₦airaland Forum

I was born in Cameroun, and I am a true pan-Africanist. I am an extremely patriotic Nigerian with a lot of passion for Nigeria. Any foreigner who ever comes in contact with me ends up loving Nigeria and wanting to go there. It's my little way of rebranding Nigeria, whatever that really means. I sincerely believe that Nigeria could potentially be the greatest wholly black nation on earth if we could put our acts together and stop corruption at all cost and by all means necessary. The West is very much aware of Nigeria's potentials and they are doing everything to stop it, especially the US. This is why the American Press uses every opportunity to humiliate Nigeria, to make us lose our Natural self confidence and not compete with them toe-to-toe. There are more criminals in one American city, than all of Nigeria combined! The truth is that a powerful wholly black nation would shatter the methodical stereotype of the black race, as silly, by their media over the years. A powerful black nation would also awaken their black population to aim higher, and regain their confidence after years of emasculation. This is something they'll do everything to avoid. I honestly believe that most of our problems, especially the Niger Delta, could be traced back to LONDON AND WASHINGTON, through their multinational corporations, who corrupt and impose corrupt and inept leaders on us

"The war has come and gone but we remember with pride and hope the three heady years of freedom. These were the three years when we had the opportunity to demonstrate what Nigeria would have been even before 1970. In the three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years, we built bombs, we built rockets, we designed and built our own delivery systems. We guided our rockets, we guided them far, and we guided them accurately. For three years, blockaded without hope of imports, we maintained engines, machines, and technical equipment. The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens, we built and maintained airports, we maintained them under heavy bombardment. We spoke to the world through a telecommunications system engineered by local ingenuity. The world heard us and spoke back to us. We built armoured cars and tanks. We modified aircraft from trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In three years of freedom, we had broken the technological barrier. In three years, we became the most civilized, the most technologically advanced black people on earth.

In their reactions to the demand by the North for a reallocation of oil resources, some key South-South figures described the call as insulting and a further proof that the North is ungrateful to the South. Below are their excerpts of the reactions:

Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, founder of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

“I have said it before and I will continue to reinforce it; Nigeria is a forced union and such cannot stand the test of time. Very soon, we in the Niger Delta shall commence what we call Operation Occupy Niger Delta Resources; once that starts, we shall lead a protest to the President with a warning that no dime of our oil money should henceforth, be sent to the north which has all these years, criminally manipulated the Nigerian state to the extent of claiming more population than the south, a situation that has resulted in the parasitic accumulation of our resources to their desolate local government areas which are mere structural entities without human beings.

It is now time for both the UN and the AU to come to Nigeria and conduct a scientific population analysis of the country; I make bold to say that Kano state is not more populated than Bayelsa not to talk of Lagos state. This is the fraud they have used to criminally determine the sharing of resources. As it stands today, we are getting very close to the point that we shall inevitably be on a collision course with our brother, Jonathan because we shall not fold our hands and allow this provocation to continue beyond now. Let the north go its own way and the others should also determine their future. To say the least, the outburst of the northern governors is not only a lazy and parasitic one, it is highly provocative and we are close to the situation where each region will control its resources.”

Professor Itse Sagay, Constitutional Law expert:
“I have been following the debate like others; unfortunately, those who speak on behalf of the Niger Delta on the issue have failed to hit the nail on the head. They should be bold enough to ask their northern colleagues, where does the nation’s revenue come from- instead of caressing the issue rather cautiously.

The northern part of this country does not contribute anything to the national purse. If the area that produces the resources has just a token of 13 percent, the remaining 87 percent is free gift to the entire nation, particularly the North that has nothing to show for its existence. At the Political Reform Conference in 2005, we went to the Federal Ministry of Finance to get figures and facts about what each of the zones contributed to the commonwealth. What we saw was amazing; the North-West brings nothing, the same with the North-Central and North-East. South-West brings minor but the South-South and south east contributes 91 percent.

The posture of the northern governors is the height of ingratitude and insult on the people of the oil-producing areas because they would have been bankrupt if not for the revenue that has been accruing to them from the proceeds of oil and gas.

This is a wake-up call on the people of the oil-bearing region. For instance this is the time to come together and fight intellectually for the anomaly in the uneven allocation of oil blocs in the country. You will observe that because of the long stay of the north in power at the centre, they manipulated the process and cornered these blocs to the disadvantage of the south; today, you have all juicy oil blocs in the hands of the north. Now that Jonathan is there, I would not want to sound being immodest by calling for a revocation of the blocs allocated to the northern businessmen, but from the look of things, they have decided to take the entire South for a ride, so Jonathan should ensure that he corrects this imbalance by allocating more oil-blocs to people in the South to make up for the inequity in the sector.”

