₦airaland Forum

tpia:
In my opinion, being inter ethnic places the children permanently between two worlds because they're never fully part of one particular tribe. So most of them can't have the hang ups and blind nationalism that comes with being members of only one group. I read something somewhere that explains what I mean more accurately- when I locate the book, I'll post that particular quote.

I'm not sure if I'm being too clear here.

I don't know what book you are referring to, and I'm not too sure I agree totally with all the opinions expressed in it, which you have tried to put put across. Many of us are Nigerians. A few of us have lived & studied in the West. Some have even relocated to the West, to earn a living, yet they still come to their homeland for holidays and on business. Are they 'placed permanently  between two worlds?'    

A lot of Nigerians speak English in addition to their native language, or one or more indigenous Nigerian languages. Speaking English and living a westernized Nigerian lifestyle, (as opposed to a rural, traditional one) in an urban city, is a fluid dynamic routine that most of us are conversant with. Are we also stuck between two worlds? Do we belong in one, and not the other?    

Imani pointed out in one of her posts, that Nigeria is a strongly patrilineal society. I agree. Except for a few cultures, most of the ethnic groups in Nigeria follow this trend. So what is the problem? Where the mother comes from, often isn't a major issue, because in most cultural matters, it is often the prevailing culture in the father's place, that holds sway in the child's life. And it is often the determinant factor, in arriving at major cultural decisions.

It is only in cases of dysfunctional or single-parent families, that the child may be at a disadvantage when it comes to certain issues e.g. inheritance. But this is often rectified, by the single-parent making a will, in order to forestall any conflict when issues pertaining to inheritance arise. In order to cope with other cultural issues, the child could learn to become familiar with the tenets of both cultures, including language, customs[i] et al.[/i]

As a child of an inter-ethnic marriage, I can say in all honesty, that I have never experienced any kind of discrimination, for being a product of an inter-ethnic relationship. I don't know of any part of Nigeria where a child would be denied of his rights and priviledges, simply because his mother comes from another ethnic group. A collegue of mine once said: "Among my father's people, am a son of the soil but among my mother's kindred, am an honoured guest."   For me, it has always been more of an advantage, than anything else. I am fully part of both worlds, even if my words carry more weight in my father's clan. I also have to undertake more responsibilities in my father's lineage, than in my maternal one. One is blessed to have been fully assimilated, into both societies.

Some of my friends have not been as fortunate. They hardly speak their mother's language, and are barely fluent in their father's tongue. So the unease they feel in their own cultural setting, stems from their lack of familiarity with their own ethnic customs. I guess for them, they can never fully be part of one particular tribe, simply because they are not conversant with the culture of either tribe.

Finally, I agree to a certain extent, with your statement that for inter-ethnic kids "most of them can't have the hang ups and blind nationalism that comes with being members of only one group." It is true, in most cases. But in some cases, they could suffer from the same blind nationalism as members of a mono-ethnic group, if their feelings of angst are fuelled by uncomplimentary remarks from a third party or another ethnic group they are totally unrelated to, or share no blood ties, with.

Um, am I making any sense?

mohadana:
who are your kinsmen?if you know them, named them, are you scared of xycord insults.that militia

Me! Scared of 'who'?? Xtycod?? God forbid bad thing. Tufiakwa!!

All the people wey big pass am, and di ones wey better pas am, no scare me. Na why I go come dey fear xtycod? Wetin e be? Na ordinary '404'! 

Am disappointed in you, sha o. From all my posts on this site, you ought to be able to draw accurate deductions, about where my kinsmen come from!

Afam:
I guess this forum will give you more than enough time to expose your level of reasoning.

1. So, you are now defining rigging for us abi? Well done. Maybe Bush manipulated honestly for public gains.

Hehehehe. . . . . Ouch!!

MILITIA:
@laudate! Eh-hennnnnnnnn! Now you are speaking my language! I beg give me any one of ya relatives from the north oh! I like that Muazu wellu wellu! Oyinbo and grammar dey sweet for im mouth wellu wellu! Please I have been searching for one hausa "boyfriend" form Nairaland since I joined. They are so hard to get! Not all these dime a dozen southerners like mohadana them!--------Awon agberos! Empty vessels!

I beg no vex! E jo sir!

Alright, I no dey vex again. You are forgiven!

