in his younger days was enjoying an evening with friends (mainly Yoruba) at Island Club Lagos? Onyeama’s social friends teased him with the low status of Igbo in the scheme of things. Such ‘yappings’ are common among friends on those joyous occasions.

Onyeama, innocently in return and perhaps to disarm his tormentors, assured that “Igbo domination is a question of time.” Complete political capital was thereafter made out of an otherwise social evening banter among friends, in total disregard of the circumstances. Is Chinua Achebe’s criticism of Awolowo necessarily evidence of his (Achebe’s) hatred for Yoruba?

That cannot be because Achebe knows too well that on the federal side during the civil war, conscientious objectors were among only Yoruba, with some of them like Tai Solarin and Wole Soyinka clamped into indefinite detention. Also, at the end of the war, the first non-Igbo to appear in Biafra in a sole-rehabilitation effort was a Yoruba – Tai Solarin. Also, unknown to the public, even some close associates of Awolowo did not agree with him on the war.

At least, one of them from Ijebu-Ode, now deceased, years after the end of the war, confided in me. That aside, Achebe’s critics on his latest book, especially Yoruba, should objectively read “AWO”, Obafemi Awolowo’s autobiography, in which throughout, there is not a single sentence complimentary to Nnamdi Azikiwe, portrayed as an ethnic jingoist. When I read the maiden edition of that book in 1961, I could then understand why NCNC (Zik’s party) rejected the offer of an alliance by Awo’s Action Group in 1959, even conceding Prime Ministership to Azikiwe. Similar offer of alliance between Awo’s party and Zik’s party in 1979 and 1983 was also laughable. The two men were uncompromisingly incompatible to give Nigeria a workable and durable political alliance. Yet, Awolowo’s criticisms of Azikiwe were never mischievously interpreted as hatred for Igbos.

Nobody of Achebe’s status and with terrible experiences of the civil war could be expected to write his recollections without justifiable criticism of starvation as a weapon throughout the war. His critics just have to be realistic rather than being emotional.

Awolowo’s election campaign pledge to ban importation of second hand clothes and stockfish could have been better sold (by Awolowo himself) to Nigerians than the impression that it was targeted at economically weakening a particular section of the country. Suppose the need to ban continued importation of the two items had been linked to a determination of (Awo’s) government to improve the living standard of the low class, such that it would no longer be necessary to dress in second-hand clothes and that with a stronger purchasing power, Nigerians would feed better on mainly nutritious items. Awolowo did not become head of Federal Government. Yet, since 1979, far less Nigerians today depend on second-hand clothes for their dresses. Equally, stockfish is no longer a delicacy at dinners or lunch. It is all due to the improvement in the living standard of Nigerians, the very aim of Awolowo in his pledge to ban the two items.

Either by accident or by design, no aspiring head of Nigerian government can risk ambiguous or potentially misleading posture/controversy, which was the lot of Awolowo on sensitive issues like starvation as a weapon during a war, banning of second-hand clothes and stockfish, since all these touched on the physical and economic survival of a particular section of the country. By the way, some of Achebe’s critics are amusing as they don’t seem to understand why Biafra had to invade Mid-West and Ore on the way to Lagos.

The logic is simple. Biafra initially said its war was with the North. But Yoruba salesmen on the federal side at home and abroad countered that it was a war of Nigeria’s survival. The war drumbeat was “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.” At that stage, any part of Nigeria – Ijebu-Ode, Ore, Benin city, Paiko, Makurdi, Wushishi, Gombe, or Lasa – because a legitimate target for the opposite side

This to me is an objective assessment of the present imbroglio concerning Achebe comment on Awo

This man that calls himself the Chief Servant of Niger State is just busy serving himself the stat is in a worse state than it ws during the reign of Abdulkadir Kure.