Professor Godini Darah, university don, resource control advocate:
“It is an outrageous provocation, an act of ingratitude; for over years, oil has been sustaining the development of the north, yet they are behaving like imperial masters.

Nigeria should be a federal republic with people controlling their resources. Now that they have [provoked us, we will insist on nothing less than 100 percent. In 2005, we advocated and demanded a compromise of 50 percent which was the position at independence before the so-called northern power mongers manipulated the political process and stole our resources and rights of ownership in an innocuous and disdainful Section 44(3) of the constitution that oil found anywhere in the country belongs to the federal government.

That particular section of the constitution should be abrogated and a new clause inserted so that there will be 100 per cent ownership of resources by the people. This is very equitable and just; the North will also benefit from such arrangement because it is rich in minerals. Nasarawa and Plateau have at least 21 of such minerals. Let oil and gas found in the continental shelf belong to the coastal states. We are only inspired by this arrogance of the north and we will not rest until we achieve the resource control goal”

Comrade Joseph Evah, Chairman, Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG):
“My opinion on this matter is very different; I am very happy at the way the northern governors have come out to call the entire south-south governors and politicians fools, that is what they have done and I am happy about it because the same set of politicians will go to them at night and beg them for one position or the other why won’t they think they own Nigeria? I f you look at the way even the governors of oil-producing states are responding, they are talking with only one lip of their mouth because they are afraid to say something.

Some of them are already thinking about their future election or what they intend to get from one northern leader. I won’t be surprised if the northern governors have their way because they have a way of getting their goals because of the gullibility of our political leaders from the south-south.

Rear Admiral Festus Porbeni, former Transport Minister, former Chief of Naval Staff:
“We are close what some of us have for a very long time, advocated. We need to sit down and discuss our terms of existence and co-operation as Nigerians; I am not talking about a Sovereign National Conference but a National Dialogue whose views form the basis for a better national direction”.

Festus Keyamo, Lagos Lawyer:
“I think their clamour for more funds lacks moral merits because they only need to look more inwards and get more revenue, possibly more than the south itself. To be candid, the over-dependence of the north on oil revenue is not good for them at all”.

n their reactions to the demand by the North for a reallocation of oil resources, some key South-South figures described the call as insulting and a further proof that the North is ungrateful to the South. Below are their excerpts of the reactions:

Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, founder of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

“I have said it before and I will continue to reinforce it; Nigeria is a forced union and such cannot stand the test of time. Very soon, we in the Niger Delta shall commence what we call Operation Occupy Niger Delta Resources; once that starts, we shall lead a protest to the President with a warning that no dime of our oil money should henceforth, be sent to the north which has all these years, criminally manipulated the Nigerian state to the extent of claiming more population than the south, a situation that has resulted in the parasitic accumulation of our resources to their desolate local government areas which are mere structural entities without human beings.

It is now time for both the UN and the AU to come to Nigeria and conduct a scientific population analysis of the country; I make bold to say that Kano state is not more populated than Bayelsa not to talk of Lagos state. This is the fraud they have used to criminally determine the sharing of resources. As it stands today, we are getting very close to the point that we shall inevitably be on a collision course with our brother, Jonathan because we shall not fold our hands and allow this provocation to continue beyond now. Let the north go its own way and the others should also determine their future. To say the least, the outburst of the northern governors is not only a lazy and parasitic one, it is highly provocative and we are close to the situation where each region will control its resources.”

Professor Itse Sagay, Constitutional Law expert:
“I have been following the debate like others; unfortunately, those who speak on behalf of the Niger Delta on the issue have failed to hit the nail on the head. They should be bold enough to ask their northern colleagues, where does the nation’s revenue come from- instead of caressing the issue rather cautiously.

The northern part of this country does not contribute anything to the national purse. If the area that produces the resources has just a token of 13 percent, the remaining 87 percent is free gift to the entire nation, particularly the North that has nothing to show for its existence. At the Political Reform Conference in 2005, we went to the Federal Ministry of Finance to get figures and facts about what each of the zones contributed to the commonwealth. What we saw was amazing; the North-West brings nothing, the same with the North-Central and North-East. South-West brings minor but the South-South and south east contributes 91 percent.

The posture of the northern governors is the height of ingratitude and insult on the people of the oil-producing areas because they would have been bankrupt if not for the revenue that has been accruing to them from the proceeds of oil and gas.