I think say na Northerner you dey find before, na you don narrow am to Hausa. Anyway, nothing spoil. Shey, na Hausa Muslim or Hausa Christian, ehn? Send me your specs. sharp, sharp, so that I can start working on the introduction!

denex:
I just went to sit down and didn't even bother that people who came after me were being served before me. They said it was unNigerian, and that's why that arrested me.

That was one of the craziest days of my life. Arrested for being nice and orderly.

Chei!! How can people be so wicked, biko?! Is it a crime to be orderly in Naija? Why is it taken for granted in some parts of this nation, that one has to behave like a tout?

mohadana:
so laduate is a nigerian first then a yoruba second.

Nah, you don miss am.

Why are you so eager to dash me to the Yoruba people, ehn? Do you want my kinsmen to fight you? Hehehehe. . . for your info. am a Nigerian first, and a Nigerian, second, third, fourth. . . .till infinity!

MILITIA:
@laudate!
No thanks, I get plenty already! Your relatives? O ti o!

No make me vex o! Na wetin do my relations, ehn? Look my northern cousins are fine 'bobos' o! You wan try?

No make too much yanga o, otherwise I go change my mind about the introduction!

For your information, Yaradua no dey handsome at all. Go check out Muazu and see the meaning of fine boy!

xtycod:
Piece of crap.
Buhahaha. Spot the difference: Xtycod                   vs   Laudate
                                                concerned citizen   vs   A clown with a crisis resultant from hybrid identity
IP ko PI ni.

You, 'concerned citizen!' Who dash you?? Nothing wey person no go see for this place.

You hate the people of the South-West with so much passion, that am sure you can gargle with the bile that rises up in your throat. Now, you want us to believe you are a 'concerned citizen.' Kai! What are you 'concerned' about, Mr. Tribalist? Please tell us o, because we know you certainly can't be concerned about the dead Yorubas. This your show of concern, is reminiscent of a person crying crocodile tears at the death of his enemy.

Don't worry. Everyone knows you for what you are. You are a big-time bigot.

A leopard does not change his spots.

mohadana:
you are from Cross River or Delta State.

mohadana:
Akwa Ibom,or Rivers state.

Hehehehe. . . . keep guessing!

mohadana:
Laudate is yoruba.

For where??! Di only thing be say, I don live for Yoruba land for many years sha, and I even go to school for there. And as usual, I get plenty, plenty relatives too, from that area. Hehehehe. . .   

GNature:
Laudate, na waa for you ooh.  I have heared you say you have relations for the south east and south west and it seems you are from edo state. Now, you are saying you get plenty plenty relations for the north too; haba, is there a part of nigeria where you no get relations ? 

Nah, am not from Edo State. Hehehe. . . . . am a true Nigerian! But the only place where I never get relations na Bakassi.

Hey! Who told you that Atiku is Agabkoba's in-law, ehn??

xtycod:
Hahahah. My friend laudate, the matter is serious. I advise you to advise your brothers to desist from their evil ways. Have you noticed that all the victims (may their souls RIP) in these building collapse are Yoruba, based on their names? The cement-sand mixers sure know their target market.

Oh, so you noticed that the victims were mostly Yoruba? Eeyah, how sad. May God Almighty comfort those they left behind. And may the souls of the departed, rest in perfect peace. Maybe if the victims had hailed from across the Niger, you would have accused Yoruba people of killing your brethren.

Now let's get back to the topic. You said I should advise "my brothers." Who are my brothers, please? Tell me their names, addresses, state of origin and local govt. area, since you know them well. While you are at it, include the name of the traditional ruler of their town. And round up your answers by giving a short description of their height, weight and skin complexion. Provide solid proof o! Every correct response, gets ten marks!

Finally, since you have decided to gloat over the collapse of buildings and the injury of the victims, may the same fate befall you. Since you know so much about the cement-mixers, it is obvious that you must be one of their accomplices.

Someone should inform the authorities to extract your IP address from this website and use it to trace your location. You will definitely look good in leg-irons, chains and handcuffs, once they have tracked you down.

tpia:
yes, most of them generally are, though this might not always be a good thing, especially when they're facing unmitigated bigotry from the so-called " authentic" real mccoys.

It sort of places the children permanently between two worlds. But I really believe intertribal unions can only benefit us in the long run.

Uh?? Bigotry exists everywhere. Some racist white folks who feel they are better than blacks, may show their nasty sides to an African or an African-American, by bullying such a person or placing him on the receiving end of their racist taunts. Bullies exist everywhere too, from the playground to the workplace. It is how the victim deals with it, that counts.