skeendyke: I read some disdainful comments made by some folks here and felt nothing but a pang of pity for their ignorance. Those folks who cite the financial crimes of politicians who loot our treasury daily should not forget that they are alive, hale and hearty to protest or seek redress if they will. Many politicians hav come and gone, stolen from the national purse but never to our physical detriment was it done. Those folks who say the Judge is callous, wicked etcetera hav only displayed shallow thinking. May be you have not had any experience with ARMED ROBBERS and not just robbers (I pray you don't ever have it) thats why you show misguided indignation at the Judge and his sentence. I protested with very great anger against the Aluu4 killings. Their murder was rash, callous, unjustified and wicked. Even if they stole (it was alleged which means they did not commit the crime) the items, the fact that they werent even armed should have been considered by their brutal assailants (may their souls rest in perfect peace). However, as regards armed robbery with matchet or guns or knives or clubs, any thief is deserving of his punishment. You well know how armed robbers mercilessly kill or maim or injure people in their operation. At egbeda, a gang of thieves inflicted deep matchet cuts on the backs, heads and shoulders of tenants of a household for not possessing anything worth stealing...how devilish. The tenants are even lucky to be alive to narrate their ordeal for there are thousands lying in their graves as we speak who went through similar experience or worse but did not make it out alive. Many of you just opened your mouths to condemn the judge for sentencing them to death but fail to recognise the fact that the victim of that armed robbery (or any) could be you or anyone. There are a million valid arguments in favour of death sentence to ARMED ROBBERS and not mere robbers and those arguments have nothing to do with corrupt politicians who loot the treasury. The politicians did not forcefuly dispossess you of your hard earned money at gun point, they did not Molestation a member of your family while stealing, they did not slash or make fatal cuts on your body or kill you while attempting to steal, you only heard they stole but it doesnt affect you emotionally, physically, mentally, and psychologically as armed robbery affects its victims. Death to Armed Robbers who hav sworn this country and its cities will not dwell in peace and safety.

Thank you my brother for speaking the truth in plain terms. Some of these guys when they go robbing, the rape women, kill, maim and injure their victims. They even at as if it is their right for you to keep money at home waiting for them to come calling. Those that have experience any form of robbery attack would understand what we are talking about. They see all the politicians in the society yet it is those struggling and managing to survive that they would rob and any slight attempt for their victim to object to their demand may lead to death or other form of damage For me i don't have any sympathy for them.

Obasanjo is alive so also is Gowon, they both signed off Bakassi. Even Ita Giwa tht was the Senator representing the Bakassi area what did she do all this while. Before now why didnt the Cross Rivers State govt mount serious campaign through lobby groups. Now they want to blame Jonathan.

Please we should manage the other territories we have.

If the President did not address the nation people would come out and say he is not showing enough concern. Now he address the nation people are saying the speech is uncalled for.

The committee set up is to raise more fund and to also disburse the fund and further mitigate the effects of the flood.

I must confess that this is one of the best post in Niairaland for some time now.

Students and young ones must understand that a hard boy or girl is the one that sees the right thing and do it or stand up for it. When you dont have the will to stand up to evil and refuse to do any thing bad, then you are the real hard guy. It takes greater strength to see what is wrong and refuse to do it. A lot of young men/women do the wrong things by succumbing to peer pressure they want to belong; to act along with their friends. Guys start "obtaining" which is another name for stealing and robbery, joining secret cults etc while the girls start following "aristos" and sugar daddies and they call it runs. The funny part of it is that some of the students are children from average and rich form. they sometimes feel they are catching fun, they money gotten from these sources are usually spent to live big on campus.

Parents also have a lot of role to play. Before a children get to the age of going into the tertiary institution parents should inculcate in their children the ability to stand up for good no matter what others are doing; by so doing they would be helping these boys and girls build up their will and thereby live a decent live.

The society's role is also paramount. Everyday when you listen to the lyric of our modern day musicians it talks so much about money and its powers. They talk of how much money they have made and the life of affluence and opulence they would or have been living since they made money. The society eulogises you when you have money irrespective of how you made the money. We hear stories of corruption without those involve being prosecuted. As these young ones keep hearing this they feel that the society condones these negatives acts and that the rule is not to be caught.