This is a wake-up call on the people of the oil-bearing region. For instance this is the time to come together and fight intellectually for the anomaly in the uneven allocation of oil blocs in the country. You will observe that because of the long stay of the north in power at the centre, they manipulated the process and cornered these blocs to the disadvantage of the south; today, you have all juicy oil blocs in the hands of the north. Now that Jonathan is there, I would not want to sound being immodest by calling for a revocation of the blocs allocated to the northern businessmen, but from the look of things, they have decided to take the entire South for a ride, so Jonathan should ensure that he corrects this imbalance by allocating more oil-blocs to people in the South to make up for the inequity in the sector.”

Professor Godini Darah, university don, resource control advocate:
“It is an outrageous provocation, an act of ingratitude; for over years, oil has been sustaining the development of the north, yet they are behaving like imperial masters.

Nigeria should be a federal republic with people controlling their resources. Now that they have [provoked us, we will insist on nothing less than 100 percent. In 2005, we advocated and demanded a compromise of 50 percent which was the position at independence before the so-called northern power mongers manipulated the political process and stole our resources and rights of ownership in an innocuous and disdainful Section 44(3) of the constitution that oil found anywhere in the country belongs to the federal government.

That particular section of the constitution should be abrogated and a new clause inserted so that there will be 100 per cent ownership of resources by the people. This is very equitable and just; the North will also benefit from such arrangement because it is rich in minerals. Nasarawa and Plateau have at least 21 of such minerals. Let oil and gas found in the continental shelf belong to the coastal states. We are only inspired by this arrogance of the north and we will not rest until we achieve the resource control goal”

Comrade Joseph Evah, Chairman, Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG):
“My opinion on this matter is very different; I am very happy at the way the northern governors have come out to call the entire south-south governors and politicians fools, that is what they have done and I am happy about it because the same set of politicians will go to them at night and beg them for one position or the other why won’t they think they own Nigeria? I f you look at the way even the governors of oil-producing states are responding, they are talking with only one lip of their mouth because they are afraid to say something.

Some of them are already thinking about their future election or what they intend to get from one northern leader. I won’t be surprised if the northern governors have their way because they have a way of getting their goals because of the gullibility of our political leaders from the south-south.

Rear Admiral Festus Porbeni, former Transport Minister, former Chief of Naval Staff:
“We are close what some of us have for a very long time, advocated. We need to sit down and discuss our terms of existence and co-operation as Nigerians; I am not talking about a Sovereign National Conference but a National Dialogue whose views form the basis for a better national direction”.

Festus Keyamo, Lagos Lawyer:
“I think their clamour for more funds lacks moral merits because they only need to look more inwards and get more revenue, possibly more than the south itself. To be candid, the over-dependence of the north on oil revenue is not good for them at all”.

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Poverty, education and Boko Haram
February 13, 2012 by Olufemi Adebiyi

There is no single, universally accepted, definition of poverty. This is because poverty is multidimensional. However, it is not uncommon to describe poverty as a general state of deprivation or as Baker says, “A state of being deficient in money or means of subsistence.”

In recent times, poverty has been frequently defined relative to the standards of living in a society. Thus, it is recognised when all available income is spent on food and the results still fall below a certain minimum level of calories. Recently available information places Nigeria at number 154 out of 179 countries on the Human Development Index, but Nigeria is a frontrunner on the Global Hunger Index, coasting in at number 20!

The causes of poverty in Nigeria are fairly obvious to all. They include the pervasive corruption in the land where very few got everything while the majority got nothing or mere pittance. Failure to distribute the commonwealth equitably has led to economic polarisation or the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor as well as the near total elimination of the Middle class. The pursuit of growth as an end in itself as opposed to a means to improving the well-being of the citizens is also a prime factor. Until the recent weeklong national strike and demonstrations against the removal of fuel subsidy, all major attempts by the government to create employment opportunities (especially for the youths) have been more of sloganeering, with specialised agencies of government set up for this purpose failing to make the desired impact. As a matter of fact, most (if not all) of the agencies are grossly dysfunctional, with little or no systemic coordination of their activities. The National Poverty Eradication Programme, which was set up primarily to coordinate all poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria as a way of putting this major policy in focus, became an institution for the direct implementation of programmes without the necessary capacity to do so.