What makes an individual feel he is the "authentic real McCoy", and others are not? A psychological inferiority complex. Such a person tries to compensate for his inner inadequacies by trying to act superior. If inter-ethnic kids are conversant with both ancestral cultures & have a healthy dose of self-esteem, they can deal with any one who tries to put them down.

Finally your second comment is unclear. Pray tell, in what way does an inter-ethnic ancestry, place the children permanently between two worlds? Can you be more explicit? Am not too sure I got the point, you were trying to make.

@Mohadana,

Just curious. Are you an Igbo man living in Ijawland?

tonte:
look with or with out obj naija would still have gotten GSM

NO!! Don't forget that analogue mobile phone technology, had arrived since the time of Abacha. What did Abacha do? He hawked the licences to his Lebanese & Arab friends e.g. Chagoury & Chagoury, and ignored the real telecoms companies & experts.

The Chagoury family set up Motophone as their own franchisee, to handle that business. What did they do? Absolutely nothing! They sat on the license and milked the country dry, using foul means. NITEL got the analogue license to run the 090-number series mobile phones. They performed marginally better than the Chagoury's by making it atrociously expensive, so that only the rich could afford it. At that time, a 090-line & handset was sold for over 150, 000 naira. The network was abysmally poor & crazy, and the call rates were even crazier. Even under Abubakar, the issue was not revisited.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2001/01/17/20010117beh01.html

What am I saying? Previous rulers before OBJ, never created an enabling environment for GSM to take off, much less thrive. OBJ threw it open through public bidding, and compelled the 1st set of foreign telecoms companies to perform, by giving them an unrealistic deadline, December 2001. They almost broke their backs, but they made it. The first major external MTN call was made that year, from the NITEL office on Temple road Ikoyi, by network engineers who assembled the mast, boosters & antenna all through the night. Econet (now Celtel) also went live, the same year. In less than a year, the telecoms comapnies & their entire industry witnessed a change, that previous rulers had refused to allow them, to carry out in previous years.

Today, you and I can walk into any shop, and buy a phone set of our choice or a sim card, at an affordable amount. We can make calls at our own pace, without queuing up for hours on end, in one dingy business centre. Some of us have even dashed out handsets or lines, to our friends & family. Something which wouldn't have been possible, a few years ago. We shouldn't forget those who helped, to make it happen.

As much as I dislike OBJ, I will always give him credit for this one thing he did to make GSM accessible to the Nigerian public.

xtycod:
Laudate, have you heard of a new building collapse in Lagos, 24 hours after the one I posted here (now deleted for ). The cement mixers are at work, real hard.

Anyway, you have never been to Lagos, that is why you are talking like this. I pray the rescue team will be able to pull out all those trapped in those houses, quickly so they can receive treatment in time. Once the evacuation is complete, someone should remind those Lagosians to send their medical bills to you, as well as the cost of the rescue effort.

Or have you forgotten that you were the one who gave the cement mixers tutorials, on how to carry out their nefarious practice?? They are just following your footsteps, o! You really ought to be proud of yourself!!

MILITIA:
@laudate
Any thing called Northerner from that part Nigeria beats any "mugu" from the south! So if e dey pain you, go drink hemlock!

Hehehehe. . . . why e go pain me? I get plenty, plenty relations for that side, too. If you behave yahself, I fit introduce one of them to you. Oya, put yah 'gizim' for here, make I fit tell dem to begin dey call you!  

tpia:
I don't know about this Igbo paternity thing.

OBJ has always looked Ugandan, to me.

(I'm entitled to my personal opinion, please.)

Your opinion is a valid one, jare!

My own opinion sha, is that someone in OBJ's family should ask di man to do a test, to confirm or dispprove the rumours. Look at it this way. If it turns out to be true that Igwe Onyejekwe is his father, that means OBJ would be a real-life Onitsha prince. Chei! The mind boggles at the endless possibilities that could arise, from a positive DNA result.

And if it turns out that the whole thing is a hoax. . . ah, well. . . we would all have had a good laugh, at OBJ's expense. Hehehehehe. . .nothing spoil!

NINETOFIVE:
Eh! Yoruba people,and opportunism na wah oh!, people no get shame.

Oh, there are no opportunists in your own neck of the woods, abi?