Satan would always tell you that you are too smart to be caught in any evil act but the reverse is always the case. according to james hardly Chase, there is no perfect crime. Many guys have been involve in armed robbery by escorting their friends out in the night without knowing that such friends are armed robbers. Many girls have been used for ritual just by dating unknown men they met in the night.

In this present age the best advice is that given by the poster. You may be called a fool today by your friends and peers, but in future you would look back and thank God for living a discipline and decent life.

Where was the SUG President when the stuff started. From the time the students were held by the local vigilante down to when there were burnt; why did'nt the students residing in the village report to the School authority, SUG or the Security department of the school.

It is now the the SUG Presidents is making comments

Several parties should shre the blame in this matter;

1. Where was the police when this boys were arrested. I believe there must be a Police Post in that community or any community close to it. Would they say no information got to them until the boys were killed. Some one said in the initial post that a detachment of Policemen that came were resisted by the crowd. i believe if they had asked for more support and shot into the air and also used tear gas they would have been able to disperse the murderous crowd.

Invariably the Police cooperated with the crowd.

2. They reason why things like this happen is the decadence and the degenerate state of our society. The crowd is frustrated them. Anything a criminal is arrested and handed over to the police, within a short time you see such persons walking free in the street. such acts leads to frustrated and distrust in the security agencies. For what reason would the Police corporate with the crowd? if the parents of this boys are high up and well connected they would receive phone calls that the Police should release them immediately.

3. They action of the crown is not justifiable in any way. As such the main perpetrators should be fished out. Government and Civil Society group should embark on literacy campaign t educate people that no matter the extent to which they have lost faith in the society, they should not take laws into their hands.


4. Parents and guardians should advice and teach their wards and also know the types of friends they keep. a lot of students from well to do home get into unwholesome activities in school in the name of "belonging" and so on. You see girls dating older men and getting involving in casual prostitution and they call it runs. They dont see it that they are doing prostitution. some of this girls are even from average of well to do home, some do it out of adventure some out of gree. On the part of the boys they get into "obtaining" and cults just to show they are hard guys, happening guys or strong men.

They types of music you hear in our airwaves always talk of making money living big, living on the fast lane and this ha gone a long way in shapping the values of these young ones. In the original post, someone mentioned that the sister to one of the boys said she has repeatedly advised her brother against such acts.

5. Finally, I am saying the boys killed are thieves, even if they are they don't deserve to die that way; they should have been given a second chance. Today you have former armed robbers that have become pastors.

Second Chance

Bassey and Company

Behind the Cloud

Things Fall Apart

Another Life

Checkmate

[b]Benson Idahosa university, Benin city, Edo State - Church of God Mission Int.
Samuel Adegboye University, Ogwa, Edo State - The Apostolic church
Ajayi Crowther university, Oyo Town, Oyo State - Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Bowen University, Iwo - Nigerian Baptist convention
Babcock University, Ilishan Remo Ogun State - Seventh Day Adventist church.
Joseph Ayodele Babalola University - Christ Apostolic Church.
Convenant university, Canaan Land, Ota - Winners Chapel AKA Living Faith
Redeemers University of All Nations - Redeemed Christian Church of God
Wesley university of technology, Ondo Town, Ondo State - Methodist church of Nigeria
Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State - Christ Prayer Ministry of the the Catholic Church Elele
Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra state - Catholic church, Onitsha Diocese
Caritas University, Emene, Enugu - Catholic church, Sistsres of Jesus the Saviour.
Godfrey Okoye University, Ugwuabo Nike, Enugu State - Catholic Church Enugu Diocese.
Saith Paul University, Awka - Anglican Church.
Crawford university,Igbesa - New Apostolic Church
Evangel University, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State - Assemblies of God Church
Rhema University, Obeama - Asa - Rhema Ministries
Living Word university, Aba. - Living Word Ministries International Aba.
Veritas University (Catholic University of Nigeria) Obeama (Take off Campus) - Permanent Site in Abuja.
Bingham University, New Karu - Abuja - Evangelical Church of West Africa.[/b][font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font][color=#990000][/color][size=8pt][/size]


Benson Idahosa University gives 17.5% discount on all course for children/relations of members of the church (Church of God Mission Int) and 25% for children of Pastors. But you must get a letter from your pastor/Presbyter identifying you and the commitment of your parents/guardian to the church.