[b]From available information at our disposal, pieced together from publications by the World Bank and United Nations, there is a very strong correlation between some demographic factors and poverty in Nigeria. Firstly, there are more poor people in the rural areas relative to the urban centres; and poverty is disproportionately concentrated in families whose primary livelihood is agriculture. Secondly, and within these agricultural households, 75 per cent in the North are poor compared with 59.3 per cent in the South. This underlines the preponderance of poverty in the North relative to the South. Thirdly, and in terms of geographical distribution, the highest concentration of poverty, at close to 70 per cent of the population, is in the North-East, followed by the North-West and North-Central in approximately the same proportion of more than 60 per cent of the population. The zone with the least proportion of poverty incidence is the South-East at about 33 per cent, closely followed by the South-West at about 42 per cent, and South-South at about 50 per cent.[/b]

Also from available data, the incidence of poverty in Nigeria decreases with increasing levels of education; and this is where the worry of policymakers should be. Poverty is highest in households without education and least in households with post-secondary education. The highest concentration of the poor as well as the least educated in Nigeria is in the North-East, and this is the base of Boko Haram, which literarily means ‘Western education is sinful or bad. Although leaders of the sect have claimed their actual name is Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, the group has not hidden its hatred for the West and ‘western education’, even if its members are using the products of the West, such as automobiles, mobile phones, assorted guns, motorcycles and even the western bomb-making technology to prosecute their campaign.

In our view, the greatest policy challenge the government has to confront is helping the North, especially the North-East’, to deal with illiteracy and poverty. Firstly, there should be a massive sensitisation and awareness creation in the North and the message is that there is no substitute to education in the 21st Century. Someone once said that if anyone thinks knowledge is expensive, the person should try ignorance. In the part of the country where I come from, there is a saying which, in literary translation, means ‘A child is stupid, but the parent says let the child not just die; what kills faster than stupidity?’. The people must first be convinced that education is good and it is in their best interest to be open to learning. I once read somewhere that the illiterate of this century will be those who refuse to learn, re-learn and unlearn. The first step in learning is for someone to know what he does not know but which he needs to know. That is the role of sensitisation and awareness creation. The 21st Century person must understand and appreciate how to respect the sanctity of life and the right of other people to live and be entitled to their opinion. It is the beginning of the development of a sound mind. If a person has learnt or believed anything to the contrary, then he has to un-learn whatever it is and re-learn what is universally adjudged as the fundamental principle of normal, sane living.

The Boko Haram phenomenon, though may have political dimensions as is being frequently canvassed, is in my view more poverty and education-related; and efforts to correct this anomaly should represent the focus of policy. A person with no education and who has no means of livelihood will likely place little or no value on his life, and his mind could be negatively twisted or influenced with ease. We must draw a comparison with the young man who set himself ablaze in Tunisia, which triggered the Arab Spring, and his counterpart in Nigeria who in the process of committing suicide decided to kill other innocent people. While the Tunisian was educated and would rather die alone in protest against social deprivation, his Boko Haram counterpart in Nigeria, who is most likely an illiterate and has therefore been easily brain-washed, would for one morsel of food kill himself and other innocent people without qualms. It must be noted from their tactics that none of the leaders of Boko Haram wants to die (at least the last one that was shown on television was, ironically, wearing a bullet-proof vest!), but they have many foot soldiers who are socially deprived and would, therefore, readily serve as cheap canon fodder.

The promotion of education should be an emergency in many parts of Northern Nigeria, and the Federal Government must nudge the state governments in this regard. The Federal Government must deliberately do this because some of the politicians at the helm of affairs in some of these Northern states, who are benefitting from the status quo, may not see or appreciate the sense of urgency. In the North, the opportunity cost of sending children to school is the main reason for not enrolling or for dropping out of school, and not the issue of school fees. This is why the North has more children out of school despite the fact that most of them are implementing free education. There is a need to deliberately adopt moral suasion and appropriate sensitisation techniques to check incidents of child labour and early marriage/betrothal. I know this is an uphill task, especially when cognisance is taken of how deep-rooted this problem is in the North. It may be recalled that a senator, who hails from the North, reportedly married a minor not too long ago and this became a matter of public discourse. If Nigeria must remain one indissoluble country, which is our great desire and prayer, then this issue must be given topmost priority.

High youth unemployment is a major threat to our future. It is even worse when the affected youths are illiterate. The dividing line between an illiterate adult in this century and a mad man is very thin. Just put any of the modern technological tools, especially those that are lethal in operation in his hand, and this point will be more vivid to understand. If you do not believe, ask anyone who has given any of today’s modern cars to his old mechanic for repairs and his experience will convince you. Lack of education is a poverty-aggravating point, and unless geographical targeting, with bias towards the North is given urgent priority, then all of us – the rich and the poor alike (since this government does not like the middle class and will want it exterminated at all cost) – should forget about sleeping with two eyes closed. It is not too late. The traditional institutions should be engaged in this awareness campaign about education. It is the surest way to tackle the Boko Haram phenomenon from its root.