Don't worry, am sure the Yoruba people will soon give you the answer, that you deserve. _*Hiss*

spaceworld:
He brought GSM to Nigeria. (for the rich or the masses?) it is a failed project

Ehn, who talk say GSM na failed project?? Who??! Anyway, I no blame una. As much as I dislike OBJ, I must confess that the GSM thing was probably the only thing, he got right. 

People have forgotten that prior to GSM, we were paying through the nose for epileptic NITEL lines that hardly ever worked.  Telephone seemed to be the exclusive preserve of the rich, while the poor were condemned to using malfunctioning phone booths, and cramped, dingy call centres. NITEL technicians were like Lagos landlords[i] (i.e. shylocks), [/i] while the black market for analogue & digital phones, thrived. And whenever your lines got tossed, you had to carry all your billls and stand in one endless queue, begging their officials to reconcile your account & reconnect your line.

Now Mufu my brother's tailor, has a phone. Ekaette, my optician also has 'gizim.' I don't have to run to Oyingbo to call my mechanic Taofeek anymore, to do a repair job. I merely flash him & he comes running.

Abeg, levels don change o!

@Mohadana,

Abeg, leave the girl, jare! She is free to be, what she wants to be. Carry go, Militia!

Vigasimple, May God bless you ninety times on Monday, and one million times on Sundays for that interesting observation!! Pre-ee-each it, bro'!

docokwy:
Obasanjo’s Dad Was A Proper Owu Man —Oba Ojelade

http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2950

Na wetin I dey see so? Eh, Docokwy you want to tell me that you doubt Orji Kalu's story? Hehehehehe. . . were you not the same person that agreed Orji must have been serious, when he said Obasanjo knelt down for him? Do you remember that thread?  You wan come dey talk another thing now.

Abeg, forget that Oba Ojelade wey dey claim say, OBJ na Owu man. He no sabi di real gist, jare!     

[quote author=I-man link=topic=59162.msg1210298#msg1210298 date=1182033232]Seriously,I need to know my neighbours.Just realised that recently.I want to travel and I need  them to take care of the house.Its a measure of the hectic and unsociable existence we live in the West.[/quote]

Imani:
You only want to know your neighbours so they can do stuff for you. How convinient opportunistic

Hehehehe. . . . .

nossycheek:
Love conquers all. Just don't give up!

Gee, thanks!

MILITIA:
  I beg God to make me a northerner if I come back as a nigerian----if any thing like reincarnation dey.  Una dey make me shame!
@Xtycod
You dog meat from calabar!  "Anu 404"  like you! Calabar houseboy!

Militia, Militia, Militia. . . na how many times I call you, ehn? You don become one-man riot squad for here o! Stop upsetting the apple cart.

As for becoming a Northerner, shey, you know say Northerner get plenty, plenty descriptions o! Different types exist o.

Do you want to be a Hausa Christian from Southern Zaria suffering discrimination on a regular basis, or a Kanuri from Borno, or a nomadic Fulani from Kano hinterland, or an aristocratic one from the Palaces, or a Tiv, Birom or Atap, or do you wish to be a Nupe, Igbirra, Idoma or Bachama from the savannah middle-belt? Or would you prefer to be a relative of the Emirate, or a part of an Emir's harem? Or would you opt for life as an Igala man, or a Yakurr from Gowon's region?

Let us know o! Afterall, all these people. . . .na Northerner them be!

_{* Ehm, by the way, the '404' example in your post, was. . . . hilarious!!} Hehehehe

Aneef:
So what is the big deal in him taken the job of spokesman for the president,abeg find better thing to write because puttiing you in the same position you will do the same or even worst.And,that does not even make him to compromise his stand in all ramification.Please,critized others less because whether we like or not we don't have any other govt aside from this one now and we should all give it supoorts it requires.

Um, are you talking to me? I don't recall criticising him for taking any job o! What's your beef?

A Paternity Controversy

Could Igwe Joseph Okwudili Onyejekwe, the 19th Obi of Onitsha, who was on the throne between 1962 and 1970, be the biological father of Aremu Matthew Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo?

By MichaeI Mukwuzi

It may sound stranger than fiction, but as daylight melts into darkness, the rumour about Obasanjo’s Igbo roots is gaining currency. Former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, had inadvertently teed off the Obasanjo paternity debate a few weeks ago when he declared that nobody should use the ex-president’s failings as a yardstick to appraise the competence of Yoruba leaders, because Obasanjo is not a Yoruba man in the first place.