The School of also give full/1005 scholarship to 40 indigenes of the Niger-Delta region every year to study any course of their choice. this through a competitive entrance/qualification test. For this, you don't need to be a member of the church.

All the schools listed above are very expensive and beyond the reach of the average salary earning nigerian.

Benson Idahosa university, Benin city, Edo State - Church of God Mission Int.
Samuel Adegboye University, Ogwa, Edo State - The Apostolic church
Ajayi Crowther university, Oyo Town, Oyo State - Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Bowen University, Iwo - Nigerian Baptist convention
Babcock University, Ilishan Remo Ogun State - Seventh Day Adventist church.
Joseph Ayodele Babalola University - Christ Apostolic Church.
Convenant university, Canaan Land, Ota - Winners Chapel AKA Living Faith
Redeemers University of All Nations - Redeemed Christian Church of God
Wesley university of technology, Ondo Town, Ondo State - Methodist church of Nigeria
Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State - Christ Prayer Ministry of the the Catholic Church Elele
Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra state - Catholic church, Onitsha Diocese
Caritas University, Emene, Enugu - Catholic church, Sistsres of Jesus the Saviour.
Godfrey Okoye University, Ugwuabo Nike, Enugu State - Catholic Church Enugu Diocese.
Saith Paul University, Awka - Anglican Church.
Crawford university,Igbesa - New Apostolic Church
Evangel University, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State - Assemblies of God Church
Rhema University, Obeama - Asa - Rhema Ministries
Living Word university, Aba. - Living Word Ministries International Aba.
Veritas University (Catholic University of Nigeria) Obeama (Take off Campus) - Permanent Site in Abuja.
Bingham University, New Karu - Abuja - Evangelical Church of West Africa.


Benson Idahosa University gives 17.5% discount on all course for children/relations of members of the church (Church of God Mission Int) and 25% for children of Pastors. But you must get a letter from your pastor/Presbyter identifying you and the commitment of your parents/guardian to the church.

The School of also give full/1005 scholarship to 40 indigenes of the Niger-Delta region every year to study any course of their choice. this through a competitive entrance/qualification test. For this, you don't need to be a member of the church.

All the schools listed above are very expensive and beyond the reach of the average salary earning nigerian.

While our president is in New York attending to God knows what,people's houses and belongings are being submerged.what the fucck is happening? Who are the people responsible to take action? Where the hell is NEMA? What is the NASS doing to curb the situation? What a hell of a country!

If you have nothing to say just shut up. The Government and NASS can only mobilise Agencies of government and other concerned organisation to mitigate the effect of the occurence, they dont have the power to stop a natural disaster.

musiwa7: the moment they were informed of cameroon were going to open the dam. they should have created water channel along the banks of the rivers for it to break the flow intensity from adamawa.. If they have break the flow in adamawa using channels at the banks of the river benue in adamawa.. only adamawa will be affected..

the solution may be to construct levels , so that they just quickly release the levels.

Even if the Nigerian government was told that the dams in cameroun would be opened, the time given would not have been enough to building retaining walls or channels. Even in areas where the Nigeria Metreological agency informed people of the impending flood the refused to leave their villages and areas of abode. The typical Nigerian attitude is to leave everything in the hands of God even when God has given you the power and knowledge to do the right thing.

For those blaming the Nigerian President; do you blame Obama anytime a hurricane occurs in USA or the Turkish Presidents for the numerous earthquakes that takes place in Turkey.

However, i must admit that Nigeria Emergency Management Agency, Federal Fire Service, Internally Displaced Persons Unit of the National commission for Refugees, Federal Mistry of Environment, the marine poly, Nigerian Navy and Army, Nigeria Air Force and other concerned agencies need to intensify their rescue efforts. Then other communities along the River Niger and Benue Flood Plains should evacuate immediately in states like Benue, Delta, Rivers, Anambra and Bayelsa. The should be informed and sensitized immediately.