", From available information at our disposal, pieced together from publications by the World Bank and United Nations, there is a very strong correlation between some demographic factors and poverty in Nigeria. Firstly, there are more poor people in the rural areas relative to the urban centres; and poverty is disproportionately concentrated in families whose primary livelihood is agriculture. Secondly, and within these agricultural households, 75 per cent in the North are poor compared with 59.3 per cent in the South. This underlines the preponderance of poverty in the North relative to the South. Thirdly, and in terms of geographical distribution, the highest concentration of poverty, at close to 70 per cent of the population, is in the North-East, followed by the North-West and North-Central in approximately the same proportion of more than 60 per cent of the population. The zone with the least proportion of poverty incidence is the South-East at about 33 per cent, closely followed by the South-West at about 42 per cent, and South-South at about 50 per cent, "

- Olufemi Adebiyi, "Poverty, education and Boko Haram", The Punch, Lagos, Monday 13 February 2012.

Oh well, the way things are going, they might overtake Nigeria as the so-called ‘Giant of Africa’.

My question is ‘who will in time rule the African kingdom’? With Nigeria and South Africa acting like children over who deports who faster, and Ghana playing the role of the underdog (silently developing in the background) I think I support Ghana.

You want them to thank you for killing Adaka Boro.
You want them to thank you for owning more oil blocks than them.

Nigeria has way more to lose than SA if diplomatic relations break up between the two countries.
I'm in favour of some form of escalation, it was poor form for SA to deport those guys. But the truth be told, Nigeria has more to lose. Only the top end of SA citizens would come to Nigeria, and only for business. Nigeria, on the other hand, have the entire scope of the population running to SA. Reasons ranging from capital flight to asylum seeking to holiday-making. Nobody comes to Nigeria for any of that.

And about MTN. MTN is making a killing in Nigeria, yes, but don't forget that MTN is market leader in 21 of the 22 countries it has a footprint in. After all, Vodacom never came to Nigeria, and are still doing very well. [b]Same as for Multichoice. Most of the SA investment in Nigeria is significant. If they are pulled out, it represents massive loss of job in Nigeria, not SA.[/b]

Pandemonium broke loose. People were running helter-skelter, wailing. Those who could not wail were shouting. Commentaries upon commentaries were all over the media. The cyber cafes were flooded. Everybody wanted first-hand news. General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is dead. Nigeria and Nigerians stood still.

He died early hours of Saturday, November 26, 2011, at Hammersfield Hospital London. His family and close associates confirmed this. He was ill about a year now and had been receiving treatment. His death has been unfolding many in the Pandora’s Box. People like Generals Yakubu Gowon and Olusegun Obasanjo have refused to briddle their tongues since Ojukwu died. They are now exhuming what was supposed to be left for history. Gowon, like Obasanjo, because they saw theirselves in positions they never expected all their life, by their prosecution of Ndi’Igbo in and after the 60s, they would not allow Ndi’Igbo to wipe away the tears on their (Ndi’Igbo) eyes, before they started to make derogatory statements against the dead. In his statement on his master, General Ojukwu, all Obasanjo could recall was that he requested Ojukwu to apologize to the nation for coming up with the Biafran state, “but that Ojukwu refused”, while Gowon is blaming Ojukwu for leading Biafrans to the war. It is a pity that Obasanjo have not realized that he had egocentric interest; never really cared about anybody, including his Yoruba race. While Ndi’Igbo are trying to stop taking Gowon serious, Obasanjo is goofing. Ndi’Igbo will never stop to remember Ojukwu for what he stood for, the sacrifice he made in the name of freedom for Ndi’Igbo and Nigeria in general. Gowon and Obasanjo have refused to remember those men and women who sacrificed so much in the name of Biafra and Nigeria. Maybe, the “the Sword of Damocles” is now hanging on Gowon and Obasanjo’s heads and they are making mentally subnormal utterances.

Since Gowon and Obasanjo have refused to allow the sleeping dog to lie, one issue their statements have made Ndi’Igbo and Ngerians to recall to is the issue of ‘Abandoned Property.’ This phraseology was given after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war – 1967-1970. Ndiigbo who are majority Biafrans left their property in the old Rivers State created in 1967, and fled for safety of their lives during this war. After the war they came back to Rivers State to start up a new life, they were deprived of their property. Rivers men and women claimed Ndiigbo property worth Millions of Pounds unlawfully and characterized it “Abandoned Property” with the connivance of the Nigerian state.

The Nigeria/Biafra war didn’t just come up. It was after the Northerners gruesomely murdered Ndiigbo, in what was called retaliation of some Northern elites, who were killed during the January 15, 1966 coup. This coup was adjudged as a pointer that Ndiigbo wanted to “dominate” all spheres of life in Nigeria. But the fact was that the coupists never consulted any of the known prominent Igbo leaders. The North characterized it as “Igbo-inspired Coup.” Hence, they killed Ndiigbo in the North. Ndiigbo mutilated bodies were ferried down their land amidst tears. Ojukwu was among notable Igbo sons and daughters who stood up and cried and called the entire world to come and see the pogrom that was committed against Igbo. The Northerners wanted to break out of Nigeria. Hence they saw anybody who was not from the North as an enemy.