But the significance of Kalu’s postulation was lost on many who dismissed it with a wave of the hand. However, last week, tales about Obasanjo’s non-Yoruba ancestry received an oriental twist when The Nation of Sunday, 10 June, published what could be regarded as the biggest affront on Obasanjo’s paternity. Slammed on its front page were two identical photographs of Obasanjo with the headline “Spot The Difference.” While on the right was an old photograph of Obasanjo, on the left was what appeared like an old black-and-white photo of the same Obasanjo. To assist the reader, who apparently, would require the services of a graphic artist to spot the difference, The Nation editors provided a caption to illustrate the pictures. “The personality in picture A is not former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is in picture B. But what do both personalities have in common?” The Nation asked.

The man in picture A, The Nation explained, was an Igbo who lived in the Abeokuta area in the 1930s, about the time Obasanjo was born. According to The Nation, the police officer later became a monarch on a prominent South-Eastern throne. Before then, however, he had interacted fruitfully with the local community and had a brief affair with an Owu lady, before his final exit from the South-West.

Though the newspaper did not say more than that, it left little to the imagination. Whatever innuendo was left of the brewing Obasanjo paternity controversy was blown open the next day by the Abuja-based Leadership newspaper via a damning column tagged Olusegun Igbochukwu Obasanjo, authored by Sam Nda-Isaiah. Using the pictures supplied by The Nation as the fodder of his write-up, the columnist released the bombshell. “The editors of The Nation didn’t want to say much, and they have left us to our imagination, but it won’t be from me that you will hear that Obasanjo’s father was Igwe Onyejekwe, a top ranking police officer who became the Igwe of Onitsha in his lifetime. During his controversial reign, the throne was in contention between him and Igwe Okosi II, just as it is today between Igwe Achebe and Igwe Odukwe,” Nda-Isaiah wrote.

Not done with Obasanjo, the columnist went for the kill: “Igwe Onyejekwe, Obasanjo’s daddy, died after the civil war and, like his son, was said to be very cantankerous and quarrelsome.”

The columnist intoned that the circumstances of his birth and rejection would have helped make the former president a very bitter and wicked person. He implored Nigerians never to make anyone their leader except they know where he is coming from. “And Nigerians really saw that proverbial wickedness in the last eight years. It is a very wicked man that would increase the price of a litre of fuel by a whopping N10 on his way out of power, simply because he has a pecuniary interest in refineries he had just sold away. It is also a very bad and wicked president that would double the value of VAT on his way out. What does it cost to be nice and kind and empathetic? Nothing! But that’s for normal people. And Obasanjo is far from being normal.”

Closing on a comical note, the columnist advised that since Obasanjo loves power so much and is a prince of Onitsha, ‘‘can’t we just simply crown him the Igwe so that he can leave us alone?’’

But can it be true? Is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Balogun of Owu in Egbaland, be the biological son of Igwe Joseph Okwudili Onyejekwe, the Obi Onitsha Ado N’Idu from 1962-1970? Onyejekwe ascended the coveted throne after the demise of Igwe James Okosi who ruled from 1931-1935. His enthronement came after the report of the famous W.R. Harding Commission, which resolved disputes among the contenders for the throne.

If the answers are in the affirmative, does that mean that the Igbo have accidentally taken their eight years ration at the presidency and the Yoruba have not?

Oba Isaac Adeyemi Ojelade- Badegunle 1, the Onibogun of Ibogunland, Obasanjo’s reputed maternal hometown, says the rumour peddlers are either callous or are just doing it out of idleness. “It is a big lie, it is nothing but rumours. Obasanjo is a typical Abeokuta man and his father was a pure Egba man from Owu with three facial marks on each side of his cheeks. As a matter of fact, his father came from Abule Elere to Ibogun. They are from Agbole-Olusomi in Abeokuta and I come from his mother’s lineage,” the nonagenarian told TheNEWS.

And on page 84 of the 253-page biography titled: Olusegun Obasanjo in The Eyes Of Time- A Biography of the African Statesman, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, making reference to Obasanjo’s paternity, wrote: “A little over a year after Ashabi’s (Obasanjo’s mother) death, Amos Adigun Obasanjo Bankole passed away following a brief illness. He was buried at Onigbedu where he had remained till the very end. At 22, just when a smile was perching on his face, Olusegun Obasanjo became an orphan.”