Such communities includes the Okpa Fields along Kwale in Delta State, Agenebode Area of delta State, Some parts of Okwe in Asaba, oguta Area of imo State, Ndoki Area in Rivers State, Anibeze community in Delta State, parts of Sagbama local government council in Bayelsa State

While our president is in New York attending to God knows what,people's houses and belongings are being submerged.what the fucck is happening? Who are the people responsible to take action? Where the hell is NEMA? What is the NASS doing to curb the situation? What a hell of a country!

If you have nothing to say just shut up. The Government and NASS can only mobilise Agencies of government and other concerned organisation to mitigate the effect of the occurence, they dont have the power to stop a natural disaster.

musiwa7: the moment they were informed of cameroon were going to open the dam. they should have created water channel along the banks of the rivers for it to break the flow intensity from adamawa.. If they have break the flow in adamawa using channels at the banks of the river benue in adamawa.. only adamawa will be affected..

the solution may be to construct levels , so that they just quickly release the levels.

Even the Nigerian government was told that the dams in cameroun would be opened the time given would not have been enough to building retaining walls or channels. Even in areas where the Nigeria Metreological agency informed people of the impending flood the refused to leave their villages and areas of abode. The typical Nigerian attitude is to leave everything in the hands of God even when God has given you the power and knowledge to do the right thing.

For those blaming the Nigerian President; do you blame Obama anytime a hurricane occurs in USA or the Turkish Presidents for the numerous earthquakes that takes place in Turkey.

However, i must admit that Nigeria Emergency Management Agency, Federal Fire Service, Internally Displaced Persons Unit of the National commission for Refugees, Federal Mistry of Environment, the marine poly, Nigerian Navy and Army, Nigeria Air Force and other concerned agencies need to intensify their rescue efforts. Then other communities along the River Niger and Benue Flood Plains should evacuate immediately in states like Benue, Delta, Rivers, Anambra and Bayelsa. The should be informed and sensitized immediately.

Such communities includes the Okpa Fields along Kwale in Delta State, Agenebode Area of delta State, Some parts of Okwe in Asaba, oguta Area of imo State, Ndoki Area in Rivers State, Anibeze community in Delta State, parts of Sagbama local government council in Bayelsa State

folks dat have plied d Benin-Abuja-jos or simply Benin-abuja rd. Hw EXACTLY is d rd?

I HAVE TO BE IN JOS TOMORROW from benin.

Travelling with my wife and 1 yr old twin daughters 2mrw. What r alternate routes 2 take from benin?
Pls i NEED ur help and pls dont tell me to take a flight coz it isnt an option 4 me/us NOW!
Thanx!

If you are traveling from Benin to Jos, your best bet is to join arik Air from Benin Airport to abuja. From Abuja you then take a Jos bound vehicle. but if you decide to go by road, this is your route Benin to Onitsha (1hr 15minutes) or Benin to Enugu Direct through Faith Motors (2:30minutes) from Enugu you can get a direct vehicle to Jos that would pass through Night Mile - Nsukka - Otukpa - Markurdi - Lafia - Akwanga - Sanga - Forest - Jos (7:30minutes)


For those going to Abuja from the Lagos Ibadan Axis, you have two options[i][/i]

Option One - Lagos - Ibadan - Oyo Town - Ogbomosho - Ilorin - Bode Sadu - Jebba - Mokwa - Kutigi - Bida - Lapai - Lambatta - Suleija - Abuja (this would take a minimum of 12 hours hoping that no vehicles / trailers breaks down along the Jebba mokwa axis) The Bode-sadu - Jebba - Mokwa - Kutigi - Bidda Axis is tortuous, you will feel like crying in the car. Please if you must pass through this route, try as much as you can to join fully Air conditioned car and dont try sitting on the last row of a Toyota Hiaice bus; preferably join a Toyota Sienna SUV at Jibowu; This would cost about N11,000.00 ( your are sure to spent at least 12 hours here. get prepared buy biscuits and Gala and water because apart from jebba most other place that the vehicle would stop you would not get something good to buy except dankwa, kulikuli and bread).