The Northerners circulated falsehood as necessary motivation for executing the civil war. They said that General JTU Aguiyi Ironsi’s military regime was tending towards unitary form and if not stopped, would be detrimental to the heterogeneous composition of Nigeria. As a result, some scholars have asked that if unitary government was against Nigeria’s corporate interest between January 15, 1966 and July 28, 1966, how come after the July 29, 1966 revenge coup, unitary system of government was consolidated and perpetuated within Nigeria even till present-day? What changed after July 29, 1966? They have asked that could it be that some sections of Nigeria were entitled to impose and operate a unitary form of government on other sections of Nigeria, while some other sections are not entitled to do the same. The scholars have further said that the Hausa-Fulani, while hiding their real intensions for the war, co-opted the Yoruba in the project. Both these groups set about poisoning the minds of some Eastern Nigeria minority groups especially the Ijaw with phantoms of Igbo “oppression” and “domination” so much so that both the Eyo Ita incident and Udo Udoma’s COR movement issue became ready ‘examples’ adduced as representative of Igbo ‘domination’ of Eastern Region minorities with the potential to spread to other parts of Nigeria, if not checked by collective effort. The unsuspecting Ijaw, Efik, Ogoni amongst others, swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Ojukwu’s death has refreshed the memories of Ndiigbo on the evil of ‘Abandoned Property.” General Yakubu Gowon was it who led the Nigerian soldiers against the Biafrans. The war took millions of lives of Ndiigbo and impoverished them during and after the war. It was Chief Obafemi Awolowo who advised Gowon in 1967 to diminish the powers of Ndiigbo. His heinous advise was that Gowon should divide the old Eastern region by creating two states out from it. But this was Awolowo who was released from the Calabar prisons and taken to his Ikene home by Ojukwu’s aids. Awolowo gave this ill advise shortly after his release from the prison. It was his advise that born Rivers and south eastern states. These states were used as an easy access by the Nigerian state to humiliate Biafrans.

Shortly Rivers State was carved out from the old eastern region, Biafra’s main base in Calabar and Port Harcourt fell to the capture of the Nigerian soldiers with the aid of some people characterized as saboteurs. The Igbo victims fled Port Harcourt when the city was captured by the Third Marine Commando Division in May 1968. Olusegun Obasanjo was the General Officer Commanding Third Commando Division in 1969, with headquarters in Port Harcourt, and was seen as one of the hands guiding the then Rivers State governor, Lt-Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff. When this was achieved by the Nigerian soldiers, historians would say that Ken Saro Wiwa was allegedly among the Rivers State indigenes who led other like minds from the state to Gowon. The outcome of their meeting was an accord with the Gowon-led government that should the war end in favour of Nigeria, the state would take over all that Ndiigbo left behind in River State.

In 1970 the war ended, Gowon pronounced his Kangaroo statement: “No victor, No vanquished”. While this lasted, because an agreement is an agreement, Ndiigbo property they worked hard to institute in Rivers State was sharply coveted by the Rivers indigenes and was immediately given the name – Abandoned Property. Ndiigbo were hand-twisted over their property. However, Awolowo, while the war was going on was given the Federal Commissioner for Finance, a gift from Gowon for denouncing his earlier stand to declare the Odu-Dua Republic. His stand on this republic was hinged on the prospect, should the easterners declare the Biafra republic.

While the Yoruba people respected Awolowo, Ndiigbo venerated the commands and the wishes of Ojukwu for their undying patriotism to their different regions. Ndiigbo were fighting to live, while Awolowo had announced a total naturalization of all the companies Ndiigbo had so much interests in, especially on the Nigerian side. His International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiation of fund was to fund the war in favour of Nigeria – his pay master. He didn’t stop there, he channeled some of the percentage of this fund into the National Bank. This bank was solely owned by the westerners. As a result of this, Yoruba people had direct access to loans for the purchase of the share interests taken away from Ndiigbo till date. Conversely, through these rigorous adventures orchestrated against Ndiigbo by Awolowo, Ndiigbo did not lose even a pin in the entire Yoruba land after the war, but they did in Rivers State that was supposed to be their brothers and sisters.