But the rumour peddlers are far from being convinced. In Onitsha the popular story is that Obasanjo is the product of a romantic liaison between Igwe Onyejekwe and Ashabi, Obasanjo’s mother, in the 1930s. As the story goes, the Onitsha prince jettisoned the idea of taking Ashabi as wife because doing so would hurt his chances of ascending the throne.

Another source told the magazine in Onitsha that Onyejekwe actually issued a recommendation that facilitated Obasanjo’s enlistment into the Nigerian Army in 1958. However, in Adinoyi-Ojo’s book there is no mention of Obasanjo requiring recommendation from anyone to join the Army.

Yet the proponents of Obasanjo’s Igboship point to a statement credited to him (Obasanjo) during a working visit to Anambra State as confirmation of their claim. Obasanjo had reportedly told an audience in Awka that any of his children is qualified to govern Anambra State. Though the statement was brushed aside then as a gibberish political talk, it has become invaluable with the advantage of hindsight. Whatever anyone chooses to believe, indications are that the rumour mill will remain in overdrive for some time.

_*Source* www.nigeriavillagesquare.com

Rlst84sale:
Brother,

I think you've had your moment as a single man, now it's time to just call it quit. You don't have to lie to let them for them to know where you stand. I think you must be enjoying it and I hope you don't forget that you are now a father and you have a daughter even if you don't have respect for your wife. Many times it's not the look that gets the women, it's what we tell them. There must have been somethings you told them or still telling them that make them not to want to let go.

WORD!!! Di bobo just dey yarn yeye gist for here, make we think say im dey hot! Nonsense! If a man makes it clear that he is available, why should he complain when women decide to stalk him? Abeg, tell am make he commot for road, jare!

denex:
@ laudate

It couldn't have been written that "there was incontrovertible evidence that Abiola planned with Abacha to topple the ING" because you just made up that statement some moments ago. Unless of course you're trying to attribute the writer of that article with metaphysical journalism.

My question to you though is how you managed to skip that part of the article earlier when you took on the task of reproducing it.

Denex, go back & re-read my post again. And please this time, try & put on your thinking cap while you are at it! I never made up anything! I asked if that statement  "that Abiola planned with Abacha to topple the ING," was presented as incontrovertible evidence, in that article. Please next time, when you do not understand what I have written, or the point am trying to make, just ASK!! Do not try to read meanings into my statements and do not accuse me of conjecture. If that is your own style, habit or occupation, well, it is NOT mine!

That article is a rather long one & pasting it here would take up too much space, so I chose to highlight the salient points. What is the problem with that? All the points you raised were cast as allegations & speculations, in that article. Even this particular one you are hammering on. Go back & re-read it, and kindly make sure you understand the basic points. Thank you!

You are asking us to accept something that the report clearly calls an allegation, as a fact. No Sir! I find that difficult to swallow. But if that is your preference, hey, feel free to indulge in speculation.

denex:
Let's stop deceiving ourselves if we really want this country to get any better. Abiola was a bad man.

Please let us know your own definition of 'bad.' If you mean bad, as in 'evil,' well, that is your own opinion. Like Wole Soyinka once said to IBB years back, "no-one is looking for a saint to direct Nigeria's affairs anymore. The criteria is that the person elected must represent the will of the people."

denex:
You don't know what it takes to build a country.
In a country like China which is very strict with corrupt people, Abiola could be hanged for using bags of rice as election bait. And here you can boldly say "just because he gave out rice".

So you now want us to immortalize Abiola so that our youth will start dreaming of how they can pull contract scams on government like Abiola did. You want to send a message to them that crime is okay as long as you have a landslide victory at the polls?

You are right, I don't! But I do know, that one of the first steps to moving forward, is to get people together long enough to sink their differences, and focus on the issue at hand, instead of squabbling and creating unecessary enmity, using their ethnic & religious differences as an excuse, to cause mayhem. In this respect, Abiola tried his best.

No one is asking that Abiola should be immortalised for "pulling contract scams on government or that crime is okay as long as you have a landslide victory at the polls," to use your own words. Until there is proven evidence on that score, I cannot label that man, as a crook.

Most of the issues you have raised so far, are based on hearsay and allegations. Until concrete proof is brought into the open, that Abiola did all those evil things you claim, I chose to err on the side of caution, by saying for persuading Nigerians to sink their differences long enough, to cast their votes in an election that gave him a victory that cut across ethnic or religious lines, the guy deserves to be remembered. Period.

Am out of this thread. You can continue with your rhetoric.