Option Two - Lagos - Ibadan - Akure - Owo - Akoko - Ibillio - Ogori Magongo - Okenne - Ajaokuta - Itobe - Anyigba - Ankpa - Otukpa Junction (then a complete C - Turn) - Makurdi - Lafia - Akwanga - Keffi - Abuja. this would take about 14 hours, it is longer but fewer bad spots.

Before some posters would start asking how I got to know this routes, I am a regular traveler and my job takes to me to different parts of this country. Just yesterday i traveled to Ibadan from abuja through the Jebba - Mokwa Ilorin road and on Wednesday last week i traveled from Enugu to Abuja through Lokoja; then the flood was just at the edge of the road.

Best of luck to all travelers.

The truth is that whether Sokoto has Oil or not, oil would be discovered in the north in no time. If countries like Chad, Niger can have Oil deposits the other States in the north would have Oil. this would also apply to other States in other geopoliical zones of the State

As much as this calls for celebration as it would lead to more revenue and benefits for the States and the federal government, it would also make the state experience first hand the attendant problems the Niger deltans have had to cope with all this years especially environmental degradation, pollution and the disturbing fact that though the Oil well will be in the Sokoto a good % of the accruing revenue goes to the federal Government.

I wish them the best.

It is part of the dividends of democracy courtesy of ACN.

I wonder who Patrick Obahiagbon think he is talking to. How many Nigerians would understand his statement on first reading without resorting to the use of a good dictionary by his/her side. Also even the Ogonis and other Nigerians and other may not understand a single phrase of the content of his statement.

“Let it be noted that at the risk of sounding platitudinously humdrum, we have asseverated for the umpteenth time, that the convocation of a sovereign national conference for purposes of interrogating the odoriferous vaudeville of our national jeremiad, remains the only potent and efficaciously utilitarian paspartou out of our cascading national sirocco but alas, disdain complacency to say the least and at best Olympian pococuranteism and the tedium of prescriptive poco a poco is what we have been greeted with by intellectual philistines, high priests of a prebendal state and their opprobrious agents...”

My fellow nairalanders, please lets analyze the speech above

Just look for a way of sorting out things, divorce should not come into the picture for now. Keep talking to her and praying over it. If possible talk to her close friends or people you think she respects. Most things that appears not to have a solution get resolved with time. Like you stated your married is not up to a year yet.
So work on it.

Samsung Galaxy SIII should be compared with iPhone 4S, while the Galaxy SII should be compared with iPhone 4.

The main difference between iPhone 4 and Iphone 4S is Siri, the Intelligent personal asssitant.

For a more detailed comparism and analysis I advise that you check www.gsmarena.com

There is a big difference between speaking the truth and speaking at the right time and in the right way. When Jesus was asked what to do with the woman caught in adultery, He was not haste to respond neither did He respond the way you and I would have. The most ready reply was to tell them to and get the man she was caught in the act with. Needless to say that His answer achieved the best result.

Pastor Bakare may be speaking the truth but the acrimony and resentment underlying his messages betrays a bitterness that has not been dealt with. To use God's pulpit to get back at the people God ordained you to pray for is sacrilege.

[i][/i]

There is a difference between speaking the truth and speaking the truth in love. Though Bakare may be speaking the truth but in doing so he is also insulting certain persons like the South - South People. He may not agree with Jonathan on issues, but that does not give him the right to insult people from a particular area.

As a Pastor, the most important thing is to speak the truth in love.

I wonder what is Pastor's Bakare's motives are

our youth lack manners.

THE GUY IS GREAT, HE HAS DONE THE BEST HE CAN, LETS WISH HIM THE BEST IN FUTURE

Please moderator, more serious issues should make the front page, not picture stuffs