Although Ndiigbo didn’t lose property in the Yoruba-land after the war, but one of their own, who took the helm-of-affairs as the military president of Nigeria in 1976 took Ndiigbo less than a beast. This person was Chief Obasanjo. It happened after the death of Murtala Mohammed. The representations of Ndiigbo in the federal level were next to nothing. Courtesy of Obasanjo. A lot of people said that it was the hatred culminating from the Yoruba-race since during the war that made Obasanjo to hand power over to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979, even when Shagari, it was clear in many quarters, did not win the election with the two-third(2/3) majority, as stipulated in the Nigerian electoral rules. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe – Igbo – was allegedly robbed in that election.

Going down memory lane of how Ndiigbo have been unjustly humiliated in the Nigerian state since forty years the war ended is a crying shame. In 1999, Dr. Alex Ekwueme emerged as the most preferred candidate in the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) primaries, but the same machinery that have been in use against Ndiigbo was used to float him out of the race in favour of the same Obasanjo. It was this same skimming out anything Igbo that converted Igbo businessmen into street hustlers, following “The harsh post-war economic policy” that was meted out against Ndiigbo. The distinguished President of the Senate, David Bonaventure Mark, allegedly chaired and rationalized the properties of Ndiigbo in the Old Rivers State. A “Statesman” like Chief Edwin Clarke has been manipulated severally as a major beneficiary of the abandoned property, no matter how he has tried to exonerate himself from this situation.

Anytime Chief Clarke was brought into this issue of Abandoned Property, he sings lullaby to Ndiigbo, claiming that the statement is a blatant falsehood deliberately calculated to tarnish his reputation and to incite his very ‘good Ndiigbo’ friends to hate him. He would categorically state that he did not acquire any abandoned property in Port Harcourt and that he does not own even a kitchen or any property in Port Harcourt at anytime before or after the Civil War to this day. “It is indeed, a deliberate falsehood and malicious assassination of my character,” he would say. But what Clarke has refused to tell the world was that he moved to re-install Ijaw hegemony in Rivers State, even though that he comes from Delta State, in what many Nigerians have described as, “by all means necessary.” This followed his full support of Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State since 2007 the later was clamoured to have been imposed on Rivers people as governor, a man many have said was declared winner of an election in the court of law and installed as governor in an election, he did not contest.

One phenomenon that has kept the Nigerian state aghast about Ndiigbo is their skyrocketing socio-economic status, even when deprived much of Nigeria’s political positions. Ndiigbo are surmounting all odds in the Nigerian state without rehabilitative assistance from any quarters, locally and internationally. Upon their hard earned property seize in Rivers State, they are not leaving anything to weigh their entrepreneurial spirit down. The memory of the roles Awolowo played against Ndiigbo during the war has only deterred a progressive and prosperous Southern Nigeria and Nigeria, but people are just pretending.

In the later months of 2007, Ojukwu visited Rivers State. The issue of abandoned property unofficially characterized his visit. Many Nigerians were of the view that the Rivers State government might re-open the issue. From virtually all quarters indications were prominent that Ojukwu’s visit was to impress on Amaechi the need for a retroactive abrogation of the Abandoned Property Edict. There were also feelers that the federal government might be uncomfortable with the alleged move. This information was hinged on the fact that it could further heat-up the already militantly over-heated Rivers State. The issue was that Ojukwu seldom visits a serving state governor, so why Amaechi?

A lot of people feared that Amaechi, Ikwerre, may not move fast enough to repeal the land grabbed by the indigenes in Rivers State, because “… abandoned property was to prevent Igbo people from participating in the buying of indigenized companies in the 1970s. Remember that part of the abandoned property “law” was that Igbo landed assets in Port Harcourt could not be used as collaterals for bank loans. That was a master stroke after confiscating Igbo bank accounts and giving everyone N20…The fiction of abandoned property was embellished and maintained until 1996 when Abacha skillfully carved out Ijaw die-hards and the most ardent enforcers of abandoned property into Bayelsa State. It soon dawned on these Ijaws that actually, they owned nothing… my view is that this should have been called “Stolen Properties” instead of “Abandoned properties,” said an observer.

Not even Spiff helped Ndiigbo to attain their “stolen property” back by the indigenous Rivers people. He was even alleged to have plotted with Obasanjo and the Federal Government to further hold unto the decision against Ndiigbo takeover of their property back. There has been doubt by many Nigerians over the speculation that absolutely nothing is to be gained from the purported review of the Abandoned Property. They allay their claims that the point was that the Rivers people kicked the Igbo nation in the stomach, while it laid prostrate on the ground, adding that such a review would have made sense in the 1970s, when Spiff was in office.

More were yet to crop-up from this issue, as many Nigerians were saying that the next aim of abandoned property was to award Port Harcourt to Ijaw henchmen as war booty and edge the Igbo people into the fictionalized enclave called East Central State with no access to the sea. The Ijaws accepted their task with unbridled zeal and this had two consequences (a) destruction of the port in Port Harcourt and the migration of Igbo import-export business to Lagos, Cotonou and other ports in West Africa (b) the destruction of the real estate sector in Port Harcourt and the flight of capital to elsewhere.

[b]Nigerians have gone further to say that the Igbo nation has learned a valuable lesson from the abandoned property saga and moved on. Despite the suffering of individual property owners, the overall outcome has been positive. Ndiigbo have learnt to think home always. Alternative growth points have been created everywhere in Igboland – Asaba, Onitsha, Nnewi, Aba, Awka, Owerri, Umuahia etc. Igbo trading network in West and central Africa has diversified away from Port Harcourt, as its focus and has been strengthened rather than weakened. Abandoned property has also enabled the Igbo to be more realistic about the distribution of infrastructure in their country. Today, Owerri with its 5-star hotels, universities, wide streets, housing estates and Airport exists side-by-side with Port Harcourt. And Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AKIA) Enugu, will complement Port Harcourt international airport and Owerri, to give people more choice in the region. Abandoned property has thankfully re-oriented young Igbo away from unhealthy fixation with Port Harcourt and diversified development thinking in Igbo region.
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There is a school of thought that says that those who owned abandoned property are mostly dead or have moved on. Any so-called review now is not for their benefit- more to sooth the conscience of those reviewing it that is apparently haunted by their treachery. Review or no review, Igbo people have moved on. This is one piece of theater that should be pointedly ignored by every worthwhile Igbo. But other people are of the opinion that even though that the owners of the abandoned property may have died, their wards can inherit the property. The late elder statesman Sam Mbakwe, former Governor of the old Imo State, is praised to have tried to handle the collective cases of the Igbo landlords in Port Harcourt, even though that there was rare significant outcome. The question now is why majority of the abandoned property on the Ikwerre land went not to the Ikwerre people but to those from the Riverine areas of Rivers State.

Majority of the people are asking for curtail of degrees of mutual suspicion and antagonism amongst all the groups involved in the war in one way or the other. According to them, the issues from the war have so poisoned the political atmosphere in Nigeria, corroding any traces of future political unity between and amongst the ethnic nationalities, which constitute Southern Nigeria. They are asking for the abrogation of the over past decades Igbo and Yoruba, for selfish and self-serving considerations, refused to bury their differences and chart a mutually beneficial political and economic course for Nigeria. They pray and believe that the death of Ojukwu will bring about the long sought peace.

Nigerians in many quarters have confirmed that Ojukwu is a General of the Peoples Army of The Republic of Biafra & General of the Army of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, son of the Richest Black Man of his time and also an Oxford Graduate, he was never and will never be a tribal warlord as Biafra is not a tribe, like Gowon and Obasanjo have painted her to to be. Gowon and Obasanjo should remember that Ojukwu joined NPN (Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba party), not NPP (Igbo party), when he contested for the senate. He was born in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria in November 4, 1933. He started his early life as a hero and died a hero. The Old Boys of CMS Grammar School, Lagos, King’s College, Lagos, Epsom College, Surrey, England, and Lincoln College, Oxford University, England where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters degree in History, would be crying more than. He joined the civil service in the then Eastern Nigeria, upon his return to Nigeria in 1956; he enlisted in the Nigeria in 1957, and was posted to Nigerian Army depot, Zaria, as one of the graduates that joined the military during that period, though as a recruit. He had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and appointed Quartermaster General, Nigeria Army, by 1964. He was everything good until his death at 78. While Nigerians would be morning him greatly, he would be deeply missed by the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), a political party he was its national leader. His death to Ndiigbo is like they are now abandoned property. But what can they say other than “Ojukwu farewell”.
Niger Delta-Cease Fire and Amnesty in jeopardy-MEND warns JTF-Meltdown Continues

AFP News Excerpt 08/18/09

LAGOS — Nigeria’s main armed group in the Niger Delta Tuesday warned that the alleged extrajudicial execution of a civilian by the military was putting an ongoing ceasefire in jeopardy.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement that the special military unit, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Sama, in southern Rivers State, on Monday “executed an unarmed man and dumped his body into the river.”

“Such irresponsible action by the military, even if it is targeted at civilians, is not acceptable and can jeopardise the current ceasefire if repeated,” the statement warned.

Following the civilian’s execution, youths in the area carried out a reprisal attack on the JTF unit, killed a soldier and went away with his rifle, it said in the statement titled “threat to ceasefire.”

[size=8pt][size=8pt]”It is the responsibility of any Yorubaman that is in any political party that goes against benefit of Yoruba, to defect from that party and join a party that believes in the agenda of the Yoruba.”[/size][/size]